Save our rail link

10/28/2009 4:02:16 PM

Bath and North East Somerset are intent on building houses on ex railway land so ending any chance of rebuilding the rail link between Radstock and Frome, if you would like to add your name to the petition please follow this link Online petition - Restoration of Frome / Radstock Rail Link

Comments

- 10/28/2009 5:55:21 PM

Already done Tony, "All for one, and one for all" and all that.

- 10/28/2009 6:44:44 PM

Thanks Bill they look as if they need all the votes they can get.

- 10/28/2009 8:00:39 PM

Hi Anth and all.

Thanks for the tip about the petition, Anth, all signed sealed and delivered!!!!!

Noticed you pasted a comment on the bus photo, but have not had chance to read it fully yet, also you pasted up a photo of a motor cycle, not had chance to view that either, but from shape of the exhaust pipe, could it be a Norton? Have to look and see in a minute.

Bi for now.

John.

PS Enfield was it? Couldn't have been any further out if I had tried.............

Out of my price range anyway. The best I could manage was a Tiger Cub. I'll try to find piccies some time.

- 10/29/2009 3:15:53 PM

"Bikes - r - Us" eh?,

A 1958 B.S.A. C12 in maroon & chrome was my last real motorbike .. we parted company outside the St. Martins Hospital Bath on 16th July 1965 at 7.15 a.m. .. I went over the handlebars, the bike (what remained) landed in a shop doorway some 100ft away in Bradford Road. My lunch bag turned up some weeks later in someones` front garden. . I did get the bike back when I cam out of Hospital 3 months later, but it wasn`t worth rebuilding.

Happy days then ...

- 10/29/2009 6:09:31 PM

Yes a 250cc Enfield Crusader Sports complete with all the chrome trim only mine had a full Avon fairing in maroon, bought for ninty quid when I was about 18/19 and traded in against an Anglia van when I decided it was too cold in the winter to ride a bike and decided to pass my test for a car, still got the bike licence and still ride the scooter when the weather is nice and I can be bothered to get it out of the motorhome.

- 10/30/2009 1:09:41 AM

Hi Guys.

I know that I have two or three photos of the old Tiger Cub, somewhere, so have just spent an hour or so going through a shoe box full of old family photos. Not a motor bike in sight. However I did find a signed photo of Ernest Sefton. Who the hell is he, was the first reaction. Back to tinternet to find out. Apparently he was a film actor, appeared quite a lot in George Formby films, he also played more serious roles in the 1930s and 40s, also took part in a radio production of 'Junction X', based on a government propaganda document of the same name.

Incidentally whilst on the subject, a while back I read a paperback, on loan from 'Scouser' Dave in Ireland, called 'Station X'. Very interesting it was too, about the wartime goings on at Bletchley Park.

Never did find the bike photos I'm sorry to say, but p'raps they will turn up some day.

Have to go now. Keep smiling.

Regards to all.

John.

- 10/30/2009 12:26:58 PM

Signed as requested Anth,

Born and bred in Frome so I have a v. close association with the place (including train spotting at Clink, Feltham and Blatchbridge in the late 50s as well as biking it to Cole (Bruton) on summer bank holidays to get both WR and SDJR traffic in one location).

It’s an enormous pity that the whole Bristol to Frome line was ever closed. The economic benefits of a commuter link with Bristol would rejuvinate the town no end. I despair at the decline in what was a vibrant economy - the town centre is a shabby shadow of what used to be – even my mother (who, bless her cotton socks, is in her mid eighties – shops in Bath whenever she can).

Went on a field walk with the famous Eunice Overend at Vobster in about 1958 and was shown a bridge built over a shallow depression in a field. It was explained that this bridge was designed to span part of the abandoned coal canal. It was never explained what the coal canal was and my very recent search on Google Earth of the fields close to Vobster shows no evidence of that bridge. Did the farmer remove it or does it still exist (but not show up) on satellite images?

Mike

- 10/30/2009 1:17:30 PM

http://rtjhomepages.users.btopenworld.com/dscanal.html Hi Mike and thanks for the vote, this link may help you, at the bottom of the page is a map with the route of the Dorset and Somerset on Google Maps, transfer the location of the old locks to Google Earth and you can see an updated version of how the Fussel locks look now after excavation.

- 10/30/2009 8:49:43 PM

Hi Mike and Anth.

I think you've said it all Anth. As you know I was blissfully unaware of the Dorset and Somerset (non starter) until about a month ago. I was however aware of the Fussell locks, but hadn't a clue where they were until then when it all began to come together. Don't know anything about the bridge you describe, Mike, but I will check in my archives and see if I can dig anything up, but it's doubtful. By the way, who was this Eunice person and what was she famous for?

