The Burnham Branch line

Rosemary found this lovely BBC archive film of John Betjeman and the Evercreech to Burnham branch line, unfortunately closed long ago. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03495yn/lets-imagine-a-branch-line-railway-with-john-betjeman

First transmitted in 1963, John Betjeman looks at the Evercreech Junction to Burnham-on-Sea railway line in Somerset. 

Betjeman provides a unique profile of a working steam branch line railway as he travels along the original part of the Somerset Central Railway. Examining towns and stations along the way, Betjeman laments the tragic decline of steam railways. The journey culminates with a stroll around Highbridge Wharf, sentimentally narrated with a poem that sums up Betjeman’s despair; ‘Highbridge Wharf, your hopes have died…’.

More information:

http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/sd-burnham-to-evercreech-junction.htmlhttp://www.captureburnham.co.uk/other/somerset-and-dorset-joint-railway/a-railwayman-remembershttp://www.captureburnham.co.uk/other/somerset-and-dorset-joint-railway

By Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10789291
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David Andrew

About David Andrew

Son of John and Freda. Lives in London, semi-retired academic/educational developer. Admin of this site.

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