At last! A regular train between Minehead and the main rail network. On Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays from 20 July to 27 August 2007 a train will leave Minehead for Bristol. It calls all stations to Bishops Lydeard, then Taunton and then Bristol arriving at 1.46pm. A quick run up the other end for the driver - perhaps with a comfort break in between, before the train sets off at 2.06pm for West Somerset. It would seem to be a train for folks visiting Butlins - the operating days coincide with change-over days. The service is not too bad for a trip to Taunton for West Somerset folks as it allows a couple of hours in the county town before they need to board the train for the trip back along the Minehead branch. Publicity seems to be slow in coming, with the risk of passengers being slow in coming too. Full details can be found at http://www.wsr.org.uk/md2btm2007.htm I hope I can revisit this posting after the summer and report success!

By train from Minehead to Bristol?

No excuses for using another picture of the Virgin Voyager, this time coming across the "ladder" at Norton Fitzwarren and joining the Minehead Branch. At the recent meeting for active volunteers, the Chairman of the WSR Plc announced the possibility of a regular diesel-powered service from Minehead to Bristol during the high summer. Not all arrangements finalised so it would be inappropriate to go into detail at this point in time but the initiative is quite a considerable milestone in the history of the "new" West Somerset Railway. From the re-birth in the early 1970s, it has always been the aim to use the Railway to get folks to and from West Somerset. Excursions have been running for years now, and the Taunton Shuttles during recent Gala events have begun to provide a "public service", but, hey, the Bristol trains, if they happen, will cut a new shine on the Minehead Branch rails.