A LOOK back through the files of the Malvern Gazette from when the town last stood at the beginning of a new century provides evidence that some things seem destined never to come to pass.

The edition of September 7, 1900, reveals the latest installment in what had been a hot topic of debate - the proposed funicular railway.

A Mr O Birchall turned his pen to the subject, the latest in a series of writers to do so, in a letter to the editor.

"A funicular railway may be in some cases a very useful and interesting triumph of engineering skill, but, on the Malvern Hills, it would be no better than a senseless outrage on nature," he wrote.

"Let those who seek childish amusement, or those who more artfully design to exploit trippers, go to some crowded resort like Blackpool, where a Big Wheel or an Eiffel Tower, rising alone from a flat plain, is an imposing object; but spare the peculiar beauty and use of these hills, so carefully preserved hitherto."

The theme had already been taken up. 'A Visitor' to West Malvern wrote: "Surely it is not worth destroying the calm and beauty of these lovely hills to enable a few trippers make the ascents in a shorter time."

There was some support. 'Lodging House Keeper' wrote saying there "could be no reasonable objection to a line" and went on to suggest possible variations to the route. The author was picking up the theme from 'Boarding House Keeper' the previous week, who wrote: "As an old resident, and one who for many years has been brought into daily contact with a large number of visitors, I'm decidedly of opinion that this would prove a great boon to many who are not strong enough to mount our gentle slopes."

And so it goes on. The railway has never been built but the ambitious plan has never quite died.

The Malvern Gazette of March 13, 1998, carried details of a report by the Civic Trust Regeneration Unit, commissioned to produce Malvern: A Common Agenda by Malvern Town Council. Among its ideas for tourism? - "Look at the possibility of creating a funicular railway up Happy Valley into the Hills"