Whenever you Frome lads start on it always takes me back to the bakery/cafe that was on the corner opposite the junction to the station approach, John's, I think, used to often have a cuppa in there when I was an apprentice. Probably would have been working at Butler and Tanner at the time. Ah well, happy days!!!

Bi for now.

John.

- 10/30/2009 10:29:59 PM

Eunice Overend as far as I am aware is still alive and kicking at 90+. She was for a while known nationally as the Badger Lady appearing on numerous wild life programmes for the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol. She was one of life's true eccentrics and I believe for a while in the 1990s that she lived in a caravan in Wiltshire still looking after orphan badgers and writing learned papers on their behaviours.

She was a spinster schoolteacher and naturalist who drove a sludge green ex-GPO Telephone van (I think a Morris) laden with border collies and assorted school kids. As a keen amateur archaeologist she took a number of us under her wing on various digs in the area and introduced us to the skills of field walking.

The bridge episode at Vobster is an interesting one. I remember distinctly being shown a man made linear depression several feet in depth running across a field. I also remember some associated masonry that I was led to believe was the remains of a bridge, but it could of course have been another canal related structure. I've tried to locate it quite recently but have drawn a complete blank. I know that I'm not imagining the occasion and wonder whether 50 years of deep ploughing might have erased what remained of the earthworks.

I hope that the forgoing is not total tosh but I've little to back up what I know I saw.

Mike

- 10/30/2009 11:18:45 PM

Hi Mike.

Thanks for the information. I think I remember Eunice, now you have pointed the old brain in the right direction.

Sounds like a fascinating lady, you were very priveledged to have known her.

I'm sure your memory is not that bad and the earthworks you describe was almost certainly the Dorset and Somerset Canal. The spot may be more difficult to find these days, but there will almost certainly be some evidence remaining. The trouble is that the canal was an ambitious scheme that was never financed properly and although earthworks and even structures were erected in several places much of he canal never ever contained water and what remained on abandonment was very fragmented.

Hope this helps.

I will continue trying to help if I can, and I'm sure Anth will do the same.

Please tell me that the cafe I described near Frome station did really exist, or I shall begin to think that the old brain really has become addled.

Regards.

John.

- 10/30/2009 11:59:32 PM

Yes John it probably was a cafe at one time but is now a Chinese takeaway, regarding the canal at Frome, it was originally intended to go from the Bristol Channel down to the English channel and would have been more successful if it had been started from one end rather than spend all the funds on a branch line, I am sure that Mr Fussell had a say in that as the owner of the nearby iron foundry and a few local coal mine owners who were eager to get coal to Frome and beyond.
It was cetainly well funded, they raised an initial £100,000 by shares( a huge amount at that time) and spent that buying land and building the branch, they failed to raise more as England was at war with France by that time and therefore the company went into bankrupt.
Bearing in mind that a share was worth £100 and a canal worker was paid 13 shillings a week, some investors bought 40 shares.
For the amount spent and the little there was to show in comparison to what it cost to build the Somerset Coal Canal it would seem that the shareholders were ripped off, I have created a folder in the site skydrive, headed Dorset and Somerset canal and a file within that of the shareholders

- 11/1/2009 1:05:51 AM

Hi Anth and all.

Thanks Anth for confirming fate of cafe, I didn't dream it after all then!

Also cracking information on Skydrive, especially interesting was the number of 'gentlemen of the cloth' that were featured as shareholders in the Dorset and Somerset. Maybe they been at the offetary boxes again. Still you'd think with the Good Lords blessing it would have been more successful. As you say I suspect that a great deal of money was frittered away as a result of bad management. Certainly the most logical and economicl way of tackling the task is to start from one end, being the quickest way to earn revenue.

Incidentally I thought the Newspaper reports on the Somerset Coal Canal were priceless, what an invaluable document!!!

Got to go now, getting tired. Had a another day at the Black Country Living Museum today, had a ride on their trolly bus this time. Had a pint of real beer in their proper pub (Sawdust on the floor in he public bar and a gobby landlady). If you ask what beer they have you get a terse reply 'Mild or bitter'. The place has got real atmosphere, my lad reckons if you were to go there and spend all day in the pub you'd still be getting your money's worth. In fact the staff say that there used to be an old boy they called Lancashire Dave that lived near Blackburn, he was an ex railwayman so travelled very cheaply on the railway, if not for free. On week ends he'd come down to Dudley by train, spend all day in the pub and then travel back home in the evening.

