A ride along the West Somerset Railway from Minehead. The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a 22.75-mile (36.6 km) heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the track and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which is supported and minority owned by charitable trust the West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA). The WSR plc operates services using both heritage steam and diesel trains. It originally opened in 1862 between Taunton and Watchet. In 1874 it was extended from Watchet to Minehead by the Minehead Railway. Although just a single track, improvements were needed in the first half of the twentieth century to accommodate the significant number of tourists that wished to travel to the Somerset coast. The line was closed by British Rail in 1971 and reopened in 1976 as a heritage line. It is the longest standard gauge heritage railway in the United Kingdom. Services normally operate over just the 20.5 miles (33.0 km) between Minehead and Bishops Lydeard. During special events some trains continue a further two miles to Norton Fitzwarren where a connection to Network Rail allows occasional through trains to operate onto the national network. Check out the blog: travelshorts.com Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/#!/diveteam Facebook: www.facebook.com/travelshorts Flickr Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/travelshorts Google+: plus.google.com/+Travelshorts_dotcom Subscribe to my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=travelshorts Find more videos: www.youtube.com/travelshorts

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