Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway

The Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER), a broad gauge line friendly to the GWR, was proposing a line to Weymouth from its own main line at Durston, west of Bridgwater, and the WS&WR promoters decided to add a branch to their own line from Frome to Yeovil to meet the B&ER line there, forming a large triangle and making (with the GWR line) a direct route from London to Weymouth. In September 1844 the Board of Trade assented to this addition; this added £350,000 to the capital required: it would now cost £1 million. A month later, at a meeting in Frome on 23 October 1844, the B&ER announced that it had decided to alter the route of its Weymouth branch, running from Durston much further south through Bridport, with a branch to Yeovil. The Yeovil to Weymouth section would not be built, so the WS&WR added that to their own scheme: the capital cost was now to be £1.5 million.[1]

The cities of Bath and Bristol felt left out of these connections to the South Coast, and the Taunton Courier recorded that a deputation of merchants and traders of Bristol had gone to the Great Western Board; they were not warmly received, and

They did obtain that Board's direct admission ... that it was neither expected nor intended that the line to Thingley was to be used as a Communication between Bath and Bradford, but that the intercourse between those two places would be continued as heretofore by coaches and canal.[2]

Hadfield adds in a footnote on the same page that "In fact the [west] curve at Thingley [near Chippenham] was specifically authorised (but not built) to give connection between Bath and Trowbridge."[3]

At this period the Board of Trade determined the relative merits of competing proposals, and the huge stakes meant that it was crucial to secure their approval; it was reported in the London Gazette on 31 Dec 1844 that the Board of Trade were supportive of the WS&WR scheme, provided the GWR sought to construct a connecting line from Bath to join the WS&WR. The GWR immediately undertook to apply for Parliamentary authority for such a line in the 1846 session. However the frenzy of projecting railways at this time was such that the Kennet and Avon Canal proposed laying broad gauge tracks on each side of their canal; this would be the London, Newbury and Bath Direct Railway. It may have been a startling scheme, but it passed its second reading in Parliament in the 1846 session, when the Berks and Hants Railway Bill was thrown out. However the Kennet and Avon company was evidently bought off by the GWR, for they dropped their scheme; their minutes of 9 September 1846 record the first instalment of £5,000 having been received in payment.[4][5]

Having deliberated, the Board of Trade announced their decision: they found in favour of the WS&WR scheme, rejecting the LSWR's Swindon line.

WS&WR lines in 1857

The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway obtained its authorising Act of Parliament on 30 June 1845. It was to be on the same broad gauge as the GWR network, and to run from near Chippenham to Salisbury, with branches to Weymouth, Dorset, Sherborne, Devizes and Bradford-on-Avon, and a coal branch to Radstock. In the same session, authorising Acts were passed for the Berks and Hants Railway (Reading to Hungerford and Basingstoke, sponsored by the GWR) and the Taunton to Yeovil branch of the B&ER.[1]

The routes of the line had been designed in some haste, and after passage of the Act a number of modifications were decided upon; the initially planned GWR route for connecting Bath to the WS&WR had been from the Radstock branch to Twerton, west of Bath, but on 7 October 1845 Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer to the GWR and the WS&WR, reported that a better route was through the Avon valley from Bradford to Bathampton, east of Bath. The course of the WS&WR between Frome and Bruton was modified to make it more suited to main line running; this change, and an extension to the quay at Weymouth, were authorised by Act of 3 August 1846. Next, insurmountable difficulties were discovered over the hilly route between Dorchester and Weymouth, and a major deviation was needed there; this had to be authorised in the 1847 Parliamentary session (on 25 June 1847) so that much time had been lost before construction could start there.[6][7][8]

By now the Southampton and Dorchester Railway, friendly to the LSWR, had reached Dorchester (on 1 June 1847). The line had been independently promoted, and it had wooed both the GWR and the LSWR at times, and its loss to the narrow gauge camp was a blow to the GWR. That company had always intended that the WS&WR should be part of a through main line to Exeter, and was now considering how that might be created; as its construction would put the friendly B&ER at a disadvantage, the GWR proposed purchasing the B&ER, an offer that was rejected. The GWR now actively planned its line to the west: it would infill the Hungerford (Berks and Hants) to Devizes (WS&WR) section, and build a new line from Yeovil (WS&WR) to Exeter via Axminster. This latter line was not built by the GWR,[note 2] but its development as a scheme provoked renewed hostility from the LSWR camp, and also opposition from the otherwise friendly B&ER.[1]

A modern train at Bradford-on-Avon.

