Railways and Preservation - Swanage An Environmental Disaster?

[down the sdjr]

I really do despair at articles like this. Plenty of other great cycleways to use in Dorset. He could go to Blandford and cycle the Trailway . If he wants, he can  stop and wonder at what old steam trains used to run through here.

[Georgeconna]

On 06/12/2020 at 17:55, Steamport Southport said:

I expect it's real.

 

Seems to be a local nutjob and crap "artist".

 

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/15667190.sculpture-made-of-plastic-collected-from-rubbish-at-dorset-beauty-spots/

 

 

Bit Harsh there, Trying to highlight the plastic strewn about the place by idiots is hardly nutty in all fairness and credit it due there. It has now become a blight and is everywhere you look now.

 

Each to their own with Art, It is not fine art for sure but some folks have a made a mint out of worse stuff that that believe me.

 

This one is good, Hefty price tag though

 

https://pixels.com/featured/reality-tv-robin-beuscher.html

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by Georgeconna

[Reorte]

15 hours ago, down the sdjr said:

I really do despair at articles like this. Plenty of other great cycleways to use in Dorset. He could go to Blandford and cycle the Trailway . If he wants, he can  stop and wonder at what old steam trains used to run through here.

I'm guessing he's just against the steam trains, horror, something burning coal! Couldn't care for the fact there are hardly enough of them running any more to make any environmental impact, but that's never stopped certain  environmentalists from their onward march to make the world as bleak and souless as possible (the road to hell is paved with good intentions...) Like the Extinction Rebellion types the're more likely to put people off and negatively affect their cause than achieve anything towards their goals.

[caradoc]

18 hours ago, D826 said:

Cycling my friends, is good.  E bikes are going to increase the range of people who can access it literally and in terms of journeys it can work for.

 

Agree absolutely, but we just need to sort out the weather, at least here in Western Scotland. I bought a new bike in October but I've hardly been out on it, because it rains, and rains, and rains..... 

 

[D826]

1 hour ago, caradoc said:

 

Agree absolutely, but we just need to sort out the weather, at least here in Western Scotland. I bought a new bike in October but I've hardly been out on it, because it rains, and rains, and rains..... 

 

Oh, I know. Cycle tour a few years back proved notwithstanding manufacturer claims, nowt is totally waterproof!

 

Day 1 Got the ferry from Oban to Mull, cycled round Mull - lunch on Ulva - sunny and magical - to Tobermory - it rained.

 

Day 2 Got the ferry to Kilchoan, cycled up the Ardnamurchan peninsula to Salen then to Malaig- it rained apocalypticly.

 

Day 3 Got the ferry to Skye,(it was sunny), cycled to the Kyrrelhea ferry, (it rained), crossed to the mainland, (it snowed), cycled to Strathcarron - (it rained), I thought about throwing my bike in the Loch. 

 

Day 4, cycled to Achnasheen via Glen Torridon - It was SUNNY, (but bloody cold).  

 

Train back to Aberdeen, sleeper back to London.  (You know what, the bikes were driven back to London by a bloke in a Transit van....

 

To date best cycle storage on any trains has been on a tour in Yorkshire - DVT on a 225 on East Coast.  KX to York, then Leeds to KX return.

 

Tour in Devon, the 125 storage wasnt bad - 6 bike capacity mind  and called for nifty removal from coach behind power car before it departed Plymouth.

 

Tour across Wales from Temple Meads to Llandudno, Virgin had cancelled a service so the pre booked return trip was diabolical, expected the bike wheels to be in 2 halfs at 90 degrees to each other !

 

Once you're wet you cant get any wetter so it's just about achieving a state of mind.  (That state of mind would be mildly bonkers ).

 

Seriously though integration of transport modes is what we need to do better as a country.  There are signs of hope.  Active travel won't work all the time for everyone, nor will it work for all trips, but we could make it a whole lot easier. 

 

With Covid, and reduced passenger loading, maybe some of the DfT specified ironing boards, sorry, seats, could be removed to increase flexibility of use.  

 

I can't see the majority of people returning to a 5 day a week in the office pattern of working.  This could be a time of significant opportunity.

 

Don't let the rain stop you !

 

All the best

 

 

Matt W

Edited December 19, 2020 by D826
Accurate

[Michael Hodgson]

That sounds like the West Coast of Scotland ... if it isn't raining, there's midges     

[jchinuk]

On 06/12/2020 at 16:27, sir douglas said:

remember that person from several years ago that moved to their new house next to the Bluebell and then complained at the smoke and tried setting up a  petition to get it banned

 

A variation on those who move to the country and complain about "farm yard" smells, muck spreading and mud left on the roads.

