BISHOPS LYDEARD 40 YEARS OF PROGRESS
It was over the weekend of June 9/10, 1979 that a gala weekend with a difference was held on the West Somerset Railway.
The event celebrated the extension of regular heritage services from Stogumber to Bishops Lydeard, and the reopening of the Minehead branch all the way to the junction with British Rail at Norton Fitzwarren.
The revivalists were able to proudly boast that they now had the longest independent railway in the UK. The distance from Minehead to the new terminus at Bishops Lydeard is 19½ miles, while the additional stretch to Norton Fitzwarren, still used only on special occasions and for incoming charters, took the length up to 22¾ miles.
The length is still greater than the later Wensleydale Railway at 22 miles, but now short of the Welsh Highland Railway, which stole the British crown with its 25 miles from Porthmadog Harbour station to Caernarfon. However, the West Somerset Railway, with its stunning combination of Quantocks views and Bristol Channel coastal scenery, still tops the standard gauge Premier League.
Due to continuing losses, the Minehead branch was closed by BR on January 2, 1971, to be replaced by a bus service. However, many locals were not prepared to take the closure lying down, and on February 5, 1971, a
