Holt Junction railway station

Last updated

Holt Junction
Holt Junction station Wiltshire England 1905.JPG
Holt Junction station in 1905
General information
Location Holt, Wiltshire
England
Coordinates 51°21′13″N2°11′10″W / 51.3536°N 2.1862°W / 51.3536; -2.1862
Grid reference ST871616
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original company Great Western Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
1857Junction established.
1861Station opened.
1874Station rebuilt and connected to the village.
1877Goods shed opened.
1953Goods shed demolished.
1963Goods yard closed.
1966Station closed. Devizes line closed.
1967Signal box closed, main line singled.
1981Remainder of Devizes line lifted.
Devizes Branch
BSicon CONT2.svg
BSicon STRc3.svg
BSicon STRc1.svg
BSicon exlvHST@G-.svg
BSicon ABZ4+2xf.svg
BSicon STRc3.svg
Holt Junction
BSicon xSTR+c1.svg
BSicon CONT4.svg
BSicon exHST.svg
Semington Halt
BSicon exHST.svg
Seend
BSicon exHST.svg
Bromham and Rowde Halt
BSicon exHST.svg
Devizes
BSicon exHST.svg
Pans Lane Halt
BSicon CONT2.svg
BSicon xSTR+c3.svg
BSicon STRc1.svg
BSicon exlv-HST@F.svg
BSicon ABZ2+4xg.svg
BSicon STRc3.svg
Patney and Chirton
BSicon STRc1.svg
BSicon CONT4.svg

Holt Junction was a railway station which served the village of Holt, Wiltshire, England between 1861 and 1966. It stood on the Wessex Main Line at its junction with the western end of the Devizes branch.

Contents

History

In 1848, the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway Company opened their line southward from Thingley Junction near Chippenham, at first only as far as Westbury. The line passed Holt village to the southeast but there were no local stations. In 1850, the line was sold to the Great Western Railway (GWR) who completed the Devizes branch line in 1857; this met the Chippenham-Westbury line to the east of the village. Although most sources give a slightly later date of 1861, recent research has found that a single interchange island platform was reported at the junction from 1857: this allowed passengers to transfer between main and branch line trains. [1] :102

In 1862, the GWR extended its Reading-Hungerford line westward via Pewsey to Devizes, creating a through route from the South West to London Paddington. [2] By 1866, seven passenger trains each weekday called at Holt; six in the London direction. [3]

The station was reconfigured and connected to the village by a footpath in 1874; in 1877 a road connection was made and a goods shed was built. [4] [1] :102 In 1895, the station gained a footbridge and a platform building. [1] :104

In 1897, the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company (later Nestlé) converted Staverton Mill, about one mile from the station, for condensed milk production. In 1909, a large covered loading bay for milk was built to the west of the station; this remained in use until the factory gained a direct rail connection in 1934. [5]

From 1905 the GWR used rail motors (self-propelled carriages) to provide local services on the Chippenham-Westbury line and the Devizes branch. [2]

Decline and closure

Usage of the Devizes line declined from 1900 after the opening of the shorter Stert-Westbury link, which effectively bypassed the longer single line through Devizes to Holt.

The Beeching Axe was the death knell for the junction. The Devizes Branch was recommended for closure, as were the stations between Chippenham and Trowbridge. The goods yard closed in October 1963; the goods shed having been largely demolished in 1953. The station and branch line closed in April 1966. The 48-lever signal box followed in February 1967, and the Thingley to Bradford Junction route was singled. [5] [1] :106

While most of the Devizes branch was lifted shortly after closure, a spur from Holt station was retained as a long siding until 1981, when it too was lifted. This was used for the storage of empty wagons, and as a stabling point for the Royal Train. [1] :108

The site today

The old station master's house at Holt Junction, Wiltshire Holt, Wiltshire geograph-3688854-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
The old station master's house at Holt Junction, Wiltshire

The station master's house remains, but all remaining buildings on the old station site were demolished in 1970. [6] The site was used as a builders merchants' depot before becoming a light industrial estate. Some of the site is also used as a caravan storage facility.

The site retains road access to the remaining railway line, for engineering purposes. Freight services, particularly heavy aggregate trains from limestone quarries in the Mendips, continue to use the line through the closed station.

Between 1966 and 1985, passenger usage of the line was limited to the occasional diversion or summer excursion (such as the Weymouth Wizard ). The reopening of Melksham station in 1985 saw the resumption of regular passenger services between Swindon and Westbury on the Thingley-Bradford Junction route. The line is also one of the routes used by the Night Riviera sleeper service from London to Penzance.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeovil Junction railway station</span> Railway station in Yeovil, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wessex Main Line</span>

The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth. The Wessex Main Line intersects the Reading to Taunton Line at Westbury and the West of England Main Line at Salisbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salisbury railway station</span> Railway station in Wiltshire, England

Salisbury railway station serves the cathedral city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. It is 83 miles 43 chains (134.4 km) from London Waterloo on the West of England line to Exeter St Davids. This is crossed by the Wessex Main Line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. The station is operated and served by South Western Railway (SWR), and is also served by Great Western Railway (GWR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westbury railway station</span> Railway station in Wiltshire, England