The trouble is that there is too much to see in one day, but the advantage is that having paid to go in once you become a friend of the museum and the membership lasts a year, this means that any time during this period you get free entry for as many more visits that you care to make.

Really must go now.

Regards to all.

John.

- 11/1/2009 12:26:15 PM

Hi All,
Petition duly signed, number 940, so they do have a way to go but that's still a good start.

The Black Country Living Museum in Dudley is well worth a visit John. We haven't been this year but have visited every year for over 10 years. It really has something of interest for everyone. If you're lucky enough to go in one of the houses next to the Pharmacy when Bessie, I think her name is, is in there telling all the old stories it's a reall experience. The kids love it. Have you been up the tunnel and walked the barge up with your feet on the roof of the tunnel ? That's another experience, especially when they play the music and dim the lights.

Rich

- 11/1/2009 2:34:47 PM

Afternoon All

As usual get home, turn computer on, read messages and notify those who I consider important of my return, then download Mr.Gates relevant updates for said computer, which duly crashes! Bugger Microsoft, it's taken me best part of 24 hours to recover everything, not to worry at least I didn't have to pay someone else to do it for me.

Frome rail link petition duly signed, No. 941, one after you Rich, and as you so rightly say it's the wife's job to pick my pocket, she's done it many times and will no doubt do it again, and not some chattering bloody monkey in a foreign place, mind you what has really got my goat is NatWest, cost me £67 in phone calls to cancel my credit card and the cheeky swine wanted another £100 to issue a replacement, it was more than I had nicked, and to cap it all Mastercard International, whose phone calls are free, kept getting held up by NatWest which meant that any replacement card they issued would have chased me across China, we didn't bother in the end, but I want me 67 quid back.

Regards m/bikes, Excelsior Talisman Twin, BSA Bantam D7 (175), Moto Guzzi 110, AJS 350, Norman 197 (trials bike), Vincent Meteor (500), Norton 16H (600 single), only the Bantam, Guzzi and Norman worked particularly well, the AJS had a vicious kick start which if you didn't get the advance and retard just right would throw you over the handlebars, the Vincent had girder forks, AJS "jampot" rear suspension and a Vincent racing fibreglass tank combined with "ace" handlebars, apt to get a bit of a headshake on and smash fingers on the tank, and the Norton was a basket case.

- 11/1/2009 3:03:57 PM

Hi Rich and all.

Yes had a super day at Dudley, but didn't go tp see Bessie next to pharmacy, did however chat to the lovely lady in the old toll house next to the tram track by the level crossing, very interesting. I also ventured into the old school where a class was in progress, a middle aged lady teacher in period costume making the class recite their times tables from the board with the aid of a very evil looking cane (Brings a whole new meaning to Madam whiplash.) Popped into the cinematograph theatre also, B and W silent movies, but hilariosly funny, or was that the results of the bitter in the pub? Did you know that between the movie house and the street there is a small shed containing two stationery engines belt driving a couple of generators?

Had a long chat with their bargemaster . Three working narrow boats present in the basin and numerous butties and dayboats. Two of the boats, their own and one belonging to Birmingham Museum, both single cylinder Bolinder powered, the third being the well known 'President' of the Fellows Morton and Clayton fleet, not sure who owns it now, but of course that is a steam powered boat. Lots more, too much to relate really, but yes we did go in the tunnel, this was the second time, as you say very impressive. Oh I nearly forgot the fish and chips are to die for, also the lardy cakes from the bakers. It's a must to talk to the man serving in the gentleman's outfitters next to the chip shop, a real gentleman's gentleman if you know what I mean, he really enters into the spirit of the character.

Sorry, I'm going on again arn't I, but if these few words motivate others to visit then I'm sure that they will not be disappointed.

Regards to all.

John.

PS Will try to post some piccies when I get the chance!

- 11/4/2009 8:13:14 AM

Hi John,

Please don't worry about going on old son, that's what it's all about, isn't it ? You brought back quite a few memories of my visits to Dudley. Have you ever been down the mine there ? That's an experience !!!

Rich

- 11/5/2009 12:52:17 AM

Hi Rich.

No, never done the mine. Always manage to run out of time before we get there, but have promised ourselves that it's a must for next time (If we can drag ourselves away from the pub).

Thank you for your kind words of encouragement, but I know I do ramble on a bit at times, still it's nice to be able to ramble a bit in your doteage!!!!

Regards to all.

John.

Bath Tec School