It's 1963, before Dr Beeching is wielding his axe to the wonderful railway network that Britain was once blessed with. The great Sir John Betjeman is speaking on a film he made for the BBC warning the nation of the devastation to come. If only those in power had ever listened. Betjeman narrates as we see him standing on the footbridge over the tracks at Evercreek Junction, though he actually added the words later in a recording studio.
"The level-crossing gates are worked from the signal box. Here comes the 12.32 from Sturminster Newton, on her way to Bath. Calling at Evercreek Junction, change for Glastonbury, Shapwick and stations to Highbridge." We then see Betjeman boarding the train as he talks over film again. "And as we say goodbye to the station master please notice that on expenses I'm travelling first class.
"Forget motor cars, get rid of anxiety.
"And here, to the rhythm of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, dream again that ambitious Victorian dream which caused this long railway to still be running through deepest, quietest, flattest, remotest, least spoilt Somerset."
Sadly, the whole of the S & D was closed down only three years later.
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