West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Ah, just found there was 'no objection in principle' but concerns.
About 12 minutes in ....

 

Steve

I only came across how far the track when trying to take a shot of Braunton leaving due to lineside being overgrown just beyond the platform (I remember in the past there was a reasonable shot) It does not get any better for a photo further along the track.

The new path is complete waste of money as it stands.

Paul

 

Ah, what a relief! A new topic for people to disagree about.

 

This is only the warm up!

 

Agreed! Nevertheless will you be attending?

 

Are you sure ? Unless my eyes deceive me everybody posting here, other than Ms White, has reservations
re the Sustrans Old Cleeve Washford path

Like others when I first noticed, whilst on a train, the path being constructed I assumed it was a rather exotic
farm track. I too think it falls within the 'no where to no where' category. It does arguably provide another
public viewing platform to the Railway, but that of course comes with the attendant risk of public trespass.

Overall benefit to the Railway zero (perhaps negative, is that an oxymoron ?). Overall benefit to the general
public, questionable ?

Michael Rowe

 

Was it something in the woodshed ?

 

Many, I am sure, will be puzzled by the word 'steam' that is used. If it has no connection with the railway why did they use it? I think some people, particularly tourists, might think there is a connection.

 

So the public launching of this path is behind Washford station ....
How many are going to access the launch via the station and yard I wonder!

 

I am astounded how negative people seem to be about this fabulous new path! Of course any change of this nature is likely to attract some reservations , those can lead to useful modifications if finances allow. This path in conjunction with the Mineral Line path and the quiet roads past Old Cleeve allows the prospect of walking or cycling from Watchet to Blue Anchor . The A39 or the steep hills were previously a formidable barrier to this. It allows extensive views of the passing trains and even has appropriately placed benches for that purpose.

 

My reservation is aimed squarely at the use of those "quiet roads past Old Cleeve" (as you quaintly put it) which are far from quiet and quite unsuitable for walkers and wheelchair users as the road is narrow and much of it is high-sided. The people behind the path are, in my view, irresponsible for encouraging people to use that road. The new path helps a lot and I was really looking forward to using it to get from Old Cleeve to Washford and beyond but until the path is extended to Old Cleeve (and further west), it remains rather a pointless project.

Steve

 

Would this "path to nowhere" be part of the cycle path that was once proposed for the unused "second line" trackbed between Bishops Lydeard to Norton Fitzwarren?

 

Unless things change, I will be litigating elsewhere in the country on that day, too far away to travel back for the meeting.

I would encourage those who can to attend. Nonsense (like bad behaviour) should not go unchallenged.

Robin

 

It’s easy (and a bit foolish) to have a pop at the Steam Coast Trail folks for what they haven’t achieved yet. They know it better than the rest of us.

But what they have built has made the parts of the route they have solved much easier to use, and their strategy is to make the progress they can and fill in the gaps as funding and local negotiations allow.

Steve is (rightly and understandably) focussed on wheelchair users. It is a shame (especially for wheelchair users). that a solution has not been found for the eastern end of Phase 1 of the path at Blue Anchor. For pedestrians and cyclists there is a 400 yard walk or bike-push at the end / beginning of the path and then a mile and a half of good path. Hopefully a solution will be found in time. The alternative to not building the 90% of the path they did was to hand back the grant money from the coastal communities fund and build nothing. As it is, a small gap remains to be filled.

I guess that I am one of the few folk who regularly walks Washford - Old Cleeve - Blue Anchor. The lanes are relatively quiet even in high summer and the lanes are fine to walk /cycle with a little care, recognising that they are Somerset lanes and not city streets. I would not say they are suitable for wheelchair users. (For much of my teenage years my paternal grandfather was crippled with rheumatoid arthritis and we worked hard to take him where we could in tines when there were many fewer adaptations of public spaces than there are now.). The phase 2 path solves sone but not all the problems over this stretch.

If folk (including the usual suspects) put as much effort into helping SCT as they do moaning here, then we would have had a pedestrian/cycle/wheelchair superhighway from Minehead to Taunton by now and MRLG would be promoting commuting by bicycle.

Not everything Norman Tebbitt said was wrong.

Robin

 

Having walked the Blue Anchor - Minehead stretch - and very nice it is, my issue is at the Minehead end where it runs through the sand and isnt in the slighest bit bike friendly

 

I don't know much about the area surrounding Washford station, but I would have thought that the new path would be of some benefit to the railway as Washford station could be advertised as a starting/ending point for walkers using the new path.

 

It would seem a good idea, except that there is no public access to the new path from the station platform...as it involves crossing the running line and the busy yard, which is not a smart idea. Also the path doesn't really go anywhere as in one direction there is an existing route from the station to the mineral line path, and the other leads to, well, a lane that is not safe for pedestrians, cyclists or wheelchair users. Do we really want to encourage use of a unsafe routes?

Steve

 

It's been a while since I visited Washford but the last time I was there, visitors had to cross the line by level crossing in order to view the displays in the yard in any case. Has that been considered too dangerous to continue over the intervening ten years or so?

Edit: it was 9 years, 4 months ago, according to the dates on the photos, at a "diesels plus Tornado" gala. Here's a photo of a non-stop train passing the crossing at Washford: https://flic.kr/p/6D5obB