Wilts, Somerset & Weymouth Railway
Great Western Main Line opened closed Chippenham Thingley Junction Berks and Hants Extension Railway Great Western Main Line Pans Lane Halt Lacock Halt Devizes Beanacre Halt Bromham and Rowde Halt Melksham Seend Broughton Gifford Halt Semington Halt Holt Junction LSWR to London and Southampton Staverton Halt Salisbury Great Western Main Line Bathampton Junction Wilton North │ South Bristol & North Somerset Rly Camerton Branch West of England Main Line Limpley Stoke Wishford Freshford Langford Avoncliff Wylye Bradford-on-Avon Codford Bradford Junction Heytesbury Trowbridge Warminster Westbury North Junction Stert and Westbury Railway to Berks and Hants Ext. Railway Westbury Dilton Marsh Bristol and North Somerset Railway Radstock West Frome Mells Road Witham 1856 1966 East Somerset Railway Strap Lane Halt Bruton Somerset & Dorset Joint Rly Castle Cary Reading to Taunton line Sparkford 1856 1966 Marston Magna 1856 1966 Yeovil to Taunton Line to Taunton Yeovil Pen Mill Yeovil Town 1943 link West of England Main Line Yeovil Junction Clifton Maybank goods Thornford Yetminster Chetnole Halt Evershot Cattistock Bridport Branch Maiden Newton Grimstone Viaduct Grimstone and Frampton 1857 1966 Bradford Peverell & Stratton Halt Dorchester West Dorchester Junction Southampton & Dorchester Rly Monkton and Came Halt Bincombe Tunnel Upwey Wishing Well Halt Upwey original station Abbotsbury Branch Upwey Junction Radipole Halt Portland Branch Railway Weymouth Weymouth Harbour Tramway Weymouth Quay

The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WS&WR) was an early railway company in south-western England. It obtained Parliamentary powers in 1845 to build a railway from near Chippenham in Wiltshire, southward to Salisbury and Weymouth in Dorset. It opened the first part of the network but found it impossible to raise further money and sold its line to the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1850.

The GWR took over the construction and undertook to build an adjacent connecting line; the network was complete in 1857. In the early years of the 20th century the GWR wanted to shorten its route from London to the West of England and built "cut-off" lines in succession to link part of the WS&WR network, so that by 1906 the express trains ran over the Westbury to Castle Cary section. In 1933 further improvements were made, and that part of the line was established as part of the "holiday line" to Devon and Cornwall.

The network was already a major trunk route for coal from South Wales coalfields to southern England, and for Channel Islands farm produce imported through Weymouth Harbour, as well as providing a boat train route, and carrying flows from Bristol to Southampton and Portsmouth.

Much of the network is in operation today, but the Devizes and Radstock branches have closed.

Origins

Frome station and roof in 2016

The Great Western Railway (GWR) had opened its main line from London to Bristol in 1841, and the London and Southampton Railway had opened in 1840; and its successor the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) was extending westwards. The advantage to communities connected to the new railways was immediately apparent; in contrast, places remote from these lines felt strongly the disadvantage at which they were placed.

The areas of south-west Wiltshire were prosperous from sheep farming and wool manufacture, and quickly saw that they too needed a railway.^{[note 1]} The LSWR proposed a line from Basingstoke to Swindon, and at this time there was intense rivalry between them and the GWR to control territory: the railway that was first to have a line in an area would have an enormous competitive advantage there, and could often use that line as a base to extend further. The GWR was building its lines on the 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) broad gauge and the LSWR on what is now the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge (referred to at the time as "narrow gauge"), and they were anxious to ensure that any new independent railway should be on their own preferred track gauge; this rivalry is characterised as the "gauge wars".

The proposed LSWR line to Swindon, the heart of GWR territory, was met with furious opposition, and the GWR promoted two nominally independent lines, the Berks and Hants Railway and the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway. At the first meeting of the nascent GWR company on 9 July 1844, Charles Alexander Saunders, secretary of the GWR, suggested that the necessary sum of £650,000 could be secured on a GWR guarantee; the GWR would be the lessee of the line, and would directly subscribe half of the capital.