Money was difficult to find even for the GWR, and attention was given to reaching places that might bring in extra traffic without great expenditure in getting there. Frome, on the edge of the Somerset coalfield, was such a place, and the line was built there from Westbury. Captain R. W. Lufman of the Board of Trade inspected the section from Westbury to Frome, and approved it, and it opened to the public on 7 October 1850. Warminster, a thriving market town on the future Salisbury line, was also an objective, and the section from Westbury opened on 9 September 1851. The branch line from Frome to Radstock, centre then of the Somerset coalfield, was started too, but then difficulties with getting possession of the necessary land delayed things so much that the branch was put in abeyance.

To generate much-needed capital to complete the line, the GWR created a "Frome, Yeovil and Weymouth Railway" company which was authorised by Act of 30 June 1852 to complete that route: its capital was to be £550,000 with borrowing powers of £183,000. The intention evidently was to arouse local interest—and money—but the latter was not forthcoming and the company was dissolved without achieving anything.

The railway was now open from Thingley Junction, Chippenham, to Frome and Warminster. The authorised spur to Bradford-on-Avon had been built in 1848, before the sale to the GWR, but for reasons that are not clear, this section was not opened; Devizes was to have a branch from the time of the original WS&WR Act. Also before the sale of the WS&WR, the GWR had undertaken to build a line from Bradford to Bath. The citizens of Bradford and Devizes now observed the rival towns of Trowbridge and Frome benefiting from their new rail connection, while they languished without an active railway. Matters escalated until they applied for a writ of mandamus, to compel opening to their towns. The GWR was able to state honestly that shortage of money was a problem and could not simply be overcome. Devizes lost, but the writ for Bradford was made absolute at the end of 1852 obliging the GWR to complete to Bathampton through Bradford, and forbidding payment of dividends after two years until they did so. (In fact the construction proved so difficult that the GWR applied for, and obtained, an extension of time beyond the two years.)[1]

The GWR was anxious to develop local passenger traffic; the early distribution of stations was somewhat sparse. Local requests prompted the GWR to provide a station at Upwey, on the Dorchester to Weymouth section; it opened on 21 June 1871. When the Abbotsbury branch opened in 1885, its junction was south of Upwey and faced Weymouth; on 19 April 1886 an Upwey Junction station was opened to serve it, and the earlier Upwey station was closed.

In 1905 the GWR introduced its steam railmotors as a response to the rising threat of motor bus competition. These were single passenger coaches incorporating a small steam locomotive within the body at one end; cheaper than a full locomotive, they saved time at terminals by not needing to run round. They were equipped with retractable steps and were able to make calls at places with no platform, or only a very low one. They were operated between Dorchester and Weymouth, and new halts were opened for them at Upwey Wishing Well, Came Bridge and Radipole. Upwey Wishing Well was opened on 28 May 1905, and the other two on 1 July 1905. Came Bridge was renamed Monkton and Came Bridge (Golf Links) Halt on 1 October 1905.[14]

In the same year a similar railmotor service was started between Chippenham and Trowbridge, with new halts at Lacock, Beanacre, Broughton Gifford and Staverton.

In 1910 the siding accommodation at Limpley Stoke was much enlarged to handle mineral traffic coming from the Camerton line; it was remarshalled there for onward transit.

Britain had been involved for some time in hostilities in South Africa, and in October 1899 the Second Boer War flared up. The War Office increased the training facilities on Salisbury Plain, in many places alongside the Salisbury line. After the Boer War was settled, tension in Europe developed, leading to the First World War, and special facilities were provided on the line: additional siding accommodation was needed and goods loops, as well as branch lines from Heytesbury to Sutton Veny Camp, and from Codford to Codford Camp. Most of these facilities were removed at the end of the war.

The railmotors were successful, but they had the limitation that they were unable to cope with peaks of traffic, or to run longer distances, and by 1922 the fleet was substantially reduced, and many were withdrawn in 1935.[15] There was a continuing need to respond to local passenger traffic, heightened as improved roads made motor buses more efficient, and in the 1930s a number of halts were opened south of Yeovil, and also Strap Lane Halt near Bruton.

Westbury and Frome avoiding lines

When the cut-off line, from Reading to Taunton via Westbury, was opened, it ran through Westbury and Frome stations. Westbury was not originally aligned for an east–west main line, and Frome station was on an awkward curve; there was a 30 mph (48 km/h) speed restriction at both places for West of England and Weymouth trains, and at Westbury they conflicted with the heavy coal traffic from the Trowbridge line towards Salisbury. The Developments (Loan Guarantees and Grants) Act 1929 was passed to stimulate employment and to encourage industrial development, and the GWR obtained financial assistance from this source to build avoiding lines, bypassing the two stations.

Reading to Taunton: short cuts complete in 1933

Logan and Hemingway of Doncaster were the contractor, and the cost of the works was to be £220,000.[16] The avoiding lines were opened to goods traffic on 1 January 1933, and for all traffic at the beginning of the summer timetable period in 1933.

