Graham, I think we can file Shepton Mallet - Bath via the S&D^▸ (Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway) route as a no-hoper. Too many obstacles, notably Radstock and Wellow. But for heritage enthusiasts, I can see the extension from Midsomer Norton South through the tunnel to Chilcompton happening. I was in Chilcompton a few weeks back (Redan Inn highly recommended) and delighted to find myself standing on the Chilcompton down platform (delicious diagram here: https://www.mnrjournal.co.uk/article.cfm?id=114287&headline=Residents%20invited%20to%20hear%20Chilcompton%20station%20rebuild%20plans&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2018).

Robin, I'm still trying to get the hang of this forum interface. It's far from intuitive and it's hard to see how to respond to a nested comment. So apologies if I'm doing it all wrong. Anyway, thanks for the map link. It's a rebranded OpenStreetMap.

Interesting to see that Graham's map of Shepton Mallet shows East Somerset Railway above the alignment west of Mendip Vale station. There's almost nothing on the web about the Restoring Your Railway Fund proposal To introduce a passenger service to Shepton Mallet in Somerset, other than the promoter is Mendip District Council, the sponsoring MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) is James Heappey, and there are unconfirmed rumours of a proposed station at Cannards Grave. But who would such a station serve? Let's say you live in Wells or Glastonbury and need to travel to London. You drive to Cannards Grave ... and keep going along the A371 for another 10 minutes to reach Castle Cary, where there are direct trains to Paddington and no need to change at Westbury, where I imagine the Shepton trains would terminate, and where you can get a coffee from the Butty Box. Or is this scheme designed to address a Caste Cary car park capacity issue?

Thanks for your input, Robin. Great photos. I've created a Reopen page named Rose Hill Marple to Maple Grove / Hazel Grove line until the mystery has been resolved: http://reopen.org.uk/rose-hill-marple-maple-grove-line/.

Thanks for the questions Graham, some of which I was already considering. Briefly:

How much new build should be covered?

All of it, I think. Cambridge South now covered.

At what point is a scheme considered complete, or dead and no longer to be listed?

When Cambridge South opens to passengers it will remain on the database, marked as now operational or something like that.

Dead projects is a hard one to answer. If the Northern Route Working Group's scheme should prove unsuccessful (heaven forbid), then is Exeter - Okehampton - Tavistock - Plymouth now dead, or is it just dormant? But what about obvious no-hopers? I'm reluctant to give examples, but there are a couple in this part of the world.

Do you include new services on freight lines - passengers for first time?

Yes.

Do you include stations at new (never before a station) locations on current (never closed) lines?

Yes. Examples: Beam Park, White Rose, Portway whatever it's called.

How long must a line / station be closed before it is considered for reopening?

No time limit.

Do you include light rail and tramways?

Initially, it wasn't my intention to include these. But over the past week I've spent a lot of time (metaphorically) in Greater Manchester and Lancashire, and there's more work to do here: Bury - Bolton for example. In some cases, it's impossible to know whether the end result is likely to be heavy rail, light rail or tramway. The distinctions are blurring. So I'm feeling my way through this one.

Do you include stations / lines techncically open but with no mass transit users at present?

Yes. Examples: Ashton - Stockport line, Barrow Hill line.

---

Thanks also for this list, which I've saved for future reference. Devizes Parkway and Portway (Parkway? No one seems to know for sure) already covered. I may need to ask you about some of them, such as IBM.

Afon Wen to Bangor; Aztec West; Bacon factory curve; Barking Riverside and extensions to Thamesmead Central; Barlaston, Wedgewood; Barton on Humber to Gainsborough Central; Battersea Power Station; Bedford to Cambridge; Birmingham Tram (in the city element); Blackpool tram to Blackpool North Station; Bow Street; Cardiff Bay and Cardiff Metro; Chippenham platform 3; Cowley Branch; Crossrail; Crossrail 2; Devizes Parkway; HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)); Heathrow South; Heathrow West; Hebredian Light Railway; IBM; Llanelli to Craven Arms; Maindee curve; Montrose to Stonehaven; Polesworth, Teeside Airport, Pilning; Portway Parkway; Rickmansworth to Watford Junction; Sheffield Victoria towards Penistone; Swindon to Oxford; Westbury platform 0.

Now back to the grindstone. Next up: To reinstate the Rose Hill (Marple) to Maple Grove Line, Stockport (source: Restoring Your Railway - All bids received).

Edit: Seems that Maple Grove is neither a place nor a closed station. The Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway didn't go to Hazel Grove, so I can eliminate that from my enquiries. This is the most puzzling scheme I've encountered to date. Info and clues welcome.

Thanks for the shout out. Greatly appreciated!

My intention is to have every line and station reopening / opening scheme covered by Christmas. Currently there are 90+ pages at various levels of completion, although nothing is ever complete in this realm.

I know about most schemes although I keep coming across new ones.

These are my main sources, in addition to Wikipedia and the net in general:

- Campaign for Better Transport
- Railfuture
- DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) Restoring Your Railway Fund (list of round 1 awards, and list of all submissions)
- Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways website (all lines and stations proposed by FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site) now completed)
- Trade press (mostly Rail and Modern Railways)
- Trundelage website
- The Anonymous Widower website

When the database is as complete as I can get it, I'll publish the list here and ask you to inform me of anything I've missed.

Reopen is a non-commercial venture and it's just me and my laptop, so please be patient if I've yet to cover your favourite (re)opening scheme.

Warm wishes to all, from downtown Bath.

Edit: My intention is to be non-partisan when creating new entries, and to share solid information rather than my opinion. But yes, some of the proposals are completely bonkers.