Bath Green Park to Bournemouth (for the last time)

The last train from Bath Green Park to Bournemouth ran over the Somerset & Dorset railway on March 5th 1966.

[@lesbrewer3105]

We moved to Shepton Mallet just over a year ago, and we have been fascinated with the history of our town that we moved too. The fact that shepton once had two railways with its own stations is incredible. I have been really blessed to find this amazing footage of this historic journey as well and I will watch this many times again. Thank you for sharing it with us..........

[@GNRA1GreatNorthern1470]

The lose of one of Britian's greatest railways, godspeed S&D trust, hopefully youll make it to Bath.

[@0230179]

Best quality film of S&D I have seen for a long time

[@williamknuckey157]

We are lucky to have this to remember the Slow and Dirty as well as all the photos of Ivo Peters

[@petec2583]

Some of the best footage I've seen of Bath Green Park... I really wish I could have seen it as an operational station and not a supermarket as it's been for my whole lifetime.

[@SaxonSuccess]

Yes, that's right but at least they didn't knock it down and build offices on the site. But I share your pain.

[@petercoimbs6349]

Such a waste of a truly scenic line a comple lack of foresight and no ambition by Barbra Castle and others at that time it might be gone but will never be forgotten so sad

[@dunnyraildunnybahn5481]

Mother and baby plus all those other assorted bods on the track, what a contrast to today’s attitude to public on the track.

[@SaxonSuccess]

Yes, it made my heart sing. People demonstrating their love of their railway.

[@levelcrossing150]

A beautiful quality video with plenty of views that are not usually seen.

[@pwilkinson43]

Fabulous but very sad. I some cases, economics should not always be the only consideration when raiways are closed.

[@djburland]

A sad and mournful day!

[@musicurio]

Thanks so much! A truly amazing expose of a lost world.

[@christophernewman5027]

My father, my older brother and myself were on this train. Hey ho... Xoxox

[@michaelnewman1920]

Miss this line and everyone working on it so much, Thanks for sharing this great film

[@geoffbarry9540]

Not only a fantastic time capsule of an iconic line but, despite the depredations of the Western Region, still even at this late stage in its life a terrific testament to the pride that all who worked on it clearly felt for the old girl. Forget the trains; look at the condition of the stations, boxes and, most of all, the permanent way and lineside. In 1966 there must have been very few routes which were so demonstrably well maintained as this. Many years ago I saw pictures in BRILL of "showcase" P-way from the 30s on the old NE which were no better looking than much of what is seen here. Pride in a job still done properly, every day, regardless of what was happening or what threatened on the horizon. I visited Green Park in 1998 while on holiday in England and could still feel the ghosts and hear their voices...

[@Thunderer0872]

At Radstock you can see them connect the GWR (South) to the S&D (North) with a new section of track so the scrap trains can come in from Westbury via Frome to take up the track, hence them running wrong line through there. Great quality film for it's age.

[@johnjephcote7636]

Radstock created road chaos when I first knew the area. Summer road traffic on the Bath road would wait for the trains on the GW line and then be held up by the succession of holiday specials on the S&D...sometimes both sets of crossing gates at once.

[@timwebster8122]

Was also used for coal out of Radstock

[@Thunderer0872]

@@timwebster8122 Coal finished when the line finished or very soon after.

[@Thunderer0872]

@@johnjephcote7636 Yes the road level crossings were well known for the traffic jams when trains were running on both lines. the S&D had a dive under road for road traffic. in the film I was talking about the physical rail connection being slotted in for post railway operations.

[@timwebster8122]

@@Thunderer0872 1973.

[@grendel_nz]

Nice to have peace, no unnecessary muzak.

[@veryhappychappy12]

Seconded!

[@johnjephcote7636]

All those places i remember. I used the line in its heyday and right at the end and in the early to mid 1970s, l studied, lived and worked in the area. Very good filming!

[@dodgy1954]

This is one of the best films of the S&D ‘s last days that I have seen. Wonderfully atmospheric.

[@zigzogoid4591]

Great shots of a busy Bournemouth Shed. Visited a few times in 1967 with my big brother shortly before the end. Thanks for posting, a real gem.

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

The station canopy of bath green park is still here as of today But the station has been converted into a car park and a supermarket of Sainsbury’s

[@jeremypreece870]

A great piece of history and at the same time, very sad. Such a destruction of magnificent engineering, the lines, the trains, the stations and the signal boxes and other lineside buildings.

[@rodsmith2031]

Terrific, nostalgic, footage.

[@willjones4085]

Incredible film, has it been stored in a private collection up until now? Really captures the mood of S&D closure & such steady camerawork.

[@kiwitrains]

Just great never went there but it is really sad it is no more.👍

[@stuartbroome1258]

Really excellent footage, and ti think that you only got 3 minutes of film per reel on Standard 8. Thank you for up loading it.

[@amazoniaamazonia7225]

Such an important archive, who is it accredited to? thank you for sharing.

[@bobtudbury8505]

thank you the labour party , for closing down 99% of the railways in the 60's .The party of the workers my backside

[@johnjephcote7636]

Mrs. Castle did worse than Beeching for the S&D.

[@levelcrossing150]

Proud railway company's invested and built these lines with beautiful architecture, and wonderful structures that were built to last. Then our governments came along and destroyed them with insane haste, and let the property developers build upon them as quick as they could so they could never be brought back.

[@bobtudbury8505]

@@levelcrossing150 the railways were losing over 100,000 pounds a day? if people like you are interested to save things then when something is losing huge amounts ,then please you and your mates club together and volunter to pay an extra 10% wages at least, you , not me or the rest

[@levelcrossing150]

@@bobtudbury8505 When they cancelled all these lines nobody thought of the impact it would make to people that still used them. It should not all be about profit but they should be maintained as a service and life line to all people, not forgetting the jobs created resulting in prosperity in their areas. Stories of all kinds of tricks were played to show certain railway lines were doing badly, trains were diverted away from lines, connections were timed badly and surveys were done during school holidays. Think about HS2, is that worth the cost? It was supposed to extend to the North but that has been cancelled now, so what use is it? At the very least these closed lines should have been mothballed. The proof is that railways have been reopened in recent years and there is a demand for others to be reopened too, showing that they should never have been closed in the first place, it's costing far more to replace them now. At least we would see something for the excessive taxes we now pay these days, I see an excessive waste of public money otherwise. I've already paid more than my 10% in taxes throughout my life and have seen very little for it.

[@johnnyc4867]

Dr Beeching was appointed by a conservative government and even he didn't close 99% of the railways.

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

Ah yeah this is the last train to leave bath green park before closing altogether in that year 1966

[@amazoniaamazonia7225]

O:43 Big chap wearing the Trilby hat, looks like Bristol traction inspector Eric Webb.

[@Thunderer0872]

Good quality film stock nice clear picture, sign says Passenger must not cross the line here, cuts to half the train all wondering around Templecombe on the main line with the down starter signal pulled off, crazy scenes. I know it was a different time, but that and the mum with baby stood on the tracks at Bath makes my blood boil at how stupid people can be.

[@davidowen6977]

And washing on the line 👍

[@laurenceskinnerton73]

Interesting.

[@AXE668]

"Passengers must NOT cross the line here"..Cut to hundreds of passengers doing just that! Nice.