The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a 22.75-mile (36.6 km) heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc ; which is supported and minority-owned by charitable trust the West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA) and the West Somerset Steam Railway Trust (WSSRT). The WSR plc operates services using both heritage steam and diesel trains.
Yeovil Junction railway station is the busier, but less central, of two railway stations serving the town of Yeovil in England. The station is 2 miles (3.2 km) outside the town, in the village of Stoford. Although Yeovil is in Somerset, the station was in Dorset until 1991. It is 122 miles 48 chains (197.3 km) down the line from London Waterloo.
The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath and Bournemouth, with a branch from Evercreech Junction to Burnham-on-Sea and Bridgwater. Strictly speaking, the main line ran from Bath Junction to Broadstone, as the line between Broadstone and Bournemouth was owned by the London and South Western Railway, while the line between Bath Junction and Bath was owned by the Midland Railway.
Bridgwater railway station serves Bridgwater in Somerset, England. It is on the Bristol to Taunton Line and is operated by Great Western Railway. It is 151 miles 47 chains from the zero point at London Paddington via Box.
Highbridge and Burnham railway station is situated on the Bristol to Taunton Line within the town of Highbridge, Somerset, and also serves the neighbouring town of Burnham-on-Sea. It is 145 miles 25 chains from the zero point at London Paddington via Box. It is unstaffed but managed by Great Western Railway who operate all the regular services.
The Wrexham and Minera Railway or Wrexham and Minera Branch was a railway line in North Wales between the town of Wrexham, the village of Brymbo where it served the Brymbo Steelworks, and the lead mines and limeworks at Minera. A further branch ran from Brymbo to Coed Talon, where it connected with lines to Mold. The system was constructed in several stages between 1844 and 1872, while the various lines making up the system closed in 1952, 1972 and 1982.
The Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with the Great Western Railway (GWR), which built its main line between London and Bristol, and in time formed part of a through route between London and Cornwall.
Edington Burtle railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, and served the village of Edington, Somerset, UK. Originally named Edington Road, with the village two miles away, it became in 1890 the junction for the Bridgwater branch off the Highbridge line and for the next period in its life was known as Edington Junction. After the Bridgwater line closed to passengers in 1952, the station was renamed as Edington Burtle – Burtle is a village to the north of the station, and somewhat closer than Edington. In February 1956 the down platform and signal box was closed. Goods Yard closed on 13 July 1964. It closed in March 1966 when the line was shut as part of the Beeching axe.
The Cheddar Valley line was a railway line in Somerset, England, running between Yatton and Witham. It was opened in parts: the first section connecting Shepton Mallet to Witham, later extended to Wells, was built by the East Somerset Railway from 1858. Later the Bristol and Exeter Railway built their branch line from Yatton to Wells, but the two lines were prevented for a time from joining up. Eventually the gap was closed, and the line became a simple through line, operated by the Great Western Railway.
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 to Salisbury and Weymouth. 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 Bristol and North Somerset Railway was a railway line in the West of England that connected Bristol with Radstock, through Pensford and further into northern Somerset, to allow access to the Somerset Coalfield. The line ran almost due south from Bristol and was 16 miles (26 km) long.
The Portland Branch railway was a railway line located on the Isle of Portland in the English county of Dorset. The line operated from the late nineteenth century until closing to passengers in 1952 and goods in 1965. For a short line, it had a complex history, built in three separate sections and operated jointly by two rival railway companies. Its construction needed twelve years of blasting through solid rock and three extensions of Parliamentary time.
Upwey was a railway station on the Abbotsbury branch railway in the county of Dorset in England.
Wells was a railway station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at Wells in the county of Somerset in England. Opening on 15 March 1859 as Wells, on the Somerset Central Railway, at that time a broad-gauge line operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, prior to that company's amalgamation with the Dorset Central Railway to form the Somerset & Dorset, it was the terminus of the branch from Glastonbury.
Cossington railway station was a station at Cossington on the Bridgwater branch of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, built to link the line at Edington with Bridgwater.
Burnham-on-Sea railway station located within the town of Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, was the terminus of the Burnham branch of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. Opened as Burnham by the Somerset Central Railway on 3 May 1858, it was renamed in 1920.
Radstock North railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway in the county of Somerset in England.
The Chard branch lines were two lines serving the town of Chard in Somerset, England. One was a northward branch, opened in 1863, from the Salisbury to Exeter main line, and the other, opened in 1866, ran south-eastwards from the Bristol – Taunton main line. Each branch had its own Chard passenger station at first, although the two lines connected in Chard.
The earliest known infrastructure for transport in Somerset is a series of wooden trackways laid across the Somerset Levels, an area of low-lying marshy ground. To the west of this district lies the Bristol Channel, while the other boundaries of the county of Somerset are along chains of hills that were once exploited for their mineral deposits. These natural features have all influenced the evolution of the transport network. Roads and railways either followed the hills, or needed causeways to cross the Levels. Harbours were developed, rivers improved, and linked to sources of traffic by canals. Railways were constructed throughout the area, influenced by the needs of the city of Bristol, which lies just to the north of Somerset, and to link the ports of the far south-west with the rest of England.
The Yeovil–Taunton line was a railway line in England, built by the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) to connect its main line with the market town of Yeovil in Somerset. It opened in 1853 using the broad gauge of 7 ft 1⁄4 in and was the first railway to serve Yeovil. It ran from a junction at Durston although in later years passenger trains on the line ran through to and from Taunton where better main and branch line connections could be made.
