Michael Portillo has paid tribute to the Somerset and Dorset Railway, fifty years on from its closure, visiting both Radstock Musem and Midsomer Norton South Station as part of the programme, ‘Living in ‘66: All change for the West’, which was shown last Wednesday on BBC One.

The thirty-minute programme also sees him interview locals, Bryn Hawkins and Andrew Linham, about their railway memories.

Portillo picks up the track from Bath’s Green Park Station, riding a bike through to the Two Tunnels, then on to Wellow, interviewing locals with connections to the

railway along the way. At Midsomer Norton South, he catches a vintage bus to

Radstock Museum, and then on to Glastonbury and Street, where coal was transported to Clarks shoe factory. Back at Midsomer Norton South,

the programme admires the dedicated volunteers who have restored our local

station, while the finishing touches are made to a restored coach. The programme then moves on to the Gartell Light Railway, south of Templecombe. It also pays tribute to ex-racing driver, Ivo Peters, the prolific photographer who would often race local trains in his Bentley to get the perfect shot.

Radstock resident, Andrew Linham, was interviewed as part of the programme as an amateur filmmaker who captured the final years of local steam trains. His father could see that with the growing reliance on cars, the railway’s days were numbered, and so encouraged his son to capture the images on film.

Andrew says:?“It all happened in a very roundabout way. We had a chap come to talk to us at Probus and it turned out that he had filmed some of the local railway here as well. One Saturday afternoon he rang me, asking if he could pass my number to David Parker, who he knew was producing a programme on the S&D closure.

“David duly rang and what he had in mind was to project it onto the museum coalface whilst the interview was taking place.

“We went along around about February/March time. It was really interesting, Michael Portillo was absolutely charming. Before we did anything we had to sit and have a cup of tea and a slice of cake – it was like we had all known each other forever. It’s something I will never forget.

“I began filming in 1963, but only really started on the S&D when it was on its knees. After it had closed and I was married, we moved to Radstock, where I discovered that Kilmersdon colliery was running a little tank locomotive and spent a week there filming whilst I had some time off.”

Ex-miner, Bryn Hawkins, was also interviewed, recalling his memories having taken an apprenticeship with the Coal Board when he was just fifteen-years-old. He said: “We were interviewed for around three hours, when the final clip is actually only around three minutes long. Michael is a very nice man and very professional, but it was a bit disappointing for the museum, because it didn’t really end up with any coverage.”

But Andrew adds: “Michael had a good wander around the museum and was really impressed. It was certainly a good shot in the arm for Radstock!”

Mr Linham will be showing his S&D film and Kilmersdon footage which appeared during the BBC One programme, during the first of the Musem’s Science in Radstock talks, which resume in October.