page_title: Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Midsomer Norton South Signal Box
context_page_description: The Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust is a UK-registered charity which owns the museum and railway at Midsomer Norton railway station. Commercial activities such as catering, retail services and the operation of public trains over the original trackbed come under the control of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway Company Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trust. It is separate to and should not be confused with the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust, which is located at the West Somerset Railway's Washford railway station.
context_section_description: The S&D Heritage Trust was formed some 30 years after the closure of the S&DJR in 1966 under the Beeching Axe, headquartered in Midsomer Norton. The station site was sold in 1969 to a local school, and then in 1995 to the Wansdyke district council, who leased it to the Trust to restore to its 1950s condition.
  The Trust has since restored the original station buildings, a signalbox and a goods shed. A museum is located in an old horse stable block that houses a collection of S&DJR memorabilia, and there is also a pillbox with World War II exhibits. Having agreed a lease arrangement with the trackbed owners, the Trust has over time relaid the track which now runs for 1 mile from the station up the ruling 1:50 gradient to the infilled cutting towards Chilcompton. The railway bridge over Silver St has been removed, and further extension Southwards will require removal of the in-fill and restoration of the former Chilcompton railway tunnel.
  In May 2013 an online appeal was launched to raise £500,000 by 30 September 2013 to purchase the station at the summit of the S&DJR at Masbury. The Trust eventually raised only £80,000 by the deadline, and the site was sold to another party.
caption: The restored signal box
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