|
Some
Notes About This Site
This site is designed for a screen resolution of
1024 x 768 pixels. Please ensure that your browser has
Javascript enabled. |
|
|
Above:
Given that 2016 is the 50th anniversary of the closure
of the famous Somerset & Dorset Railway, it is appropriate
to publish a photograph which recalls this important cross-country
line. This is the former trainshed of Bath Green Park, where S&D
trains from the south either terminated, or reversed to continue
their journey northwards. After years as a dowdy, unglazed ruin,
the building was restored in 1982 by a consortium comprising Bath
City Council, Sainsbury's and British Rail at a cost of £1.5million.
The official re-opening was performed by HRH Princess Margaret
on 1st December of that year. 26th October 2011. (Jeff Vinter) |
Did
You Know? |
A
year's membership of Railway Ramblers costs only £10, and runs
for a full year from your joining date. Membership provides four
magazines a year, plus access to our walks and online gazetteer.
For further details, just click the link here. |
Reduced
Level of Service, December 2017 to April 2018 |
My
wife and I moved into our cottage in Devon on 28th February,
just as 'the Beast from the East' blew in, dumped loads of snow
all over the West Country, and cut off our village! We are now
in the final stages of our move, unpacking endless cardboard
boxes and discovering what furniture won't fit, and needs replacing.
Despite all the disruption, since December last year, I have
managed to publish all incoming news stories within 1-4 days,
so have neglected only updates to the photo galleries, for which
I apologise. I estimate now that I will be able to offer something
approaching normal service by the start of May. Thank you for
your patience during this busy time. (Jeff Vinter, Webmaster)
|
What's
New |
Website
Visitors Exceed 200,000. The number of visitors to
our website since it was launched in 1997 passed the 200,000
mark in August 2017.
Latest News Stories.
Britain's old railways have never been more in the
news than they are today. Click here
and here for the latest stories,
or here for details of the various
campaigns which we are supporting.
Railway Ramblers
on Facebook. Member Nigel Nicholds has brought us into
the realm of social media by setting up a Facebook page for
the club; you can access it here. |
Quick
Links |
You can
navigate around our website using the menu at the top left of
this page, but the following links may be helpful:
- Latest
News: Read what's been going on in 2017
and, soon, 2018.
The current year's news page is updated whenever a new story
comes in, which is usually at least once a week.
- New
Photo Galleries: All the new contributions received
for our photo galleries have now been processed and uploaded.
Our 2016 and 2017 additions run from galleries 117
to 129,
and start with a series of pages on the
much-loved Somerset & Dorset Railway, which closed 50
years ago in 2016.
- The
AGM: Our AGM page now
shows the minutes of our 2016 AGM. The 2017 AGM will be held
in St. Albans on Saturday 20th May; see the spring magazine
(no. 153) for details.
- Bake
Your Cake and Eat It: We still recommend the delights
of Richard's
Mum's Fruit Cake, a delicious rambler-reviving recipe.
(Try it and see.)
- Guided Busways:
This expensive and controversial idea is still circulating
in planning circles, so all credit to the local authorities
in Northern Ireland for saying 'No' to plans to concrete over
the popular and well-used Belfast to Comber cycle trail. However,
in January 2015, developers in Surrey spoke at a public meeting
in Cranleigh in favour of converting the equally popular Downs
Link bridleway between Cranleigh and Guildford into a guided
busway (see here).
Nothing more has been heard of this proposal, which may be
a good sign because guided busways have been far from an unqualified
success; click here
to read Christian Wolmar's assessment of the problematic
scheme between Cambridge and St. Ives.
- Message Board.
Our online message board can be accessed by clicking
the link here.
Any club member can post a message by entering the username
and password published in the quarterly magazine (just look
under 'Endnotes' in the back pages).
|
New
Railway Paths and the Online Gazetteer |
The
online gazetteer has
been brought up to date and now includes all known railway paths
up to 31st October 2016. The previous major update, to 30th
April 2010, formed the basis of the first edition of Vinter's
Railway Gazetteer (see Publications
page), which The History Press published in Spring 2011. This
new update will provide an enlarged and improved second edition:
the book is now at the printers and will be published in April
2017. (Last updated 1st January 2017) |
Engineering
Standards for Railway Paths |
Are
You an Engineer? Club members come from all walks of
life and work in all sorts of spheres – including engineering.
If you are an engineer and your work involves designing cycling
facilities, this
link to the Sustrans Design manual could be very helpful.
The guidance for off-road trails, such as our favoured railway
paths, starts on page 22, but the whole gamut of of cycling provision
is covered here. Members who have been concerned recently about
the inconsiderate behaviour of a minority of cyclists will be
pleased to see that Sustrans emphasises that these trails are
for all users. (Economically, it makes no sense to do anything
else.) Any cyclist who tells you differently is talking nonsense;
the message is 'Share with care'. |
Thank
You |
This website now runs to
over 300 pages, including the linked PDF documents, and we continue
to receive comments about its informativeness and value. We accept
that we are not offering an example of the latest web technology,
but our site was created donkeys' years ago when web technologies
were nowhere near as sophisticated as they are now. A resource
of this size, packed with this much detail, is never the work
of a single individual, and we remain indebted to all those contributors
who, either regularly or occasionally, keep us informed of developments
on old railways in their 'patches'. So long as we have information
feeds like these, we can continue to keep up the good work. Thank
you all; your efforts are greatly appreciated. (Jeff Vinter, Webmaster) |
|
Above:
A trio of photographs from Cornwall's Mineral Tramways Project,
whose main trail runs from Devoran (near Truro) to Portreath.
The southern part of this route is based on the Redruth &
Chacewater Railway, but later the Portreath Tramroad is used to
reach the north coast. Top Left: When you drive west along
the A30 through the village of Scorrier, near Redruth, there's
no mistaking the location of the Portreath Tramroad thanks to
this sign, situated on the north side of the road at grid reference
SW 722446. Right and Bottom Left: The trackbed of the Redruth
& Chacewater Railway passes beneath the Truro-Falmouth branch,
just after it has left the GWR main line west of Truro station.
The masonry stumps in front of Carnon Viaduct are the piers from
Brunel's original viaduct, which was built with a timber superstructure.
The Falmouth branch was almost the last GWR line to have its timber
viaducts replaced, this work taking place during the 1930s. 6th
June 2011. (Jeff Vinter) |
|
|