I remember Ad-- Woosh!!

Earlier today the route of a new high-speed railway line was announced by Network Rail. The journey time from London to Scotland would be brought down to 2 hrs 16 mins.
Now at first sight this is a fantastic idea. We have good friends in Edinburgh, Manchester and Liverpool, so this would make them feel that little bit closer. I hate flying anyway, but we would also be less likely to drive. We'd let the train take the strain.

But then I had a little think. We keep focusing on high-speed links, don't we?
Beeching did the same, concentrated on the profitable main lines and cut the branch lines that fed them (I have no idea if this is true, it's just what I was always taught).
When are we going to see the next new meandering country branch line open?

Adlestrop
Yes. I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop—only the name

And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

Edward Thomas

According to Wikipedia (currently):
"The railway station closed in 1966, however the local bus shelter contains a bench which was originally on the platform. A plaque on the bench quotes Thomas’s original poem which describes an uneventful journey Thomas took on June 23 1914 on an Oxford to Worcester express. He did not alight from the train but his poem has immortalised the village throughout the English-speaking world ever since."

I know that from one point of view this is a pseudo-romantic evocation of a fantasy world that never existed. But it does also serve to remind us how much we have thrown away. As does The New Adlestrop - a smashing map.
And of course there is:


All of which is just meant to be a reminder that speed isn't everything, and sometimes other aspects of the way we travel may be more important than the fact that we arrive quickly.

So, let's start the campaign to rebuild and re-open Adlestrop station and all of those other places... Then you can have your high-speed line...

End of very mild rant.

In any case, they probably won't build it. 2020 as the best estimate for the first bit? A Government review also in hand? Helpful to the environment? Huge capital sums required? I don't think so.

Oh well, I was getting quite used to the idea.

(While looking things up for this blog, I encountered / remembered the fact that Jane Austen is also linked to Adlestrop. She seemingly made several visits there to stay with her uncle who was the Church rector and there is a rumour that the house and grounds of Adlestrop Park were used for the setting of Mansfield Park. Amazing).