Serene & Delightful: A Portrait of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway скачать в хорошем качестве

Serene & Delightful: A Portrait of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway

While sorting through some old audio cassette tapes recently, I came across this recording of a programme that was broadcast on BBC Radio Bristol in, I believe, December 1979. It was called "Serene & Delightful: A Portrait of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway" and was presented by the late Roger Bennett who was a regular presenter on Radio Bristol, as well as being an accomplished jazz musician, playing soprano saxophone and clarinet with his Blue Notes band. This delightful half-hour programme has most likely never been aired since then and, at the time, would probably have only been broadcast in the Radio Bristol area. This is a shame because it means that not many people will have ever heard it. That is until now because I thought that I would digitize my recording and upload it to YouTube so that anyone who is interested in railways in general and in the S&D in particular will be able to listen to it. You will see that I have accompanied the audio file with many of the photographs that I have taken of the S&D's remains during recent years, as well as one or two from the late 1980s and early 1990s. I have also included quite a few photos taken at Midsomer Norton and Shillingstone where the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust and the North Dorset Railway, respectively, are both doing an amazing job at trying to restore what they can of this famous and much-missed railway and they both should be supported at every opportunity. I have also included a few photos of the railway taken during its operational days that were taken by photographers who, unfortunately, I have been unable to identify so I hope they do not mind me using their excellent work. Of course, to make this programme available now is quite timely since it is 59 years ago this month, on the 7 March 1966 to be precise, that the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway was closed by the then Labour Transport Minister, Tom Fraser. Therefore, it is thanks to him, as well as to his immediate predecessor, the Conservative Transport Minister, Ernest Marples, and, of course, to Dr Beeching, the author of 'The Reshaping of British Railways' (to my mind one of the most notorious government reports of the 20th century) that we are no longer able to travel on this wonderful railway. So I really do hope that you enjoy listening to this lovely little programme and please bear in mind that it was broadcast in 1979 and, as such, the announcement at the end, stating that reminders of the S&D's history can be seen at the Somerset & Dorset Railway Museum Trust at Washford is not now the case since the Trust have since vacated the Washford site. I am also not sure what, if any, reminders there are at the East Somerset Railway at Cranmore.