Restoring passenger services to Minehead?

[William3000]

I don't understand why railways always need to be "profitable". The A358 and A39 are hopelessly uneconomic, there being no toll-booths between Taunton and Minehead. The cost of maintenance, drainage, policing and accidents on the road must be quite substantial but there is no direct income-source. Yet nobody ever suggests closing roads!

Absolutely this - I point this out all the time. Of course the argument for both -more so for railways is the socioeconomic benefits and environmental benefits.

 

[35B]

Absolutely this - I point this out all the time. Of course the argument for both -more so for railways is the socioeconomic benefits and environmental benefits.

Which is both true in general, and becomes much more complex where that railway is also a major contributor to the local economy, both direct (jobs and purchases) and indirect (benefits to other businesses in the area).

 

[Gloster]

The Minehead branch was always single track, though with some extended loops.

It was double-track Norton Fitzwarren-Bishops Lydeard from 1936 to 1970 and Dunster-Minehead from 1934 to 1966. From 1966 to the 1971 closure Dunster-Minehead was two single-lines not connected at the Minehead end.

Source: Cooke’s Diagrams, Section 15.