Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust

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	Buffet coach loyalty card launched (April 2010) A loyalty card for users of the buffet coach is launched this Easter weekend. If you regularly visit, or you are with a large group and purchase hot drinks, you can get a loyalty card, get it stamped for seven purchases of hot drinks, and get the eighth FREE! Loyalty cards are now available from the buffet coach.			Extension tracklaying starts (Jul 2009) The first panel of track was laid on the 'new extension' of the S&D on July 12th, as the line breaks out of the station area at Midsomer Norton and heads southwards. Plain rail and sleepers are being laid at first directly on the prepared ground, with a catchpoint after the first new panel, and then the line will be ballasted by train from the dogfish wagon and then packed and finished.
	Devonshire Tunnel north portal unearthed (April 2010) The north portal of Devonshire Tunnel in Bath has just been excavated as part of the Two Tunnels path project. The portal which was the entrance to the first tunnel on the S&D on leaving Bath, has just seen the light of day again for the first time since 1973 when it was buried. Photos taken at the end of March show the portal and newly-graded cutting banking, also the strange looking tower-like structure in front of the portal, which is the inspection access shaft built when the cutting was buried. The top of this column with manhole cover was at ground level when the cutting was filled in. More photos and information on the Two Tunnels Blogsite.			'Derrick' the road-railer - back from the dead! (Jul 2009) Our workhorse 'Derrick' the road-railer which had been condemned and thought not up to current safety standards, is now back at work. After the discovery that the machine needed a different spec of safety standards to those of mainline-capable machines, and with suitable risk assessments regularly undertaken, it has been deemed safe and compliant to use, and is back in action once again.
	Devonshire Tunnel unearthing (Mar 2010) As the Two Tunnels project gathers pace, today Monday March 8 2010, saw the ceremonial first digging out of the blocked western portal of Devonshire Tunnel. Today's press call is the part of the major works to convert the two tunnels (including Combe Down Tunnel) in Bath into a leisure path on the old Somerset & Dorset route, which will eventually complete the link from the city of Bath to Norton Radstock. More.			New arrival (Jun 2009) Just in time for the Midsummer weekend event (20/21 June), the freshly-refurbished Midland Mark 1 SK coach was delivered to Midsomer Norton at around 6pm on Wednesday 17th June. On the return load, back to Staffordshire, goes the Mk1 brake coach for further work, which should see it completed and returned by the end of the year. The new arrival has an official unveiling planned for it at this weekend's event, at 11am on Saturday. Click the image to see a larger photo.
	PMV arrives (Feb 2010) This evening, Tuesday Feb 22nd, the four-wheeled enclosed PMV van arrived on a low loader from Bitton to staying at the station overnight on the trailer. In the morning it will be unloaded and swapped for the outgoing milk tanker. A larger version of the photo, left, taken in the low light of the evening and dull glow of the soduim streetlights, can be viwed by clicking on the thumbnail.			Permission granted! (Apr 2009) After what seems like an extraordinarily long wait, the Trust has finally been granted planning permission on Friday 3 April, to extend the railway some 400 metres towards Chilcompton. More.
	Articles & Memorandum - download and read (Oct 2009) The Articles and Memorandum of the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust is now available online for anyone to download and read. Download the pdf document here (approx 100kb in size, requires Adobe PDF Reader or similar to open). Download Adobe Reader here. Also now available as a MS Word document, is the Memorandum and Articles of the new Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway 2009 Company Limited, the operations arm of the Midsomer Norton project. Download it here (approx 132kb).			Online guide to the Colliers Way (Mar 2009) A new website dedicated to the Colliers Way - a recreational path from Dundas Aqueduct, near Bath to Radstock and Frome - has recently been launched. The website gives information about the area and route, which in part is on the S&D trackbed between Midford and Radstock, and from Radstock to Frome it largely uses the old GWR railway line. The website, the product of over a year's work, included considerable input by the S&DRHT's magazine editor and webmaster, Julian Jefferson and has resulted in a £1000 payment to the Trust. Visit the Colliers Way website.
	One out, one in (Feb 2010) On Tuesday 23 February we will be saying 'bye for now' to the milk tanker as it is collected by road from Midsomer Norton for transportation to the Churnet Valley Railway in Staffordshire where it will be restored, before being returned. We'll also be saying 'hello' to a PMV; a long wheelbase closed goods wagon; being brought to us from one of our near-neighbour heritage sites, the Avon Valley Railway at Bitton.			Campaign for S&D Class 7F model (Jan 2009) We are hoping to persuade a model manufacturer to produce an operational model in either 00, N or even 0 gauge of an S&D Class 7F. It is proposed this would be released at an affordable high-street price. To ensure a realistic 'business case', please email Brian Macdermott marked with the subject as 'S&D 7F', to express your support and state that you would be prepared to buy one of the models if produced.
	Another classic landmark reborn (Sept 2009) A feature from many historic Midsomer Norton S&D photographs, is rising from the 'ashes' again. Seen in photos alongside the signalbox - now fully rebuilt - the station greenhouse is in the process of being restored from the ground up, with the help of contractors to speed up the restoration progress. Click the image to see larger photos.			Somerset & Dorset winter scene (Feb 2009) Although not on the scale of the infamous 1963 snows that brought the S&D to a halt, the latest significant snow falls of February 2 - 6th brought chaos aplenty to Somerset and Dorset. On Feb 2nd the station at Midsomer Norton looked a pretty picture with a fresh fall of snow and you can download this image as a 1024 x 768 pixel desktop/wallpaper image for your computer here.
	Santa success (Dec 2009) It was another successful Santa weekend on the 12/13th December at the station at Midsomer Norton. Santa was in attendance on the afternoon of both days, encamped in his Midland Mk1 coach-based grotto. Many presents were handed out and tickets sold for a meeting with Santa, the buffet coach and shop both seeing good turnovers helped out by this extra seasonal through trade.			Membership changes (Dec 2008) As of January 1st 2009, membership prices have increased by £2 (to cover increased costs in postage, among others) in each category except Life membership. You can still buy or upgrade to Life membership at the old price for the time being. These prices do still represent great value for money and membership of course includes our excellent magazine The S&D Telegraph. Renew membership online We now have a renewal button on the membership page to enable you to renew your membership online.
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