Spetisbury Station
Fair enough, as it is an exaggeration. However, I've long had the opinion that Britain would fall apart if it wasn't for volunteers. They put so much into all sorts of support for people; all sorts of work for wildlife and of course for all sorts of industrial and transport history.
Just the platforms remain as original evidence at Spetisbury Halt on the S&D (Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway). In this instance it is a rather mixed and currently sad story. After considerable effort, a totally overgrown ex-station was cleared of overgrowth. Then along came covid meaning no work parties and it was almost back to square one. One our visit, a married couple, one of whom is seen here, were trying to remove ivy from the platform. They had made a 20 mile round trip to do the work and said they only had one other person to help who came by bus from Poole. Nobody from the local village volunteered despite some clearly using the North Dorset Trailway which now follows the old track. It was suggested by them (and independently by another gentleman we spoke to later) that this was largely because no 'locals' lived there any more as the properties had all been bought up by Londoners. Sadly, a round trip of 40 miles is too far for us to help out on a regular basis which is what is needed.
There are lots of old photos in this link. Also, scroll well down and there are some great personal recollections!
Spetisbury Station
Fair enough, as it is an exaggeration. However, I've long had the opinion that Britain would fall apart if it wasn't for volunteers. They put so much into all sorts of support for people; all sorts of work for wildlife and of course for all sorts of industrial and transport history.
Just the platforms remain as original evidence at Spetisbury Halt on the S&D (Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway). In this instance it is a rather mixed and currently sad story. After considerable effort, a totally overgrown ex-station was cleared of overgrowth. Then along came covid meaning no work parties and it was almost back to square one. One our visit, a married couple, one of whom is seen here, were trying to remove ivy from the platform. They had made a 20 mile round trip to do the work and said they only had one other person to help who came by bus from Poole. Nobody from the local village volunteered despite some clearly using the North Dorset Trailway which now follows the old track. It was suggested by them (and independently by another gentleman we spoke to later) that this was largely because no 'locals' lived there any more as the properties had all been bought up by Londoners. Sadly, a round trip of 40 miles is too far for us to help out on a regular basis which is what is needed.
There are lots of old photos in this link. Also, scroll well down and there are some great personal recollections!