Kinver Light Railway

The iconic run along the canal.

Above 3 Kinver station

Surviving trolley pole on the route

Outside the Stewpony Inn, 1901

(Pics sourced via Google)

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Before Beeching was much more than a lumbering toddler looking for nice things that weren't his to break there were occasional closures of railways and tramways in the UK.

An early - and rather tragic - victim was the Kinver Light Railway, which took hordes of Black Country folk out to the country on a route that took in street running and a lovely run along the canal and through the woods to a light railway style station in the picturesque village of Kinver.

It didn't close because it was losing stacks of money but because the tramway network that connected with it closed three weeks later. It would have been stranded had it survived.

What a fantastic asset this would be today! It many ways it was a continental style light railway/tramway on British soil, quote rare over here. It carried milk traffic as well as millions of passengers. It was a line decades ahead of its time really - and hopefully will be rebuilt in the future.

More info (from Wikipedia)

The Kinver Light Railway operated a passenger and freight tramway service between Amblecote and Kinver, in the Midlands of England, between 1901 and 1930.

History

The Kinver Light Railway was a subsidiary of British Electric Traction. They acquired the Dudley and Stourbridge Steam Tramways Company in April 1898 and applied for permission to build a tramway from Amblecote to Kinver.

The route ran from outside the Fish Inn at Amblecote where it had a connection with the Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company tracks. After passing Wollaston and Stourton, it arrived in Kinver.

Passenger service started on 4 April 1901. Although parcels were carried on passenger services from the outset, from September 1903, goods trailer vehicles were attached behind service cars for freight.

The company was taken over by the Dudley, Stourbridge and District Electric Traction Company in 1902 for the sum of £60,000 (£5,817,612 in 2016).

The company made significant money from its freight operation. Substantial quantities of milk were carried, such that occasionally passenger vehicles were commandeered for freight use.

In film

The Sheffield Photo Company produced a film in 1904 entitled A Ride on the Kinver Light Railway. It was directed by Frank Mottershaw, a pioneer film maker.

Closure

The services finished on 8 February 1930, a victim of competition from motorbus traffic, and the final closure took place on 1 March 1930.

Excellent article on the line.

S&D 50+

MIDSOMER NORTON SOUTH

The Jinty arrives (all via Somerset and Dorset Railway Facebook)

Also in steam - the SDRHT's very own Sentinel (via Somerset and Dorset Railway Facebook)

The last Jinty at Midsomer Norton - July 2005 (pic copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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The S&D just keeps getting better and better. The next two weekends will be celebrations up and down the line of the original (and now quickly being forgotten!) closure. Midsomer Norton will be leading the way with two engines in steam, the Gartell will be operating 2 foot gauge versions of the last trains and the last Pines, Shillingstone will be showing off its two steam locos and Spetisbury has a small display. Let's see how many of you can visit all four sites (with a stop off at Midford as well of course, with big news from there being announced after all this is over!)

I shall be going down to Midsomer Norton on a sunny day (if available) or a gloomy one if not! There's no way I'm missing this. I was there for thr 2005 visit of a Jinty and it was an amazing experience. I seem to only have the one photo of that event though, it was the year before I switched to digital!

Threading through the South Downs

LAVANT

(Lavant 24.6.1976 Copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

(Lavant 15.5.1977. Copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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Imagine a single track railway with impressive tile hung stations running through a National Park linking a cathedral city with a country town, using exclusively steam - over bridges and through tunnels cutting through the South Downs.

Not quite the Bluebell or Cuckoo lines - the line was the Chichester to Midhurst branch of the LBSCR. The line closed throughout to passengers as long ago (as did Chichester's other branch line) but kept going with freight traffic throughgout until 1951 when flooding led to an accident which effectively cut the line between Cocking and Midhurst. Most of the remainder of the line closed in 1953, apart from the two mile section to Lavant which remained open until 1970 for seasonal sugarbeet traffic. An even shorter section of the line opened as far as a gravel pit south of Lavant, this final section closing as late as 1991.

