The Midsomer Norton Society will be travelling back to the age of steam on Thursday, 28th March, 7.30 p.m. at the Town Hall with a talk by the Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust.
Representatives of the Trust will relate the history of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, which connected Bath to Bournemouth, as well as bringing us up-to-date on their work today.
With wonderful scenery and varied motive power, the S&D became a mecca for railway enthusiasts and lovers of the countryside. One train in particular is always associated with the line: the Pines Express, which ran from Manchester to Bournemouth, and which was usually operated by two locomotives to cope with the Mendip gradients; running through picturesque stations such as Midsomer Norton, it provided photographers with the chance to capture steam railways at their best.
The good times didn't last, however, and in the late 1950s, the line was run down as part of Dr Beeching's rationalisation programme, passenger services finally ceasing on 7th March 1966.
Midsomer Norton Station faced demolition until being rescued by Somerset Education Authority and used by a local school and college. In the mid-1990s, the site was purchased by the local Council as a potential tourism facility; then, in 1992, a group of dedicated enthusiasts created the Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust to safeguard the remaining track. The Trust took a lease on Midsomer Norton Station in 1996 and the decision was made to create a working heritage railway centre and restore the site to its 1950s' glory.
The evening will be a nostalgic trip down memory lane, visiting again what was for so long a central part of life here locally. For details, contact: 01761 412586.