With regards to the clearing of the disused railway line at endon Stoke on trent

Ah, so you are just a NIMBY. Who is we? Do you live adjacent to the railway? If yes, how long have you lived there?

 

Well, we're always open for a reasoned discussion

 

By "we" you mean yourself and close friends/associates. I myself have spoken with a number of people in the area who want the train services back and are looking forward to seeing the line(s) being re-opened. I realise this is not everyone in the area, but you are not speaking for everyone in the area either. As for referring to MCR as vandals, that is more your personal opinion (of which everyone is entitled to have). However everything they are doing is above board, again you can go and read all the legal documents if you don't want to believe with what we are saying.

Also m0rris is correct, in that most people on this forum are merely enthusiasts. There are a number of us who volunteer on the CVR, but non of us have the ability to influence MCR in anyway.

 

Anyone in Endon who enjoys walking is indeed fortunate, as there's a lovely canal running through the village with a towpath to which British Waterways grants public access. I've walked it, it's very pleasant indeed, and there are no rails or sleepers to fall over.

 

thank you to everyone who quoted the OPs posts so we can see them see. Such bad manners to delete them. Fortunately the majority of people dont react to our hobby as she does, even if they are a bit condecending sometimes. As a whole the movement does far more good than harm.

 

Oh has she gone? Look forward to making her aquaintance as we progress south

 

At the end of the day, you can't win 'em all; there's two sides to every coin etc. However, wildlife flourishes alongside railways because very few humans are able to get near, being similar in nature to the biodiversity found on MOD firing ranges. Take the hitherto extinct (in Britain) Large Blue Butterfly, for example. If there are genuine concerns, then petition the local authority concerned, rather than insult the people who are helping to develop the local economy. The phrase 'never throw stones in glass houses' comes to mind.

 

Move along folks, nothing to see or read here!

 

i dont coment on the fourm much , but watching this for the last 24 hours shows how much people on here are so well infomed and polite, so well done to everybody :wave:

 

They're still a bunch of weirdos though.

 

But as I commented to some-one on the first Razilway holiday with the firm I regularly go with when he said he had worried that some of his fellow passengers pay be slightly weird "well, they probably are, but at least we're high quality weirdos"!

Steven

 

I remember reading similar comments some years ago about the Wirksworth Branch; someone living next to the track did not want the line re-opened and vented pretty much the same arguments on a public forum, BBC Radio Derby I think; there was no support whatsoever. Now you can get from Wirksworth to Paris on a through ticket with two changes of train, and there are significant numbers of people using the service for "real" journeys, not just recreation.

Around forty years ago there was someone objecting to the reopening of the West Someset Railway on the grounds that it might disturb some badgers. They had also just bought a house next to the railway.

Tim

 

Anyone who was involved with the re-building of the Welsh Highland will have heard all these rants, and more, many times. Very often they came from people who simply did not understand what a railway is. The fact that the Ospreys are thriving alongside the railway should convince even the most dedicated of nature lovers but you can never please everyone. There is even one woman who has, since the line opened, hung up some very dirty old blankets outside her house. I've never been able to figure out whether it is to stop her seeing the trains; to stop the passengers seeing her, or possibly her house.

The Sallys of this world usually have too much time on their hands and sometimes they are right, but not in this case.

Meic

 

Assuming Sally is female to begin with and isn't just here to provoke a reaction.

 

A wise observation.

We aren't going to know what Sallywaggle's motivation may have been, and truthfully it doesn't really matter. What matters is that her opinions were met with restraint and respect.

I do think that in general people are becoming more NIMBY-ist. Clearly this person has along with the "Green Party" member (I wonder if it might be the same person??) developed a sense of possession and right to use the land which the railway is to start operating again. That she and others were never entitled to be there is of no matter to them, something is being taken from them, that always generates a very emotional response. You'll probably find that in 5 years time when they have got used to the new reality they will both be regular users of the line for shopping etc, and enjoying the reduction in the numbers of heavy lorries. These things usually just need time.

 

I don't know why Mrs. Griffiths should suddenly get so upset about this line re-opening; it has been a proposal for some years now. When my daughter was a student at the University in Stoke on Trent we went to visit her one day and I happened to pick up a copy of the local paper that had been put through her door. And in it, quite by chance, was an article about the proposals to re-open the line from Stoke to Caldon Low which I naturally read with interest.

This was some years ago, so nobody living locally should be surprised that the line isn't as dead as it might appear. I cannot remember the article in detail, but it may have mentioned back then that people using the line as a public footpath shouldn't be doing so.