The act obtained at last

WS&WR lines in 1857

Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway Act 1845
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent	30 June 1845

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]

First sections: Westbury

Trowbridge station in 1908

Starting from the junction at Thingley, a couple of miles southwest of Chippenham, the line was constructed via Melksham and Trowbridge as far as Westbury. It was inspected by the Board of Trade inspector on 26 August 1848 and approved for opening. After a trial trip for the directors on 2 September, this section was opened to the public on 5 September 1848.^[1] At this date, before the introduction of interlocking signalling, facing junctions on the main line were regarded as potentially dangerous, and therefore the junction at Thingley was laid out so that trains reversed into a siding before continuing on the Westbury line.^[6]

At the same time the spur from Staverton, north of Trowbridge, to Bradford-on-Avon was physically completed, but rails were not laid and it was not presented for opening, so it lay unused for the time being.^{[1][note 3]}

Sale to the GWR

At this period actually obtaining money that had been subscribed was proving exceptionally difficult, and the company was unable to fund continuing construction work. Only the large, established railway companies with an actual income could raise money, and as the pressure increased, the directors realised that the only way forward was to sell their line to the GWR. That decision was taken by them in October 1849, and the transfer took place on 14 March 1850; it was confirmed by an Act of Parliament on 3 July 1851, which dissolved the Wilts, Somerset & Weymouth company.^[9]

Frome and Warminster

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.

1854: completion to Salisbury, Weymouth, Bathampton and Devizes

Bradford on Avon station in 1897

Momentum had been lost—but a lot of money spent—since the original passage of the WS&WR Act in 1845, but there was no alternative to pressing on: the LSWR now had Weymouth in its sights via the Southampton and Dorchester Railway, and it was important to the GWR to secure primacy there. The long onward route from Frome to Weymouth now seemed unattractive. In anticipation of the arrival of railways in their town, the Borough of Weymouth changed from local solar time to railway time on 1 January 1852, a move that was rather premature. At last the mineral branch from Frome to Radstock, just over 8 miles long, was opened on 14 November 1854.

Wearily progressing, the 19+1⁄2 miles (31 km) of the Salisbury branch from Warminster was at last opened on 30 June 1856, to a new terminus at Fisherton Street. At this time the LSWR was still using its Milford terminus, on the other edge of the city. The original impetus for a Salisbury line was access to Southampton over the LSWR, but relations with that company were no longer amicable.

Then Frome to Yeovil was complete and opened on 1 September 1856, and Colonel Yolland inspected the Yeovil to Weymouth section on 15 January 1857. There was a sharp curve connecting the LSWR to the WS&WR line at Dorchester, as the LSWR station had not been aligned for making this connection; Yolland required that LSWR trains on the connecting curve be restricted to 6 mph (10 km/h) and carry a travelling porter. The line to Weymouth opened 20 January 1857;^[6] all these lines were single track, broad gauge, except that double track mixed gauge was provided from Dorchester to Weymouth for the use of LSWR trains, and the Dorchester curve was mixed gauge. The GWR had been forced to agree to lay rails for narrow gauge trains, and the LSWR could be charged 60% of gross receipts over that section. To ensure a strange sort of equity, the Board of Trade required that the LSWR should lay mixed gauge on its line for the same distance, about 8 miles (13 km), eastward from Dorchester, ending "abruptly in mid-country"^[10] near Wool. That cost the LSWR £16,309, and it is likely that the broad gauge rail was never used.

The Bristol and Exeter Railway had opened its line to Yeovil (from Taunton) on 1 October 1853, but its station was at Hendford, on the west side of the town; on 2 February 1857 they opened a connecting line from Hendford to the WS&WR Yeovil station.

The GWR pressed ahead with the Bradford to Bathampton section; forming the line under Dundas Aqueduct for the Kennet and Avon Canal proved particularly difficult. Yolland visited for an inspection on 16 January 1857. He found numerous shortcomings with the track, signalling and buildings and he refused opening. However he reinspected a fortnight later, and the faults had evidently been rectified, for he approved the opening: it took place on 2 February 1857. It was a single broad-gauge track, laid on transverse sleepers, apparently adopted by Brunel as an experiment.^[11] This section joined the original WS&WR main line at Bradford Junction, a little north of Trowbridge; Bradford itself was north of Bradford Junction, that is, on the new section of route.