(Near Lavant 15.5.1977. Copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

These are the basic facts about this line, but I had a much closer attachment to the route, as back in the late 60s and early 70s it was the closest disused line to where I lived in Littlehampton, and I regularly visited the line at Lavant, just catching it whilst the track was still down. The track ran through the station and tantalising beyond northwards to vanish in long grass with the South Downs as a backdrop. So a regular trip for me in that period was to catch the train from Littlehampton to Chichester, then walk until I could pick up the track south of Lavant.

The line beyond was a mystery to me and I never ventured beyond Lavant in those days. But a few years later I had a motorbike and followed the route northwards. I did get to photograph Cocking station, but Singleton was too scary to approach with it being a working vineyard (a rare thing even in Sussex back in pre-Global Warming days!)

(Cocking 24.6.1976 Copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

I had even been lucky enough to see the closed LBSCR station at Midhurst which marked the northern end of this route back in about 1970, shortly before it was demolished and a year before I started taking pictures. I even found the long abandoned LSWR in Midhurst on the same day which hadn't seen trains stop since 1925 (?) when all services began to use the more imposing LBSCR station.

(Midhurst LBSCR 1958. Source Google)

I haven't been back to this line for many years. The trackbed is now a cycleway and footpath and the station at Lavant has been converted into flats (it was a very big station for a small village!) Singleton is still a vineyard and Cocking is an impressive private house. You'd hardly know Midhurst ever had a station let alone two.

The future? Well Midhurst will need trains again one day, that's for sure. There were three branches to Midhurst, from Chichester, Pulborough and Petersfield. But the most useful line never actually got built - a direct route to London via Fernhurst and the Portsmouth Direct route ...

There have been schemes over the years to reopen at least part of the Midhurst network, albeit as a heritage line. One thing's for sure, no railway ever really dies, and they are all just waiting for their time to come.

Avon Valley Railway 9.2.2016

BITTON

(All 9.2.2016 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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Probably the closest heritage railway to me (other than the Bristol Harbour Railway) is the Avon Valley Railway. It's a strange set up with the trains running out from Bitton towards Oldland Common firstly, followed by a return to Bitton, then a 15 minute wait for the trip out to Riverside. There are about ten minute waits at each end. Basically it means that one train can provide the service. We were lucky to get - again - the DMU on Tuesday. A real test of a heritage line is whether kids like it, and we had a five year old and a seven year old to keep entertained. They oved it and particularly liked the opportunity to go 'free range' throughout the two carriages, plus of course get the view through the front window. They were quickly told NOT to distract the driver!

AVR tickets are rover tickets so you can do as many trips as you want. We did four or five! There's also excellent catering facilities at Bitton and the food was good value, good quality and decent helpings! We made a second trip to the catering coach for tea and cakes later in the day.

The shop is pretty good, mainly because they have an excellent selection of secondhand railway books at VERY reasonable prices and not just the usual generic thoughtless Christmas present dross!

There were a few steam locos at the end of Bitton platform, one actually seemed to be in steam but wasn't being used. I don't think I've ever actually travelled behind steam on the AVR, but that's not a big deal for me anyway!

The only real issue I have with the AVR is its apparent lack of ambition. Bath lies just a mile or two beyond the current eastern terminus at Riverside - a run into the city would attract many extra visitors, mainly from Bath towards Bitton. The original plans for the reopened line were probably 50 years ahead of their time, a commuter service between Bath and Bristol was proposed, with some heritage  services at weekends. Perhaps it's now time to look towards the future and realise that the original plans were simply way ahead of their time. Having travelled between Bath and Bristol lately, on a Sunday evening, on a train that was packed to standing, perhaps it's time to address the capacity issue by offering an alternative. Bath Green Park station is still there ... and the line can be reinstated without too much difficulty ... and eventually the S&D will be returning to Bath. The best days for the AVR lie ahead in the future, but for now it is a very pleasant way to spend a few hours on a winter's day!

Facebook Spotlight Rail Thing - 80s UK Railscene

Weymouth Quay 33 118 14.8.1986

Salisbury 50 043 14.4.1986

206 101 Rye 19.8.1986

(All pics copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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I had a pretty varied 1980s with four long trips to Europe, a driving job that took me all over the country and a reasonable income that allowed me to buy all the film I wanted! I probably took more photos in the 80s than in any other decade - at least until I discovered digital in around 2005.

So I have a vast collection of 1980s shots, many of which still haven't been scanned and uploaded. 