 

jch

[jchinuk]

3 hours ago, Reorte said:

I'm guessing he's just against the steam trains, horror, something burning coal! Couldn't care for the fact there are hardly enough of them running any more to make any environmental impact, but that's never stopped certain  environmentalists from their onward march to make the world as bleak and souless as possible (the road to hell is paved with good intentions...) Like the Extinction Rebellion types the're more likely to put people off and negatively affect their cause than achieve anything towards their goals.

 

My cynical side thinks the original writer arrives from Surrey, bikes hanging off the back of his Range Rover, wanting an idyllic ride through virgin land.

 

jch

[Reorte]

59 minutes ago, jchinuk said:

 

My cynical side thinks the original writer arrives from Surrey, bikes hanging off the back of his Range Rover, wanting an idyllic ride through virgin land.

IMO a steam railway adds to the idyllic image.

[Robin Brasher]

The original writer has moved to Harman's Cross which is mainly a linear development following the A351.  The A351 is not cycle friendly as it is a busy, narrow road. There are some bridleways but cycling along them to Swanage or Corfe Castle would involve a long detour. If the Swanage Railway was a cycle track it would provide good access to Swanage and Corfe Castle but the line is a preserved railway and not a cycle track. The writer could always put his bike on the train which is a lot easier than trying to close the Railway and arrange for the Council to replace the line with a cycle track.

 

I have replied to his letter in the January Purbeck Gazette.

[tractionman]

3 hours ago, caradoc said:

 

Agree absolutely, but we just need to sort out the weather, at least here in Western Scotland. I bought a new bike in October but I've hardly been out on it, because it rains, and rains, and rains..... 

 

 

pretty similar here in NI! Rain and wind, all year around, I've resigned myself to just getting wet!

 

as for Swanage Railway, I remember the abandoned track-bed through Corfe to Harman's Cross as it was c.1980, and now on my visits (sadly not in 2020...) to the line marvel at all the effort and industry that over the years since has revitalised this lovely railway, I like my cycling but I'd much rather traverse the route by iron horse any day... 

 

can't wait to get back to Purbeck once more when conditions permit...

 

all the best,

 

Keith

 

 

 

[PatB]

Pretty much everywhere, you will find someonesomeone determined to prevent any recreational activities and associated people they don't approve of. Their objections will be dressed up in reasoning that may contain a kernel of logic but, at bottom, they just want everyone else to be as sour and miserable as they are. 

 

We have a not dissimilar individual near here, who has a bee in their bonnet about certain local leisure activities. Having spoken (or, more accurately, been forced to listen) to them extensively, I conclude that a lifetime of being cranky and generally a pain in the backside to everyone around them has come home to roost and they are now desperately lonely. They get an awful lot of letters published in the local press, though, because their opinions generate controversy, and controversy attracts eyeballs for the advertisers. 

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Ignoring all the environmental or otherwise issues surrounding the Swanage line, if it were converted to a cycle track, the visiting cyclists would of course put as much money into the local economy as the steam railway does.

 

Mike.

[tractionman]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

the visiting cyclists would of course put as much money into the local economy as the steam railway does.

 

 

An interesting hypothesis, would require some modelling to test it out, 'modelling' of a different kind of course to that normally discussed in these pages!

 

All the best,

 

Keith

 

[Reorte]

If a cycle track would really be beneficial would it be all that more expensive to just build a dedicated one? It's hardly the cost and impact of building a new road. There'll be land ownership costs of course but the same would be true for putting it on the railway. I suppose the attractiveness of using railways is that there are bridges in place; I'm not familiar with the Swanage railway so I don't know how much of advantage that would be in this particular case.

[009 micro modeller]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

If a cycle track would really be beneficial would it be all that more expensive to just build a dedicated one? It's hardly the cost and impact of building a new road.

 

In one sense this would work - after all, mountain bike trails (narrow, with potentially steep gradients and a loose surface) are much easier and quicker (and usually cheaper) to build, although they aren’t as easy to access for as many people. There are plenty of unsurfaced/gravel but fairly bike friendly byways and bridleways too. I get the impression though that he wants one with a tarmac surface and easy gradients, as you would get on a former railway line.

 

On 20/12/2020 at 07:55, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Ignoring all the environmental or otherwise issues surrounding the Swanage line, if it were converted to a cycle track, the visiting cyclists would of course put as much money into the local economy as the steam railway does.

 

Mike.

