Don't miss our next indoor meeting!
Saturday 11th October 2025
Roger Winnen & Peter Bragg present:
Excerpts from the Millennium Project
The Wesley Memorial Hall, Redruth (TR15 2EG), commencing at 18.30 hrs.
Members free, non members £3. Refreshments available.
Saturday 11th October 2025
Roger Winnen & Peter Bragg present:
Excerpts from the Millennium Project
The Wesley Memorial Hall, Redruth (TR15 2EG), commencing at 18.30 hrs.
Members free, non members £3. Refreshments available.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 69
The Missing Link
Michael L. Roach
This series has shown a large number of steam age photographs recently, so now for something completely different as Monty Python would have said more than fifty years ago in the sketch comedy series aired on the BBC from 1969 to 1974. Where is the most needed length of railway route in the country, and here I am not talking about the Tavistocks and Portisheads but the length that was never built in the first place and is now desperately needed. I don't know but can make a suggestion for southern Britain. My wife's nephew was born and brought up in Redruth but has lived in Southampton for many years. He travels regularly between the two locations, and mostly by train. I believe that many of his trips were via the South Western main line changing at Salisbury until recently, but earthwork problems have reduced the service to 2-hourly so for the moment his trips are mostly via Westbury. If you look at a rail map both are a reasonable rail journey; but what if he lived in Bournemouth or Poole, he would then be travelling back on himself for an hour or more and at extra cost. Travelling from Exeter to Bournemouth National Rail comes up with several possible routes, including via the Great Western main line and changing at Westbury and Southampton, or changing at Reading; and even via Bristol Parkway and Reading. Exeter to Bournemouth via Reading is 213 miles of rail travel for a net distance of 85 miles / 2½ hours by road. Choose your adjective to describe that rail journey; and of course the poor passenger is being charged for all those rail miles 2½ times what is really necessary. The journey time and the cost must deter most people from travelling from Exeter to Bournemouth by train. Mind you the road journey is not wonderful – the road is a complete hotch potch of varying lengths and styles from modern dual carriageway to some lengths that have seen no improvement (other than the surface of the road) since they were built by the Turnpike Trusts 200-250 years ago.
One possible solution is to suggest a new rail line from Crewkerne Station to Maiden Newton Station; but starting from a junction one kilometre east of Crewkerne and using the junction of the former Bridport Branch at Maiden Newton only about 12 miles of totally new construction. It need only be single line because if designed for 100mph running even with slowing down and accelerating from the junctions 10 minutes should be adequate to cover the new route. This would allow two trains per hour to pass each way, although I envisage a train every 2 hours at first from Exeter to Ashford International. This train service would speed the residents of Exeter, Dorchester, Poole, Bournemouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Chichester, Worthing, Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings to connect at Ashford with trains to the Continent through the Channel Tunnel. It would not be a particularly fast journey with a number of reversals, slower lengths, and other lengths needing upgrading; but I am sure that it would be popular with continental travellers and people going the other way to Devon and Cornwall to have a through train and avoid London.
How about the route itself between Crewkerne and Maiden Newton ? I looked in some detail to make sure the route was feasible and it is not easy in places. Starting one kilometre east of Crewkerne Station, just after the South West main line crosses the A3066 road the line would have to rise at about 1 in 40 for 7 km to a point alongside Corscombe Cross on the A356 but lower to pass under the side roads; then fall at 1 in 170 for 6 km alongside the A356 to Kingcombe Cross Roads; finally falling at 1 in 55 for 5 km to join the alignment of the former Bridport Branch at Tollerford. plus 1 km; giving a total length of about 19 km or 12 miles. This article was only meant to talk about general principles, but having discovered that the route is quite difficult in places it gets worse because almost the whole route lies in the Dorset National Landscape; what was previously called An Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty. I can foresee a lot of opposition to a new railway along this route, which would probably kill it at birth.
It would be sensible to move the new link northwards to shorten its length and make the gradients easier. I think that this would mean much more doubling of the existing lines at each end, both of which are single track. I looked at a route from the South West main line at the east end of Sutton Bingham Reservoir due east to a point just north of Yetminster Station. This would have generally easy gradients and be only 4½ km (3 miles) long and outside the AONB. Because of its shortness and proximity to Yeovil I would make it double track and provide a Yeovil Parkway Station where the new line crosses over the A37 main road just three miles south of the town centre.