Finally on 1 July 1857 the Devizes branch was opened, from Holt, north of Trowbridge. The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth network was complete at last.^[6][8]

Branch connections

The Great Way Round to the West of England in 1857

From the completion of the core network in 1857, a number of independent branches and other lines made connection.

The first was the Bridport Railway, a branch line from Maiden Newton to Bridport, which opened 12 November 1857. Bridport was an important town, and had been on a number of projected main lines, but none of those came to being, and the town had to content itself with a branch line connection. The branch was worked by the GWR.

The following year Shepton Mallet gained its railway connection: the East Somerset Railway opened its line from Witham on 9 November 1858. This was extended to Wells on 1 March 1862. Eventually this branch was able to connect through to Yatton at the beginning of 1878.

The original Act authorising the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway had included powers to connect to the harbour at Weymouth, but any such branch extension was forgotten. A local company, the Weymouth and Portland Railway was authorised to build a branch onto the Isle of Portland, with a street tramway from Weymouth station to the Channel Islands quay. The line was opened on 18 October 1865; locomotives were prohibited on the tramway to the quay, and horse traction was used; the line was leased jointly to the LSWR and the GWR.

The standard-gauge Salisbury and Yeovil Railway opened to Yeovil on 1 June 1860; although this was an independent company, the line was part of the LSWR's strategy of reaching the West of England, and on 19 July 1860 the LSWR continuation from Yeovil towards Exeter opened. The GWR built a branch from near their Yeovil station to a goods exchange station at Clifton Maybank, near the LSWR Yeovil Junction station. The exchange station, called Clifton Maybank, was needed because of the gauge difference: goods had to be shifted from wagons of one gauge to wagons of the other. It opened on 13 June 1864.

Gauge conversion and double track

The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway had been built to be part of the Great Western Railway system, and as such used broad-gauge track. In 1874 the GWR decided that it was time to convert to what had become the standard gauge, and the whole of the WS&WR system were converted in a massive operation in June 1874. On 18 June the network was cleared of broad gauge rolling stock and the work of altering the gauge began, and the first standard gauge train ran on 22 June.

The Radstock branch, built as a mineral railway, could now connect directly with its northerly neighbour, the narrow gauge Bristol and North Somerset Railway, which had reached Radstock in 1873. It too had seen coal traffic as it main purpose, but it was a passenger railway too. Now that the break of gauge had been eliminated (by the conversion of the Frome to Radstock branch), the two lines could be worked together, and a passenger service was started from Frome. The original mineral line had a junction from the Westbury junction, diverging before reaching the Frome station, so a west-to-north curve was laid in, and when it was ready, passenger trains operated from Frome to Bristol via Radstock from 5 July 1875.

The line between Thingley Junction and Frome was already double track, and the Yeovil Pen Mill to Evershot section had been doubled in 1858, but the rest was single. The Dorchester to Weymouth section was already mixed gauge, for the LSWR trains.

After the gauge conversion, more sections were provided with double track: Frome to Witham in spring 1875; Witham to Castle Cary in 1880; Castle Cary to Yeovil Pen Mill in 1881; Evershot to Maiden Newton in 1882; Maiden Newton to Grimstone in 1884; and Grimstone to Dorchester in 1885. The Bathampton to Bradford section was doubled on 17 May 1885.^[1][12]

Abbotsbury branch connects

The Abbotsbury Railway finally succeeded in opening its line after serious delays and difficulties, on 9 November 1885. The company prospectus had promised extensive mineral deposits, and a possible extension to Exeter along the coast. These riches never materialised and the line simply ran from Upwey Junction to Abbotsbury. It was worked by the GWR.

