I don't know if you know, but reading in the latest Rail magazine which came out today (26/10/05) that Christian Wolmar says in his article that the Severn Beach line may be reduced to a guided bus way or replaced by buses.

As someone who has used the line in the past, it is very busy in the mornings and evenings especially to Clifton Down, Stapleton Road, and very cheap. As someone coming in from Chippenham, I used to have the portion to Clifton thrown in for free in the ticket price.

As a professional railwayman who has been working in the industry for a number of years as well as an enthusiast, I feel that the campaign for Melksham will fall on deaf ears despite our best interests as Labour have no intention to improve or expand rail services in England. If Melksham was in Wales or in Scotland we might have a better chance, but the general theme seems to be one of saving money. The government is afraid of spending any more money on rail after the huge cost overruns on the West Coast Main Line, studies on Thameslink 2000, and Cross rail.

Last year I recall the DFT - Department for Transport advertised for the position of closures manager, to oversee the closure of parts of the network. I am afraid if this daft government gets its real agenda in full swing, there will be the mass cull of rural rail lines and stations. Time to emigrate from this useless country I think. They've mucked up our NHS, our car and shipping industry is no more, mucked up the power industry so we have the prospect of blackouts in under 10 years, driven out manufacturing and decimated our rail industry of talented people. Both political parties are as bad as each other.

If BR managed ok with a billion of taxpayers money, why does it cost almost £b 6.5 to offer the same amount of service.

You'll find that you do have the support of the railway operation staff too ... at least with the current operator.   Nick, you're right - we need to keep writing letters and keep on the map ...

1. Melksham

2. The ONLY rail link across Wiltshire from North to South

3. The railway that links the major centres of Swindon and Southampton

The more reasoned noise, the better. Yes.  But - please - reasoned;  I'm not one for stretching points and coming up with a demonstrably wrong or emotional argument in an otherwise good approach will question the reliability of the rest of the approach.  I remember a neighbour we used to live next door to; she had some good arguments but she had some wacky ideas too, and the next result was "Oh, it's just xxxxx again" and her good arguments got discounted right away.