Now a brief look at the present Eurostar passenger services through the tunnel which commenced in November 1994. In its first year of operation Eurostar carried 3 million passengers and in 2024 19.5 million. This equates to some 2,000 an hour now but with the aim of raising this figure to 5,000 an hour which is more than half the figure for Heathrow Airport at present. The record number of Eurostar passengers was 45,000 in a single day in Spring 2025. At present the destinations from St. Pancras International are believed to be Paris 17 trains per day; Brussels 8; and Amsterdam 5; with the aim of running to Cologne, Frankfurt and Geneva by 2030. None of those 30 trains a day has stopped at Ebbsfleet or Ashford since 2020. Considering that Eurostar has been going for more than 30 years the plans all look a bit unambitious, and not a single train from a British provincial city as was originally planned. This has been spotted by competitors who also want to run passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel but one of the sticking points is capacity to maintain the high speed trains at the one and only depot at Temple Mills in East London. While at present every passenger has to make their way to London to board a train through the tunnel it must surely be sensible to reopen Ashford to Channel Tunnel passengers and perhaps for the occasional train to start from there to connect with the trains along the South Coast from Exeter terminating at Ashford, which would also ease the pressure on St. Pancras where expansion is difficult.
As a proportion of the population of Great Britain (69M) the present passenger numbers travelling through the tunnel at 19.5M represents 28 percent. The population of the main towns served by the railway stations between Exeter and Ashford is approaching 2M; and if we apply the same percentage to those living along the route this suggests a potential usage of 560,000 passengers per annum. At six trains per day that is 250 passengers per train – more than enough to justify running them.
A cloud on the horizon is the new European Entry – Exit System coming into force on 12 October 2025 which is one more reason not to have all the eggs in one basket, at St. Pancras. Naturally I am disappointed that my route from Crewkerne to Maiden Newton is not very feasible, but having to move it north to the outskirts of Yeovil does not alter the principal of direct trains between Exeter and the South Coast which would be good for the residents and tourists to both areas. To reinforce the need for improvements to the Exeter to Yeovil Junction section of line the MP for Honiton and Sidmouth spoke in Parliament on Thursday 11 September 2025 on that very subject saying that improvements were needed to this ailing service; and adding that the reduced timetable and slower trains had caused chaos for commuters.
On the day that this article was submitted to the webmaster (08.10.2025) Gemini Trains, a start-up train company, announced that the company had placed an order with Siemens for an initial ten trains. The company plans to start and terminate its trains through the tunnel at Stratford in east London and stop at Ebbsfleet as well.
One possible solution is to suggest a new rail line from Crewkerne Station to Maiden Newton Station; but starting from a junction one kilometre east of Crewkerne and using the junction of the former Bridport Branch at Maiden Newton only about 12 miles of totally new construction. It need only be single line because if designed for 100mph running even with slowing down and accelerating from the junctions 10 minutes should be adequate to cover the new route. This would allow two trains per hour to pass each way, although I envisage a train every 2 hours at first from Exeter to Ashford International. This train service would speed the residents of Exeter, Dorchester, Poole, Bournemouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Chichester, Worthing, Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings to connect at Ashford with trains to the Continent through the Channel Tunnel. It would not be a particularly fast journey with a number of reversals, slower lengths, and other lengths needing upgrading; but I am sure that it would be popular with continental travellers and people going the other way to Devon and Cornwall to have a through train and avoid London.
How about the route itself between Crewkerne and Maiden Newton ? I looked in some detail to make sure the route was feasible and it is not easy in places. Starting one kilometre east of Crewkerne Station, just after the South West main line crosses the A3066 road the line would have to rise at about 1 in 40 for 7 km to a point alongside Corscombe Cross on the A356 but lower to pass under the side roads; then fall at 1 in 170 for 6 km alongside the A356 to Kingcombe Cross Roads; finally falling at 1 in 55 for 5 km to join the alignment of the former Bridport Branch at Tollerford. plus 1 km; giving a total length of about 19 km or 12 miles. This article was only meant to talk about general principles, but having discovered that the route is quite difficult in places it gets worse because almost the whole route lies in the Dorset National Landscape; what was previously called An Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty. I can foresee a lot of opposition to a new railway along this route, which would probably kill it at birth.
