Avon Valley Boat Train 

Thanks again McMetro. Well, certainly Green belt for sure, but a station need not encroach much I would have thought. My hero at AVR was Bob Hitchings, who did so so much for it, but he has sadly passed on now. I hope this video might stir some new thought and real action at last, as well as giving a little bit of insight into what the man behind the David & Charles imprint was like. I once had a very enjoyable visit to D&C HQ, meeting Geoffrey Kichenside down there, re publishing 'British Rail in Action'. Very sad about the shortened HST accident today. Best Wishes, Philip

@@philipfowler5280 I've recently been watching a DVD on the history of the AVR a few times recently and a history of Bristol's railways - both of which feature Bob Hitchings. I can vaguely remember him and from what I have seen on the DVDs, he seems he was a fantastic man! Hopefully this video should cause a few thoughts within the AVR of what is the main goal and that it can hopefully be achieved in the coming years and not in the distant future. With Avon Riverside slowly becoming a quite a distant memory, I personally feel the time is right to work with BANES to see what can happen. Very upsetting about the Scotrail HST set, my heart goes out to the families. Fortunately, this is something very rare and hopefully something that will not be seen again. I wonder if RAIB will somehow point out it was somewhat due to the age of the loco even though it is most likely due to landslide.

Yup@@McMetro, Bob, OBE, had spectacularly overcome his physical handicaps at Remploy and then AVR. It's about time for his dream to be made reality. The movers and shakers at Bristol's council have a blind side to Rail; AVR seems to have a blind spot about boats. That river, the Avon, is AVR's wonderful asset! Even a short extension could be worked the way they used to until Riverside was built, by push-pull, or have the dmu running a shuttle. That would be fun! 'All change at Riverside'. Issue commemorative tickets... Regards, Philip

@@philipfowler5280 Yes, the Avon and its bridges are fantastic and part of a river-rail experince you don't find everywhere else. When the AVR do extend to Kelston it will probably be years until the funds are raised to go all the way to Bath, so that would most likely mean installing a passing loop there, even though push-pull would work in the short term. Personally it would be fantastic if all the funds were raised and instead of stages, it was full steam ahead to Bath, with the line going all the way to bath and just a platform installed there for the time being along with a platform at Kelston, then there would be no need for a passing loop there. I hope Bath Newbridge station will be somewhat as great as the Severn Valley Railway's Kidderminster Town new-build station, obviously in Midland style. I also wonder if Avon Riverside will get a second platform? It will be in the centre of the line and the middle station so for two train operation, which will most likely become the norm when bath is reached, the trains will need to pass and I would have thought the centre would be more suitable. And if all 3 through stations (Bitton, Avon Riverside, Kelston) were to have two platforms, this would allow for 3 trains - something fantastic for galas! There is me going on a bit there, hopefully a few of my endless questions in the coming years.

Hi @@McMetro Thanks for your thoughts! Until James Dyson pulled out of electric cars, I fancied persuading him to help with the Extension, and run - standard or narrow Gauge - prototypes on it. Publicity all round. Win Win as they say. Fancy a stop at Dyson Halt? Or Dyson Park? He's not the only entrepreneur who might be interested in such a project, either. Best Wishes, Philip