In general the 80s were a transitional decade for rail in the UK. Closures finally came to a halt, the last real closure happening in 1985 when the Eridge to Tunbridge Wells line closed. The first steps towards privatisation were made near the end of the decade, and liveries started to change. I'm not a big loco fan but I'm pretty sure some of the familar locos (and units) started to vanish in this decade too! 

I got to know Switzerland really well and spent probably a year or more there in the 80s - this is reflected in my photos (though not on this group of course!) All in all a great decade for me when I got to do a lot of travelling and photography.

Of course the group isn't just about my photos and travels, there are currently 2,468 members so there is a wide variety of pics and memories on the site!

The Big Issue

(33 044 Salisbury 14.4.1986 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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Back in 1986 we had wonderful Portsmouth to Cardiff trains, with a class 33 at the head of 5 coaches. There were always plenty of seats on the train and it was rare that you couldn't find a whole compartment to yourself. The journey was a pleasure, you could sit back in your deep pile seat, open a picnic lunch and watch the world go by. It was what made railways great, and what attracted a lot of people to the hobby of rail enthusiasm.

Thirty years on you would think that we would have added to the experience, being constantly told that the world is now a far better place, that the country is booming and that railways are the coming thing.

Today we decided to take the train to Bath. It was a Sunday, always a quiet day on the railways. Well, that once was the case! I've noticed railways getting busier and busier over the last few years, but today was a real eyeopener.

Below is the crowd waiting for the 13.10 to Bath and onwards to Portsmouth.

(31.1.2016 Bristol TM copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

We struggled to find a seat on the already packed train, but eventually got one each, but only by asking a couple who'd spread out over four seats to free up some space for us, which they grumpily did. (They were an older pair, not your traditional sullen teenagers!)

After four hours in Bath we returned to Spa station. I was expecting it to be practically deserted on a cold and wet Sunday evening. It wasn't.

Our three coach train came in and it was a nightmare! It was already packed when it pulled into the station, few people seemed to get off, but loads poured on. The end result was not only every seat taken but the entire aisle of the coach was packed - we couldn't even get in there! So NINE of us were stuck in the entrance - and were thrown about all the way to Temple Meads, the only relief was when we stopped at the two intermediate stations and a couple of people got off on to the platform - not to alight but to let other passengers get off the train! Below is an actual picture of this journey!

(A quiet Sunday evening on a cross country route - 31.1.2016 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

It's great that the railways are so busy, but disastrous that people are expected to travel like this. Why isn't the train at least six carriages? Why isn't the alternative route via Bitton open and taking some of this traffic? Why was the line so busy on an ordinary Sunday?

Railways will only get busier as the oil vanishes. The railways will have to take more (and eventually ALL freight), trains will get busier as ridership increases. Why aren't we opening hundreds of miles of railways and tramways each year to cope with something that's no longer a forecast or projection but something that's happening, on the ground, now???

Bristol Harbour Railway 15.5.2010

All 15.5.2010 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

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RAILFILE - BRISTOL HARBOUR RAILWAY

Back in 2010 I went for a long walk down the Create Centre end of the Harbour Railway, capturing its riverside route and also the abandoned track beyond across the old bridge.

I drove past here yesterday and the bridge is now being converted ready for the White Elephant Metro Bus route, which has been VERY controversial in Bristol due to its secrecy, its destruction of countryside, the road works, the cost (both of construction and tickets!) and the route, which goes out of Bristol through countryside and back in again, merging with ordinary road traffic where congestion is worse. This will in the future be a fantastic tram route, but for now we're stuck with something that nobody wanted and very few people will use.

At one time it even threatened the route of the Harbour Railway but even Europe's Least Green City saw that as a step too far!

If anything positive comes out of this (other than the ease with which it will be converted to tram!) it'll be that the Harbour Railway will become far more visible, which can't be a bad thing. The railway is one of Bristiol's best tourist attractions AND one of our best kept secrets! Where else can you travel behind steam on street tracks, and in open carriages at that?

The next trains will be running on the Harbour Railway on 19 March 2016 - it's well worth a visit and all three destinations - M Shed, SS Great Britain and the Create Centre - are all excellent tourist attractions in their own right, and two of them are FREE!