Almost sixty years on, a Matlock to Chinley klaxon sometimes battles to make itself heard as it's potent enough to provoke some fairly weighty voices. Not a Beeching closure, more a product of the momentum of closing lines that had been gained by the closure programme of the mid-sixties, and also, the shadow cast by the various positive initiatives that the railways were able to launch at the time - did that shadow fall heavily on the steam-age railway to create a combination of circumstances that resulted in the loss of a major component of the railway's core infrastructure?

A friend recalls meeting a relative at Stockport Tiviotdale, at a time that the electrification of Euston to Manchester was in full swing and Tiviotdale was fielding the steam service to and from London - Tiviotdale giving the impression of something from a previous age, in poor repair, dark, soot-covered, shabby and generally at the end of its days (which indeed it was). A very big contrast to the world that was in process of arriving at Stockport's other station.

Mark

 
Passing Yarnbrook on the way to the Bath Christmas Market. Looked and sounded magnificent. Hauling 12 coaches and a 47 - made it look easy.

 
Tuesday December 2

1P18 07:13 Great Malvern to London Paddington : started from Foregate St (JC : "over-running engineering works", RTT : "late arrival of an inbound service (YI)" )

 

Did they all go from the station down to The Blue Ball and still there?

 

E is the PS ‘Waverley’ claimed to be the last Ocean going Paddle steamer in the World.
 

 
I note that the train ran ecs to Westbury. What happened to any passengers?

 
I lived in Maiden Newton for 20 years and played cricket for Cattistock whose pitch borders the line by the bridge.
When the halt closed Cattistock had a good bus service to Dorchester, which I used to get to the school in which I taught, before getting a rail season ticket. It was the lack of an alternative that kept Chetnole and Thornford open. In this way it was rather like the Bridport branch which was closed only when an alternative bus service could be sorted.
On transferring to teach at Bridport I used that bus daily until I moved to a village nearer to the school in 1996.
Now the branch trackbed provides a convenient footpath a few yards from our house.

 
Under the "Creative Commons v2" license, I can share the map - origins at the post linked earlier in this thread ... and looking through the list of 31 stations mentioned, I have passed through / visited just 8 or 9 - mostly the ones still there.

 

Indeed - though with much of the following text specific to the Waterford to Rosslare section.   Rosslare is a sad, sad story as far as rail is concerned ... it could (have been) be so much more with joined up thinking.  For sure the foot traffic is / has been thin through Fishguard and Rosslare but the way the routes have become hard and unfriendly to use are so sad and appear to be with little positive thought for the through customer.

 

Some of the biggest travesties were lines proposed for retention but never the less closed - Oxford to Cambridge, trains to Swanage and to Kingswear, Cheltenham Spa to Stratford-upon-Avon.  Perhaps these haunt us even more than some of the Beeching proposals that were implemented such as Minehead, Tavistock and Portishead.

Yes - relieved for the current users that lines like St Ives, Exmouth and Avonmouth were saved though proposed for closure.

 
Gosh, a very deep dive!

That song has come into my head a couple of times recently while waiting at St Erth for the train to St Ives.

Beeching's report probably got it about half-right, on balance. The half he got wrong will still be haunting us 100 years from now..

 

So it's Limerick-Rosslare that's your subject,then.

 

Close but not a bullseye.

 
I think F is the Dublin-Rosslare railway line.

 

A cynic might wonder which MP's, BBC execs & senior civil servants were regular users of the train.

An uber-cynic might wonder if the ORR had been set-up to fail on this one and fell for the bait!

 

I do find myself looking and wondering - bearing in mind the very high customer volumes London-ward from both Castle Cary and Pewsey and they seem to being dumped at the weekend onto buses or the Heart-of-Wessex service with multiple changes.    More about the cost of providing an alternative - perhaps a token alternative - than looking after customers?  Or looking to make it so hard to travel that weekend that optional travellers try the previous or following weekend?





So tempted to suggest that the Newbury -> Bedwyn shuttle - with an extra unit - be extended every 2 hours to Yeovil Junction.

 
Not quite correct in saying no direct services on Saturday as there is one Plymouth to London train in both directions diverted between Exeter and Castle Cary via Yeovil.

But I guess better to say no direct trains in case the one train does get cancelled.

It’s a pity, particularly for Pewsey passengers, that no effort is made to run some direct services between Castle Cary and Paddington on the weekend. I would guess that will be down to reliability of having enough train crew on the weekend to operate them.

 
C. Interrail passes

 

Memories of 1974.  I pinched a loco off a Merehead to Westbury trip, with the wagons dropped off in Witham's Up Sidings, and sent it to the rescue of the failed train at Bruton.  The driver laughed at me when I reminded him about the catch points down the bank.  I think that with his years of service, he will ahve already noticed them a few times.  Anyway, all sorted within half an hour of the driver of the failed Paignton to London train phoning me at Witham from the phone outside the switched-out Bruton 'box

 

Indeed - a big reminder of just how long and prone to change such plans are - original suggestion was made by Ipswich Borough Council in 1995.

