New Station for Shepton Mallet?

[whole diary]

[johnneyw]

I came across BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Somerset news article from a few days ago titled "Railway station may return to Shelton Mallet".
Mendip District Council are including a Shepton Parkway option as a part of a £320,000 transport business case study.

Link below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-47290855?SThisFB&fbclid=IwAR2LFZ4VkLJO4lp5kU_ay_S8twNDyJ7f5qBGhjkn0WweW5bXJRShxz799es

The question is where they think it should go as there's no NR^» (Network Rail - home page) lines for miles.

[Red Squirrel]

Interesting... at a guess, they have somewhere near Dobbies Garden Centre in mind. However the line back to Witham has the same problem as the Radstock line; it's a bit of a long way round to Bath, and even further to Bristol, if that's where they think people will want to go...

[martyjon]

I despair at how out of touch or should I say 'THICK' some civic leaders are. Look at a map showing Shepton Mallet and one will find that a station exists just down the road from Shepton, through Cannards Grave and Evercreech what less than a 10 minute drive away at Castle Cary.   

[johnneyw]

Interesting... at a guess, they have somewhere near Dobbies Garden Centre in mind. However the line back to Witham has the same problem as the Radstock line; it's a bit of a long way round to Bath, and even further to Bristol, if that's where they think people will want to go...

I wonder what the East Somerset Railway is thinking about this? They run the part of the branch nearest to Shepton Mallet and I presume that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) own the remaining line to Whitham.
This could complicate matters if the East Somerset Railway doesn't want to come on board.

[grahame]

The question is where they think it should go as there's no NR^» (Network Rail - home page) lines for miles.

I wondered that ... but then I've just come back from Bradford-on-Avon where the station was built seven years before the railway line.  Makes sense really ... no issues of having to work on live tracks while works are going on.

[Bmblbzzz]

Didn't someone point out in the thread about Radstock that there is potential to reopen the line north from Radstock and Midsomer Norton via Wellow to the in-use Bath-BoA^» (Bradford-on-Avon - next trains) line? And that the same line extends south from Midsomer N through Binegar to Shepton Mallet? All going in a potentially more useful direction for most expected traffic than either via Witham Friary* or Evercreech.

*Big recommendation for Seymour Arms in Witham Friary. A pub that's fallen through a wormhole from the 1950s.

[Red Squirrel]

Didn't someone point out in the thread about Radstock that there is potential to reopen the line north from Radstock and Midsomer Norton via Wellow to the in-use Bath-BoA^» (Bradford-on-Avon - next trains) line? And that the same line extends south from Midsomer N through Binegar to Shepton Mallet? All going in a potentially more useful direction for most expected traffic than either via Witham Friary* or Evercreech.

*Big recommendation for Seymour Arms in Witham Friary. A pub that's fallen through a wormhole from the 1950s.

That'd be the Somerset and Dorset... the most feasible route would probably involve linking the S&D^▸ (Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway) line to the Limpley Stoke and Camerton near Midford, and you'd need a north-facing connection at Limpley Stoke. Still a bit of a long way round via Bathampton, though!

Here's an alternative modest proposal (or thought experiment!), requiring just a few billion pounds and a huge amount of political will:

Reopen the North Somerset from Bristol to Midsomer Norton. Link that to the S&D route, and follow that to Shepton, then extend down through Evercreech to meet the main line near Castle Cary. That would give you a new through route from Bristol to the south, as well as putting Norton Radstock and Shepton back on the map...

[Reginald25]

All things are possible given vast sums of money, and years and years of effort. I hate to say this but a Devizes  to Parkway style solution (bus to railhead) is the only realistic way forward. Even the press release doesn't major on a rail solution.

[johnneyw]

All things are possible given vast sums of money, and years and years of effort. I hate to say this but a Devizes  to Parkway style solution (bus to railhead) is the only realistic way forward. Even the press release doesn't major on a rail solution.

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) article really is very short on detail about any proposed station location. Could this be because it hasn't been thought through yet? Is it just a headline grabber? It would be very interesting to see if there are any current suggested sites.

[rogerw]

Just rename Castle Cary to castle Cary for Shepton Mallet

[Red Squirrel]

Just rename Castle Cary to castle Cary for Shepton Mallet

Having a station is one thing, but having a station whose trains take you to places where you might want to go is another thing altogether.

Castle Cary is probably fine for people who want to go to London or Taunton, but what if you wanted to take a job or study in Bristol or Bath?

[ChrisB]

You could say that for a lot of places with stations

[rogerpatenall]

Just rename Castle Cary to castle Cary for Shepton Mallet

or - for simplicity - "Shepton Mallet Road" (or Somerton Road, or . . . 

[grahame]

Just rename Castle Cary to castle Cary for Shepton Mallet

or - for simplicity - "Shepton Mallet Road" (or Somerton Road, or . . . 

[Bmblbzzz]

Here's an alternative modest proposal (or thought experiment!), requiring just a few billion pounds and a huge amount of political will:

These might be said to be the same thing: if the political will is there, the money can be found (or borrowed, begged, stolen or harvested).