 

Possibly. It would probably encourage increased cycle use by local people, although I’m not sure it would attract as many visitors from further afield as a heritage railway does. Arguments about job creation could also be relevant, though less so if the railway is almost entirely volunteer-run (although volunteering opportunities are also a good thing, of course).

[Zomboid]

On 20/12/2020 at 07:55, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Ignoring all the environmental or otherwise issues surrounding the Swanage line, if it were converted to a cycle track, the visiting cyclists would of course put as much money into the local economy as the steam railway does.

 

Mike.

Interesting idea. The only time I've stayed in Purbeck for more than a day trip was as a cyclist. There was some event or other in the area which I'd signed up for with a couple of friends, and we decided to book a self catering place and make a proper holiday of it.

 

As it happened, I injured my knee training for the bike event, but went anyway. We had a go on the Swanage Railway whilst we were there, amongst other things. If it hadn't been for cycling we wouldn't have been in the area at all.

 

But on the other hand, we wouldn't have gone and booked a cottage just to ride on a tarmacked trackbed.

[Compound2632]

"Train line". I despair.

[Mallard60022]

Sad, sad, sad. Cycle route instead of that Tourist gem? What a wazzock.

Ar$£ 

[Chris M]

Old railway lines often do make nice cycle tracks and I fully support converting as many old lines as possible to cycle trails. I think most cyclists (myself included) are polite and carful with other users of Sustrans provided trails. In fact most of the folk I meet when I am out cycling are pleasant although joggers almost never acknowledge me and always look very stern. My favourite little section of Sustrans route runs alongside the Severn Valley Railway between Severn Valley Country Park and Hampton Loade.

 

Whilst I would never want to see a good heritage railway close it has to be admitted that there are a some that just aren't very good and probably do more harm than good to the heritage railway movement. I won't name names but I have got a few in mind. Typically they have a few  industrial locos that are brought into use on summer Sundays to pull half a DMU along  a mile of track and together with a lot of tatty rolling stock slowly rusting away to nothingness with very little prospect of much of it actually being restored to working order.

 

Yes, I would be happy to see some heritage railways converted. I haven't been to the Swanage Railway but I hope to one day; from what I have read it appears to be well worth a visit and much better as a heritage line than a cyclepath. It doesn't sound like it is one of the premier heritage lines but almost certainly holding its own in the next division down.

[Reorte]

On 26/12/2020 at 17:42, God's Wonderful Railway 1835 said:

Staying  about people complaining about local things, a couple of years ago I made a complaint about the noise the church bells were making to a lady who had come out of the practise and she asked what the problem was and I said take the mufflers off so I could hear them properly. I can't remember what she said but she was taken back by it due to the lack of noise and, not too much which most people complain about. 

Had that in my parents' village, when the bells were restored to working order for the millenium. There are only a few houses near the church anyway, and English Heritage made them reinstate the bells on the wrong floor (couldn't remove the original frame, which wasn't in useable condition, despite it being a nothing particularly special Victorian one, much younger than the church). The result is that not many people could hear them all that well.

 

An interesting mix of bells there too. One of the originals wasn't re-used - it was cracked (although it might've been since it was cast), currently they range in age from I believe over five hundred years to new for the millenium.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Reorte

[Compound2632]

14 hours ago, Chris M said:

I haven't been to the Swanage Railway but I hope to one day; from what I have read it appears to be well worth a visit and much better as a heritage line than a cyclepath. It doesn't sound like it is one of the premier heritage lines but almost certainly holding its own in the next division down.

 

What are the criteria for being in the premier league of heritage lines? It's certainly the best for many miles around - its closest rivals are probably the Mid Hants and West Somerset. If one is on a family holiday in the area, a steam railway is an essential for the inevitable rainy day.

[petethemole]

All is not sweetness and light in the world of ex-railway cycle paths: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-55128433

[Chris M]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

What are the criteria for being in the premier league of heritage lines? It's certainly the best for many miles around - its closest rivals are probably the Mid Hants and West Somerset. If one is on a family holiday in the area, a steam railway is an essential for the inevitable rainy day.

No criteria and certainly  no insult to the Swanage railway was intended. Based on passenger numbers it could well be in the premier league. It’s just that there are a few heritage lines which tend be more well known such as the North York Moors or the Great Central. 

[Chris M]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

 

What are the criteria for being in the premier league of heritage lines? It's certainly the best for many miles around - its closest rivals are probably the Mid Hants and West Somerset. If one is on a family holiday in the area, a steam railway is an essential for the inevitable rainy day.

Or alternatively- they can’t be in the premier league because they haven’t got any diesel hydraulics. I’ll just get my tin hat now and run.