It would be sensible to move the new link northwards to shorten its length and make the gradients easier. I think that this would mean much more doubling of the existing lines at each end, both of which are single track. I looked at a route from the South West main line at the east end of Sutton Bingham Reservoir due east to a point just north of Yetminster Station. This would have generally easy gradients and be only 4½ km (3 miles) long and outside the AONB. Because of its shortness and proximity to Yeovil I would make it double track and provide a Yeovil Parkway Station where the new line crosses over the A37 main road just three miles south of the town centre.
Now a brief look at the present Eurostar passenger services through the tunnel which commenced in November 1994. In its first year of operation Eurostar carried 3 million passengers and in 2024 19.5 million. This equates to some 2,000 an hour now but with the aim of raising this figure to 5,000 an hour which is more than half the figure for Heathrow Airport at present. The record number of Eurostar passengers was 45,000 in a single day in Spring 2025. At present the destinations from St. Pancras International are believed to be Paris 17 trains per day; Brussels 8; and Amsterdam 5; with the aim of running to Cologne, Frankfurt and Geneva by 2030. None of those 30 trains a day has stopped at Ebbsfleet or Ashford since 2020. Considering that Eurostar has been going for more than 30 years the plans all look a bit unambitious, and not a single train from a British provincial city as was originally planned. This has been spotted by competitors who also want to run passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel but one of the sticking points is capacity to maintain the high speed trains at the one and only depot at Temple Mills in East London. While at present every passenger has to make their way to London to board a train through the tunnel it must surely be sensible to reopen Ashford to Channel Tunnel passengers and perhaps for the occasional train to start from there to connect with the trains along the South Coast from Exeter terminating at Ashford, which would also ease the pressure on St. Pancras where expansion is difficult.
As a proportion of the population of Great Britain (69M) the present passenger numbers travelling through the tunnel at 19.5M represents 28 percent. The population of the main towns served by the railway stations between Exeter and Ashford is approaching 2M; and if we apply the same percentage to those living along the route this suggests a potential usage of 560,000 passengers per annum. At six trains per day that is 250 passengers per train – more than enough to justify running them.
A cloud on the horizon is the new European Entry – Exit System coming into force on 12 October 2025 which is one more reason not to have all the eggs in one basket, at St. Pancras. Naturally I am disappointed that my route from Crewkerne to Maiden Newton is not very feasible, but having to move it north to the outskirts of Yeovil does not alter the principal of direct trains between Exeter and the South Coast which would be good for the residents and tourists to both areas. To reinforce the need for improvements to the Exeter to Yeovil Junction section of line the MP for Honiton and Sidmouth spoke in Parliament on Thursday 11 September 2025 on that very subject saying that improvements were needed to this ailing service; and adding that the reduced timetable and slower trains had caused chaos for commuters.
On the day that this article was submitted to the webmaster (08.10.2025) Gemini Trains, a start-up train company, announced that the company had placed an order with Siemens for an initial ten trains. The company plans to start and terminate its trains through the tunnel at Stratford in east London and stop at Ebbsfleet as well.
Part of the national railway map for the South and South West.
The local rail map showing GWR routes in black and other routes in grey.
Many thanks as always Mike - plenty to think about there.
For more of Michaels articles, please click here.
For more of Michaels articles, please click here.
Fields of green no more
Phil 'Shattered' Smith
47118 in Bristol Parkway sidings, back when this was a lovely green field! 1988, copyright Phil Smith.
Many thanks Phil... all in the name of 'progress' (!)
Red & Orange
Jon Hird
There are some great colours around the railway at the moment, particularly where the ferns have started to turn orange, yellow and gold. The meadow at Restormel is looking particularly colourful as in this photograph, which also features 66054 passing by with a train of JIA's from Treviscoe. 09.10.2025, copyright Jon Hird.