Westbury railway station serves the market town of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. The station is managed by Great Western Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chippenham railway station</span> Railway station in Wiltshire, England

Chippenham railway station is on the Great Western Main Line (GWML) in South West England, serving the town of Chippenham, Wiltshire. It is 93 miles 76 chains down the line from the zero point at London Paddington and is situated between Swindon and Bath Spa on the GWML. The Wessex Main Line diverges from the GWML to the southwest of Chippenham and runs to Trowbridge via Melksham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melksham railway station</span> Railway station in Wiltshire, England

Melksham railway station serves the town of Melksham in Wiltshire, England. It is 100 miles 13 chains measured from London Paddington, on the TransWilts Line between Chippenham and Trowbridge that was originally part of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, absorbed in 1850 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 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 Devizes branch line was a railway line from Holt Junction to Patney and Chirton, in Wiltshire, England. It was named after Devizes, the largest town on the line. The branch was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1857, and from 1862 when the Reading-Hungerford line reached Devizes it became part of the shortest route from London to the West Country. Those services were re-routed in 1900, and the line closed in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berks and Hants Railway</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Berks and Hants Railway comprised two railway lines built simultaneously by the Great Western Railway (GWR) south and west from Reading in an attempt to keep the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) out of the area that it considered to be its territory in England.

The Langport and Castle Cary Railway is a railway line from Castle Cary railway station to Cogload Junction near Taunton, Somerset, England, which reduced the length of the journey from London to Penzance by 20+14 miles (32.6 km).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marlborough railway stations</span> Former railway station in Wiltshire, England

Marlborough railway stations refers to the two railway stations which served Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, until 1964.

The Salisbury branch line of the Great Western Railway from Westbury to Salisbury in Wiltshire, England, was completed in 1856. Most of the smaller stations were closed in 1955 but the line remains in use as part of the Wessex Main Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wootton Bassett Junction railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Wootton Bassett Junction railway station, formerly Wootton Bassett railway station, was a junction station in Wootton Bassett where the Great Western and South Wales Main Lines diverge. Opened in 1841, it closed in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holt, Wiltshire</span> Human settlement in England

Holt is a village and civil parish in the west of Wiltshire, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) north-east of Bradford-on-Avon and 3 miles (5 km) south-west of Melksham.

The Malmesbury branch was a six-and-a-half-mile-long single track branch railway line in Wiltshire, England; it ran from Dauntsey station on the Great Western Main Line to Malmesbury. Promoted locally, it opened with considerable assistance from the Great Western Railway in 1877, and used the standard gauge. There was one intermediate station, Somerford.

The Stert and Westbury Railway was opened by the Great Western Railway Company in 1900 in Wiltshire, England. It shortened the distance between London Paddington station and Weymouth, and since 1906 has also formed part of the Reading to Taunton line for a shorter journey from London to Penzance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devizes railway station</span> Former railway station in Wiltshire, England

Devizes railway station was the railway station serving Devizes in Wiltshire, England between 1857 and 1966. The station was on the Devizes branch line, between Pans Lane Halt and Bromham & Rowde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reading–Taunton line</span> Major branch of the Great Western Main Line

The Reading–Taunton line is a major branch of the Great Western Main Line from which it diverges at Reading railway station. It runs to Cogload Junction where it joins the Bristol to Exeter and Penzance line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bathampton railway station</span> Disused railway station in Bathampton, Somerset

Bathampton railway station is a former railway station in Bath, England, serving the community of Bathampton. The station opened on 2 February 1857 and closed on 3 October 1966. Very little remains, as the station site was replaced with improved trackwork for a nearby junction. The only significant remains are the gateposts at the head of the approach road.

Lacock Halt was a minor railway station on the Chippenham–Trowbridge section of the former Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WSWR), which opened as far as Westbury on 2 September 1848. This connected to the Great Western Main Line at Thingley Junction and was incorporated into the Great Western Railway in March 1850 after the WSWR ran into financial difficulties.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2003). Branch Lines of West Wiltshire : Malmesbury, Calne and Devizes. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN   9781904474128.
  2. 1 2 Crittall, Elizabeth, ed. (1959). "Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 4 - Railways". British History Online. University of London. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  3. Henry Blacklock & Co., Bradshaw Works (July 1866). BRADSHAW S GENERAL RAILWAY AND STEAM NAVIGATION GUIDE, FOR GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Henry Blacklock & Co. p. 15. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  4. Rod Priddle; David Hyde (1996). GWR to Devizes. Millstream Books. pp. 11–37. ISBN   978-0-948975-43-1.
  5. 1 2 Oakley, Mike (2004). Wiltshire Railway Stations. Wimborne: The Dovecote Press. pp. 68–70. ISBN   1-904349-33-1.
  6. "Holt Junction". Bradford on Avon Museum. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Broughton Gifford Halt
Line open, station closed
  Great Western Railway
Wessex Main Line
  Staverton Halt
Line open, station closed
Semington Halt
Line and station closed
  Great Western Railway
Devizes Branch Line