Formed in October 2003 by a Wisbech businessman, there is a group who are doing their best to raise money to re-open the now disused railway line between Wisbech and March. Initially, it is intended to start as a Heritage Line, then when up to the required standard, offer it to freight.
Anybody requiring fruther information on the Group, should go to either www.bramleyline.org.uk or www.freewebs.com/bramleylinesupporters only.
If you care to go to www.bramleyline.org.uk you will see there is an addition to the website by way of a blog and photo's taken just last week of a job the TCT did and since rightly, very Highly praised for.
People keep asking when we will be running, so my answer is: "When we can get More volunteers to help raise the funds needed, then we can get it open that much quicker. Until then, are You free to help us?"
I would like to correct some misinformation about this heritage attempt.
The £10k needed is an annual fee for the lease of the line. It is unrealistic for a small group of enthusiasts to try and raise such sums from collecting spare change once or annually. Even if they found £10k in one year, it would only allow them to start work on repairing the line which requires the construction of several passing loops, replacement of several hundred sleepers, strengthening of the bridge near March, building 3 stations, laying track at Wisbech and replacing shoes on the rails. A health and safety inspection would be needed before any trains could be allowed to run and this would be stringent. All this is before any money is spent on acquiring and running actual trains which is significant in itself of course especially with limited volunteers. As such it is implausible that such a scheme would ever work hence the local council refused to fund even a feasabiity study.
For this reason it is not a sound commercial business venture and should not be supported. Instead people's efforts could be better spent in lobbying for the implementation of the recent ATOC report which promoted the reinstatement of passenger carrying traffic on the line and would lead to the economic regeneration of Wisbech, allowing commuters to access the rest of the country's rail network. The cost of such a scheme is £12m which is affordable to a larrge commercial operator and puts into perspective the heritage group's own plans to raise such sums via collection of loose change. It may also lead to a revival in freight traffic which would also ease road congestion in the region.
It is important to distinguish between Mr Baylis' personal desire to run trains for his own amusement on a stretch of track with no obvious tourist interest and the social and economic interests of the wider community.
Once again the true colours of the Bramley line members are quickly shown. I wrote a factual piece about the railway and was met with a torrent of abuse by increasingly embittered people and such an attitude is prevalent on their own websites. The irony of quoting the rules of the forum is clearly lost on you both when you reply in such a way and I laugh off your hypocrisy. It is well known in the internet community of heritage railways that you have been forced off larger forums like google's uk.railway for the same reason. Also, readers of Railways Illustrated (whose editor lives in the area) recently wrote in his editorial that whilst most heritage lines are well-meaning, that there are nevertheless "...some bad apples in the parish", a clear swipe at the Bramley line. Your few outlets for communicating with the outside world are now mainly internet forums of which bramleyman is a "moderator" i.e. so he can block criticism of himself and seemingly post with impunity.
The fact remains that the line has little tourist interest. According to the Bramleyline's own site, local "attractions" include the Octavia Hill's birthplace museum and the Wisbech & Fenland and March museums (neither of which are open on Sundays when most people might visit a heritage line and not exactly fun days out for the whole family either, especially young children). Also the abundance of exisitng heritage lines in Norfolk and the NVR show that the market is already well catered-for.
Re the recent "inspection" of Chain Bridge - this was done by Bramleyman himself and there are photos to prove it. Enough said. No trains have been over this line since 2001 due to its poor state. There is also photographic evidence of members cutting down a mature tree to make way for a station at March in an optimistic act of vandalism of the wildlife habitat and other photos showing someone holding a chainsaw above their head in a highly dangerous way. Do Network Rail know about this - I should write.
I strongly urge you to back the ATOC report and campaign for a passenger service to Wisbech which would benefit all the community not just yourselves. It could take as little as 5 years whereas in 5 years' time you will be repainting the white fence at the level crossing at March. I do not wish to attend your meetings because I would not be able to speak unless I became a member of your organisation - another one of your ways to suppress the voices of those who dare to have a different opinion. If this is how you act now I dread to think what sort of railway you would run and whether people like myself would even be allowed on it.
I would also like to see a resurgence in freight on the route and given the expansion of Whitemoor phase 2 and the local economy in Wisbech currently dependent on road haulage there is a more realistic possibility of a commercial freight operator being tempted back to the area. Both passenger and freight options are environmentally friendly and sustainable and would enhance the region's prosperity. This far outweighs any possible tourist trade from running a diesel railway through sparse fenland and should be pushed for at every opportunity.
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