Alex Coomber
Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway. Bath Green Park to Templecombe. Opened between 1962 and 1874. Closed in 1966. Bath Green Park, Midford, Wellow, Radstock North, Midsomer Norton, Chilcompton, Binegar, Masbury, Shepton Mallet, Evercreech New, Evercreech Junction, Cole, Wincanton and Templecombe. Building its heavily engineered Bath Extension over the Mendip Hills in the 1870s left the Somerset & Dorset Railway virtually bankrupt. It was saved jointly by the Midland Railway and the London & South Western Railway in 1875 and the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway was born. It's lifeblood was through traffic between The Midlands and the North to destinations on the South Coast. But withdrawal of these through services in 1962 inevitably led to its closure in 1966. A notable victim of Dr Beechings Axe. Mourned by its faithful railway workers and by railway lovers across the UK. The northerly section of the railway has more recently been reborn as a footpath and cycleway through Britains longest walking and cycling tunnel.