As an aside - much of the information in today's quiz has been gleaned from multiple online sources and made into a quiz - I wasn't and (m)any of the events in person.  I am very much aware that I am editing and rewriting and looking to avoid cut and paste to the extent of the quiz being plagiarism though you may find some of the sentences worded with a resemblance to other text elsewhere.

 
D: Trams in Bath

 

Indeed Cattistock - which is a surprisingly large village and it feels perverse that it lost its train service when Chetnole and Thornford retained theirs, even to the extent of the platform being moved.

In the summer just gone, I walked from Chetnole via Cattistock to Maiden Newton and the distances are such that neither station can practically be said to serve Cattistock and a more logical stopping pattern for trains on this line might be  Yeovil Pen Mill - Yeovil Interchange - Yetmister - Cattistock - Maiden Newton. 

 
B is East West Rail.

 
E, I would say that's could be the PS Waverley

 

 
A looks like the Kennet and Avon Canal

 
G Cattistock Halt.
I used to have a GWR station nameplate from there.

The platforms are still in daily use. They replaced the wooden ones at Chetnole and Thornford

 
Can you identify these groups of happenings - where and perhaps what are they?


A.

In 1788, a "Western Canal" was proposed to improve trade and communication links to towns such as ...

In 1793, a further survey was conducted by John Rennie, and the route of the canal was altered to take a more southerly course through ...

On 12 June 1797, the first section from xxxxx to xxxx was opened. By 2 July 1799, the canal was open as far west as xxxxx.

The canal opened to through-traffic in 1810, after 16 years of construction.

B.

The link is promoted by the xxxxxxx initiated by xxxxx Borough Council in 1995.

In April 2006, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister reported itself to be in favour of the principle

In the 2011 Autumn Statement by Chancellor George Osborne, xxxxx was adopted by the Department for Transport, and £270 million was committed to the scheme to fund its development.

The first phase, was opened in 2016; engineering of the xxxx phase was completed in late 2024

C.

The first xxxxx were sold in March 1972 and started a true travel revolution.

After the first year's success, it became a permanent offer and since its origin, more than 10 million travellers have enjoyed ...

Since 1998 the xxxxx has been available for travellers of all ages, including attractive ...

As of March 1st, 2022, xxxxxx has a refreshing new look with an updated logo, colour scheme, and design. The refresh pays tribute to the brand's heritage

[D.

The first service ran on 24 December 1880

The horse drawn service continued until 1902

The Xxxxxxx line closed in 1938 with the rest closing in May the following year.

In 2006 a private group xxxxxxxx proposed their re-introduction. In 2015 a further initiative was under discussion by a new group ...

E.

Built in 1946, she sailed from xxxxxx on  xxxxxxxxx until 1973

Bought by xxxxxxx, she has been restored to her 1947 appearance and now operates passenger excursions around the British coast.

Since 2003, she has been listed in the National Historic Fleet by National Historic Ships UK as "a vessel of pre-eminent national importance".

On 3 October 2025, she broke down while on a cruise from ... and I am delighted to report she was back in service within a few days

F.

Construction of the route was begun in 1848 for the xxxxxxxx and xxxxxx Railway and completed in 1854.

The section between xxxxxx and xxxxxx was completed in 1906 and coincided with the construction of xxxxxx Harbour

Train services have remained infrequent for more than 100 years. By 2003 the line was carrying fewer than 100 passengers a day.

On 12 March 2010 it was announced that xxxxxx would review the service between xxxxxx and xxxxxxxx because few passengers were using it. Timetabling was poor. There was only one train each way daily from Monday to Saturday. The last train between xxxxxxx and xxxxxx ran on 18 September 2010

G.

Railway line opened on 20 January 1857

Station opened on 3 August 1931. It was placed in the Western Region when the railways were nationalised in 1948.

The station was initially timber but was rebuilt in 1959: the two platforms each with a concrete shelter were standard products of the former Southern Railway concrete factory at Exmouth Junction.

The station closed when local trains were withdrawn following the Beeching Report, taking effect on 3 October 1966.

 


Yes - final 2 are right (Gatwick and not Fenchurch Street, and Southend Central)

1. Acton Main Line - Electric Train
2. Newcastle - eightonedee
3. Gatwick - OxonHutch
4. Barry Island - RobT
5. Taunton - Chris from Nailsea
6.Southend Central - Richard Fairhurst
7. Cork Kent - stuving
8. Leeds - brooklea
9. Kyle of Lochalsh - Timmer
10. Newhaven Town - TonyN

 
3.  Fenchurch Street Station?