In 1939 the country was at war again: the Second World War had started. Again the Salisbury line especially received heavy military traffic, and many of the special facilities removed after 1919 were reinstated. In the middle and later years of this war bombing of British towns became widespread, and severing of a railway line caused major disruption to the war effort. Many connections between formerly competing railways were laid in to facilitate routing round blockages. The Clifton Maybank branch at Yeovil had closed in 1937 but its trackbed ran adjacent to the Southern Railway[note 4] and a connection was made enabling trains to run from Castle Cary towards Exeter on the Southern railway line; it opened on 13 October 1943, with considerable assistance from Canadian troops.

Extensive sidings were installed at Lacock for the Air Ministry, and a west curve was made at Thingley Junction. The formation had been made as part of the construction of the original main line of the WS&WR, and if it had been opened it would have allowed through running from Bath to Trowbridge. It was overtaken by the GWR commitment to build the line via Limpley Stoke. The Thingley curve opened in 1942 and was informally referred to as The Air Ministry Loop. It was removed in July 1959, [note 5] but the Lacock Sidings remained until 1964.

When the first line opened from Thingley Junction to Westbury, there were five passenger trains each way; they made more or less reasonable connections with London trains.[17]

By 1895 the service had increased a little in number, with some omitting certain stops; there were through trains from Chippenham to Weymouth. The opening of Bradford north curve in that year enabled through services from Devizes to Bath; in fact many of these ran from Reading to Bath or Bristol, and there was a fast morning up service and evening down; there were six daily trains on the Radstock line, all running through to Bristol via Clutton.[18]

In July 1904 the GWR started running fast trains to Plymouth, running non-stop from Paddington to Plymouth, but this was via the Bristol Relief Line[note 6] The best trains were strictly limited to seven vehicles, and became known as The Limited, although later named The Cornish Riviera Express. On 23 July 1906 (down) and 25 July (up) these trains were diverted to run over the new cut-off line via Lavington, Frome and Somerton, now running non-stop over a distance of 225 miles 57 chains (363.25 km). The down train left Paddington at 10:30, and slipped a coach at Westbury for Weymouth, and at Exeter. The up train was soon altered to call at Exeter. (Several through trains to the West of England continued to run via Bristol.)[13]

When the West of England expresses started using the 1933 avoiding line at Westbury, the Weymouth slip portion of the down Cornish Riviera Express was slipped before reaching Heywood Road Junction; the station pilot then ran out to couple to it and bring it in to the station.[19]

By 1947 the modern distinction between long-distance and purely local passenger trains had arisen. By this time the west of England trains ran over the route via Westbury avoiding line or station, and Frome avoiding line. There were through express trains from London to Weymouth via Westbury and Castle Cary, and an enhanced service from Bristol or Cardiff to Portsmouth Harbour via Westbury and Salisbury.[20]

Little is recorded about goods and mineral traffic in the early years, but an easy and cheap connection was clearly hugely beneficial. Agricultural products, and the inwards requirements of farmers, and also of house and industrial coal and other manufactured goods were all important traffics.

Dominant freight services on the line in later years were coal trains from South Wales, to Southampton and Portsmouth particularly, and also coal from Radstock and Camerton to Bristol and elsewhere.

Opened to Westbury 1848; to Frome 1851; to Yeovil 1856; and to Weymouth 1857.