Bradford north curve

In 1895 the north curve at Bradford Junction was opened, allowing through running from the Limpley Stoke direction towards Melksham. Exceptionally severe frost had caused damage to the lining of Box Tunnel and the extensive repair work necessitated the night-time and Sunday diversion of London–Bristol trains, involving reversal at Westbury or Trowbridge. The new curve was hastily laid in on the earthworks of the original 1857 Devizes branch, and it opened on 11 March 1895.^[13]

The Westbury route to Exeter

The Great Way Round in 1862

The GWR, the Bristol and Exeter Railway and the South Devon Railway had long since amalgamated, and there was an important through route from London Paddington to Taunton, Exeter and Plymouth. However the route was not direct: it ran via Bristol Temple Meads station, and the GWR was sometimes called the great way round. The LSWR had a significantly shorter route from London Waterloo to Exeter via Salisbury. The GWR had a line from Reading to Devizes, joining with the WS&WR lines there, and it was clear that filling in some gaps would create a coherent direct route between Reading and Taunton. The GWR had more than once obtained Parliamentary powers to build such lines but they had lapsed, when in 1895 the directors took the decision to start work.^[13]

The first short-cut: 1900

This was to be a trunk main line, and the first task was to double the line east of Patney, which had been built as the Berks and Hants Extension Railway, and to build a new line from Patney to meet the WS&WR line at Westbury, the Stert and Westbury cut-off. This was started in 1895, and goods traffic first ran on the route on 29 July 1900, followed by local passenger trains on 1 October. This shortened the distance from Paddington to Westbury, and therefore to Yeovil and Weymouth, by over 14 miles (23 km). As part of the work, Westbury station was much extended, as its status as a junction station becoming more important.

Reading to Taunton in 1905

The next phase of work was to construct the Langport cut-off, which ran west from Castle Cary to join the Bristol and Exeter line northeast of Taunton. This was opened in stages: it was opened from Castle Cary to Charlton Mackrell on 1 July 1905. On 2 April 1906 part of the line was opened at the western end, from a new junction at Cogload, near Taunton, to Somerton. Finally the central section, and the entire route was opened on 20 May 1906. It followed part of a branch line from Yeovil towards Taunton; the relevant section was upgraded to double track main line standards, and in an area where persistent flooding problems had been experienced, it was elevated to avoid the difficulty. From 2 July 1906 express trains and other through traffic was diverted on to the new line. The cut-off route saved a further 20 miles (32 km) compared with the former route.^[6][8]

Other twentieth-century developments

Avoiding lines

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.

Nationalisation

The Transport Act 1947 was passed after the end of the war and the main line railways of the country became part of the state-owned British Railways from the start of 1948.

The usage of rural stations and branch lines continued to decline, and on 19 September 1955 all the stations between Warminster and Salisbury were closed.

On 2 November 1959 the passenger service on the Frome to Radstock line was ended, and with the decline of the Somerset coalfield the branch became fully closed from April 1966, except for a connection to Whatley Quarry, which connected by a private siding near Hapsford. With the increase in road building in the 1960s this quarry's output became increasingly important at that time. Remaining coal extraction in the area was further north and the rail connection was to Bristol over the Bristol and North Somerset line. However, in the summer of 1968 the embankment north of Pensford was washed out and the line was severed. It was considered to be uneconomic to repair it, and the Frome connection was reopened, the traffic from the area being brought out via Radstock and Westbury to Bristol. However the remaining pits closed in 1973 and the final coal movement took place on 16 November 1973.^[12]

In the 1960s the financial losses of the railway network escalated, and in 1963 a report was published, The Reshaping of British Railways. This proposed large scale closures of little-used lines and stations, and the resulting changes were called the Beeching cuts, after the author, Richard Beeching, chairman of British Railways. This affected many of the branches connecting to the WS&WR network, and in 1966 the Devizes branch, and many intermediate halts and small stations on the WS&WR lines closed too. General freight traffic to Weymouth was mostly diverted to the Bournemouth route, and in 1967–1968 singling was undertaken of the routes between Thingley Junction and Bradford Junction, and between Castle Cary and Dorchester.

The main route from London to Weymouth was now from Waterloo via Bournemouth and Dorchester South; from London to Bournemouth was electrified in 1967, with the trains running on with diesel haulage to Weymouth. The electrification, on the third rail direct current system, was extended to Weymouth from 10 February 1988.

