Every week sees more progress at the Somerset and Dorset Railway at Midsomer Norton. This was the scene on Monday.

One day the S&D will be a key route through Wessex, linking Bath (and possibly Bristol) with Bournemouth, restoring a natural traffic link that was idiotically closed by Londoners. 

Below is an extract from the review of the latest biography of Thomas Hardy.

Thomas Hardy was notoriously inscrutable. Obsessively private and unforthcoming, he took pains to control his public image and protect his legacy from prying eyes and wagging tongues. Such letters and notebooks as survived his death are, with precious few exceptions, ones that Hardy wanted to survive. He even ghosted his own biography; once attributed to his second wife Florence (nee Dugdale), The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy was substantially written by Hardy himself.

Full review of this latest work on Hardy.

Roads, the way backwards ....

It's becoming clearer each day that roads and cars are no answer to future transport needs either in Wessex or elsewhere. We need to provide an easily accessible mix of private and public transport as oil runs out and the weather gets wilder. We need to make a gradual transfer of traffic from roads to rail, starting with freight traffic.




A mile from the first picture this is the remarkable revival of the Somerset and Dorset Railway at Midsomer Norton, a line closed and demolished over 35 years ago. Five years ago this was a derelict site, with no track, falling-down buildings and trees growing where the track now runs. This is the way forwards - eventually this line will run southwards to Shepton and hopefully Templecombe (and Bournemouth eventually) and northwards to Bath .