• Thingley Junction; on the Great Western main line between Chippenham and Corsham;
• Trailing junction for Air Ministry Loop (west curve) 1943–1955;[23]
• Lacock Halt; 1905–1966;
• Beanacre Halt; 1905–1955;
• Melksham; closed 1966; reopened 1985;
• Broughton Gifford Halt; 1905–1955;
• Holt Junction; trailing junction for the line from Devizes 1857–1966; passenger station opened 1861,[note 9] closed 1966;
• Staverton Halt; 1905–1966;
• Bradford North Junction; facing junction for Bradford North Curve 1895–1990;
• Bradford South Junction; trailing junction for the Bathampton line from 1857;
• Trowbridge;
• Hawkeridge Junction; facing junction for Hawkeridge curve, towards Heywood Road Junction and Pewsey from 1942;
• Westbury; original station building had an overall roof; trailing junction from Lavington from 1900; facing junction for the Salisbury line from 1851;
• Fairwood Junction; trailing junction for the Westbury Avoiding Line from 1933;
• Clink Road Junction; facing junction for Frome Avoiding Line from 1933;
• Frome North Junction; facing junction for Radstock branch from 1854, forming a triangle with next from 1875; also known as Frome Mineral Loop Junction;
• Frome station; trailing junction for the Radstock line from 1875; the passenger station has an all-over roof;
• Blatchbridge Junction; trailing junction for the Frome Avoiding Line from 1933;
• Witham; facing junction for Shepton Mallet branch from 1858; station closed 1966; Shepton Mallet line closed to passengers in 1963 and cut back to Cranmore for mineral traffic only in 1969;
• Strap Lane Halt; 1932–1950;
• Bruton;
• Castle Cary;[note 10] facing junction for Somerton and Taunton from 1905;
• Sparkford; closed 1966;
• Marston; renamed Marston Magna 1895; closed 1966;
• Yeovil Pen Mill; facing junction for Yeovil Town 1857 to 1966; originally had an overall roof;
• Yeovil South Junction; facing junction to the former LSWR line from Yeovil Town to Yeovil Junction from 1943; the two routes ran parallel for some distance;
• Clifton Maybank Junction; facing junction for Clifton Maybank, originally break of gauge exchange sidings for the LSWR; closed 1937;
• Thornford Bridge Halt; opened 1936; renamed Thornford 1974;
• Yetminster;
• Chetnole Halt; opened 1933;
• Holywell Tunnel;
• Evershot; closed 1966;
• Cattistock Halt; 1931–1966;
• Maiden Newton; trailing junction for the Bridport branch 1857–1975;
• Grimstone and Frampton; closed 1966;
• Frampton Tunnel;
• Bradford Peverell and Stratton Halt; 1933–1966;
• Poundbury Tunnel;
• Dorchester; renamed Dorchester West 1949;
• Dorchester Junction; trailing junction for the Southampton and Dorchester Railway (later LSWR main line) from 1847;
• Came Bridge Halt; opened 1905; renamed Monkton and Came Halt later in 1905; closed 1957;
• Bincombe Tunnel;
• Upwey Wishing Well Halt; 1905–1957;
• Upwey; 1871–1886;[note 11]
• Upwey Junction; opened 1886; trailing junction for the Abbotsbury branch 1885–1952; renamed Upwey and Broadwey 1953; renamed Upwey 1980;
• Radipole Halt; 1905–1984;
• Weymouth Junction; facing junction for the Portland branch lines until 1965, and the Weymouth Harbour Tramway;
• Weymouth.

Opened 1854 to Warminster, and in 1856 throughout.

• Dilton Marsh Halt; opened 1937;
• Warminster;
• Heytesbury; closed 1955;
• Codford; closed 1955;
• Wylye; closed 1955;
• Langford; closed 1857;
• Wishford; closed 1955;
• Wilton; renamed Wilton North 1949;
• Connection made to former LSWR line east of Wilton in 1973, and remainder of the original GWR route to Salisbury closed;
• Salisbury; originally with over-all roof; LSWR station subsequently built adjacent; closed to passengers 1932.

Opened 1857.

• Bathampton; facing junction on the main line from Bath to Chippenham;
• Limpley Stoke; trailing junction from the Camerton line 1910–1951; station closed 1966;
• Freshford;
• Avoncliff Halt; opened 1906;
• Bradford; renamed Bradford-on-Avon 1899;
• Bradford Tunnel (159 yards);
• Greenland Mill level crossing;
• Bradford West Junction; facing junction for Bradford North Curve, leading to Bradford North Junction 1895–1990;
• Bradford South Junction; trailing junction for the line from Thingley Junction.

Devizes to Holt Junction: opened 1857; never double track; closed 1966

• Devizes; originally had an overall roof with a single platform; Berks and Hants Extension line from Hungerford formed an end-on junction in 1862;
• Bromham and Rowde Halt; opened 1909;
• Seend; opened 1858;
• Semington Halt; opened 1906;
• Holt Junction; trailing junction on the Thingley Junction line.

Frome Mineral Loop Junction[note 12] to Radstock, opened 1854, and from Frome station (and throughout to passengers) forming a triangle from 1875; closed to passengers 1959; never double track; closed beyond Whatley Quarry 1988.

• Frome Mineral Junction; from 1875, the third apex of the Frome triangle;
• Mells; renamed Mells Road 1898;
• Radstock; end on junction formed by the Bristol and North Somerset Railway in 1873 (but break of gauge until 1874); renamed Radstock West 1949.[24][25]

On the post-1933 main line between Westbury and Castle Cary, gradients were significant, rising from Westbury at typically 1 in 151 but with short steeper sections to a summit at Brewham, near Strap Lane Halt; eastbound there was a continuous climb from Castle Cary to Brewham, with a ruling gradient of 1 in 98.

The Weymouth line was very difficult, climbing from Yeovil to a summit at Evershot, with a stiff final climb at 1 in 51, then falling somewhat less steeply and not continuously, to Dorchester. There was a difficult summit over the busy section between there and Weymouth, with a summit at Bincombe. The southbound climb was at 1 in 91 but northbound the gradient was a difficult 1 in 50–52.

Before about 1965, while unfitted[note 13] goods trains were commonplace, line occupation on this busy section of line was significantly limited.

On the Bath to Salisbury line there was a stiff climb from Trowbridge to near Warminster, with a long stretch at 1 in 70 to 76.[26]