Within the rich and varied tapestry of a century and half or so of steam railway operation, there are a few locations which became iconic in the eyes of those who loved them, generating almost mythical status, thanks to powerful photographs and impressive Stories.
The utterly lovely Somerset & Dorset line, from Bath to Bournemouth was one such railway, with a litany of place names of such Englishness they could have come from the pages of Agatha Christie or Enid Blyton Midsomer Norton, Evercreech Junction, Chilcompton, Midford… and so many more…
Notwithstanding its great and unquestioned beauty, it’s entirely possible that the S&D might have remained, like countless other rural and cross country railways, relatively obscure and little known, had it not been for the captivating photography of Ivo Peters,…