That's a picture that I took yesterday at Savernake, invoking thoughts of the Beeching era where the rail network was decimated, with many local and long distance services removed for ever.  At Savernake, the main London to Taunton, Exeter and Plymouth is all that remains, and even that is stripped of local services.  The branch to Marlborough, and the cross country route from Southampton to Cheltenham via Swindon (The Midland and South West junction) are long since gone.

There was some case for rationalisation. Two seperate lines from Savernake to Marlborough didn't make economic sense, and both should have been (and were) consolidated onto one line in the last few years of a there being a true rail network - but then even that was broken up and now so little remains.

Would a railway to Marlborough make sense today?  Should the second line have been removed under the direction of Dr Beeching?  I don't know much of the travel habits of the residents of Marlborough and visitors to the town, but I was talking with a regular traveller from Marlborough to London last Friday evening, and he was telling me that the two railheads for Marlborough - Pewsey and Great Bedwyn - get busier and busier year by year.   Where 30 people might have travelled ten years ago, there are 200 today.  Trains packed to 'standing room only' by Newbury ...

Were the track still laid in to Marlborough - were the grassy area to the right of this picture of the old Savernake station site still railed - what better than to extent the Great Bedwyn service through to Savenake for Burage, and Marlborough.  Of course, it won't happen ... or perhaps won't happen YET.  Didn't I hear that oil's running out and we should be using fuel efficient transport?