On 17 March 1990 the north curve at Bradford was removed; it had been retained in latter years to handle diverted trains during engineering closure of the Box line, but the elimination of locomotive-hauled passenger trains meant that diverted trains could simply reverse at Bradford south junction.

The Bath–Westbury–Salisbury part of the network received an enhanced passenger train service with the introduction of the Sprinter diesel units, giving a generally hourly service on a Bristol–Salisbury–Portsmouth axis. The service over the Thingley to Bradford section was much reduced, and the Westbury to Weymouth section had a basic service.^[1]

Train services

Early signalling

From the earliest days of the line, the signalling system was by double-needle telegraph enabling simple messages to be passed. These enabled agreement between two stations to vary the timetabled crossing of opposing trains on the single line, in the event of late running. The telegraph was not ready in time for the opening from Yeovil to Dorchester Junction, and working by pilotman was used for the first few weeks, with a crossing place at Evershot. On the double track section from Thingley Junction to Westbury and Dorchester Junction to Weymouth, the time interval system was used.

The fixed signals consisted of a signal at the station or crossing place, not necessarily placed before the fouling point, which gave permission to enter the station, and an auxiliary signal placed further back which functioned like a distant signal. There were no starting signals: permission to proceed into a section was given by written order handed to the driver. The signals were mostly of the disc and crossbar type, and the points and signals were operated by lever at their location, with no interlocking.

In 1963 the GWR replaced the double needle telegraph instruments with a single needle system.

From 1870 the most difficult sections were equipped with the disc block system, which was permissive.^{[note 7]}

Absolute block working started to be implemented from the end of 1874,^[21] and in the following few years recognisable signal boxes were constructed across the system, with interlocking.^{[note 8]} The electric train staff system was implemented on the single lines, and modern semaphore signals replaced most of the disc and crossbar signals over the following decade.

Timber bridges

At the early date of construction of the WS&WR network, numerous structures were built in timber.

Two bridges between Thingley and Trowbridge were designed in timber but may not have been actually built in the material: Lacock Viaduct was to be a three-span underbridge with two timber piers and masonry abutments; and the turnpike road near Melksham was to cross the railway by a single span truss.

Near Staverton the railway crossed the River Avon on a viaduct with nine 20-foot (6 m) spans. At Yarnbrook it crossed the Trowbridge to Westbury road on a viaduct with a central skewed timber truss flanked by two masonry arches.

Near Frome at the (later) junction of the Radstock branch there was a two-span truss viaduct. When the Radstock branch was built an adjacent viaduct was built for its alignment, and there were five further river crossings in timber to Radstock.

Between Bathampton and Bradford Junction there were at least five timber viaducts: one is now the site of two bridges east of Bradford station, then two bridges west of Bradford over the Avon, Freshford Viaduct over the Kennet and Avon Canal, and Midford Brook viaduct. The last remaining timber viaduct, west of Bradford station, was rebuilt in 1889. On the Devizes branch there were three timber viaducts: Whaddon Bridge over the Avon, Outmarsh bridge over the Wilts & Berks Canal, and a timber viaduct over the turnpike road with a 56-foot (17 m) span and two 33-foot (10 m) spans.^[22]

Topography

Stations and geographical junctions; entries in italic were not passenger stations; junctions are "facing" or "trailing" in the direction shown

Notes

References

Further reading

• Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, Salisbury to Westbury, Middleton Press, Midhurst, 1994, ISBN 1 873793 39 1
• Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, Branch Lines Around Weymouth, Middleton Press, Midhurst, 1989, ISBN 0 906520 65 7
• Beale, Gerry (1992). "Dorchester". Great Western Railway Journal. Wild Swan Publications. 4: 135–151, 168–172.
• MacDermot, E T (1927). History of the Great Western Railway, volume I 1833–1863. London: Great Western Railway.
• Butt, R V J (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Limited. ISBN 1-85260-508-1.
• J.H. Lucking (1968). Railways of Dorset. Railway Correspondence and Travel Society.