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.
In 1933 the connection to the main line network was brought closer to Malmesbury, joining the 1903 Badminton line at Little Somerford, and the original section to Dauntsey was closed.
The line closed to passengers in 1951, and completely in 1962.
History
False start
When the Great Western Railway (GWR) opened its first main line from London to Bristol, the ancient Borough of Malmesbury was not on the route, and Chippenham station, ten miles away became the railhead for coach services from the town. A number of railway schemes were put forward in the 1840s, and many of them would have formed a north–south route through Malmesbury, but it was not until 1864 that a viable scheme received parliamentary approval. This was the Wilts and Gloucestershire Railway (W&GR), which received royal assent on 25 July 1864.[note 1][1][2]
The W&GR was to run from Stroud via Nailsworth and Malmesbury to Christian Malford; ostensibly connecting two GWR routes. However, the Midland Railway was actively promoting its line to Nailsworth, and the W&GR would give them access into GWR territory, something the GWR wished to resist at all costs. The W&GR proposed building with mixed gauge track, to enable Midland Railway standard gauge (sometimes referred to as narrow gauge) trains as well as GWR broad gauge trains to run. If the W&GR intended to work with both companies, it seems to have alienated both of them; but unabashed, the company cut the first sod on 1 July 1865 at Malmesbury, amid much celebration. At the half-yearly meeting of the company in February 1866 the secretary was obliged to report that construction work had been suspended due to the "unexpected" refusal of the GWR to come to a working agreement, as was required by the authorising act. The Board of Trade appointed an arbitrator, who ruled against the granting of running powers to the Midland.
This was a bitter blow, and the company found itself unable to proceed. It is not clear why it could not continue as an ally of the GWR alone, but it suspended all expenditure, and attempts to revive the scheme proved futile. The company applied for a Warrant of Abandonment and it ceased to exist on 17 March 1871; all the parliamentary and other expenses had achieved nothing.[2]
Feelings in the town were strong that they needed a railway, and one that had local orientation, and a meeting took place with the GWR concerning a purely local branch from Dauntsey station, which had opened in 1868. A practical line was conceived, costing £60,000, of which the GWR would subscribe half. The plan was enthusiastically received in the town, and the Malmesbury Railway Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. cxlviii) received royal assent on 25 July 1872. By this time the gauge of the GWR main line at Dauntsey had been mixed, providing for either broad gauge or standard gauge trains to run. It was tacitly understood that the broad gauge would not last forever, and the Malmesbury Railway was to be built on the standard gauge. The capital was to be £60,000, half of which the GWR was authorised to subscribe; and a working arrangement with the GWR was confirmed.
In March 1873 the GWR asked for a modification of the route to avoid the close proximity to areas of the areas of the River Avon subject to flooding; an acceptable alternative route was found, which improved gradients and shortened the route.
Construction
There was to be a short tunnel at Holloway, on the edge of Malmesbury, and there was some uncertainty about the construction; in fact the contractor started work on the basis of an open cutting, but soon reverted to tunnelling. Exceptionally bad weather delayed the construction process and damaged part of the completed works. In addition, tension between the main contractor Budd & Holt and the company's engineer Ward led to delays and an arbitration award, and the construction was heading for an overspend. On 6 July 1876 the GWR, as the financier of last resort, agree to provide £19,000 for the completion of the line; their own engineer Lancaster Owen was to be installed as Joint Engineer with Ward, although the former was prime.
Budd & Holt continued to proceed more slowly than was desirable, complaining of sums due to them not being paid. However, on two occasions in August 1876 the contractor on their own account carried passengers informally on the incomplete line; this action scandalised the company and the contractor was warned not to repeat the arrangement. Early in 1877 it emerged that a further £19,000 was required to complete the line and to settle claims from Budd & Holt; the company planned to go to Parliament for supplementary powers to raise the money, but were persuaded to obtain the funding by local loans instead. Nonetheless Budd & Holt must have decided to have done with the scheme and made it clear that they would only continue work on new terms. At a special shareholders' meeting on 25 April 1877 the majority of shareholders agreed to sell their shares at a loss to the GWR, on the basis that the larger company would then complete the work. A minority of shareholders refused, preventing an outright sale, but the GWR now had the controlling majority. Budd & Holt's contract was terminated by mutual consent in June 1877 and the GWR proceeded to complete the line. The remaining work was chiefly ballasting and a contract was let to George Drew of Chalford.
The remaining works were swiftly executed, and Colonel Yolland of the Board of Trade inspected the line on 20 November. On 29 November a special inspection train conveying Sir Daniel Gooch and others ran on the line; on 12 December a cattle train left Malmesbury for the main line. On 14 December Colonel Rich of the Board of Trade carried out a final inspection for passenger operation, finding it satisfactory subject to minor signalling changes at Dauntsey, the main line junction.[2]
Grand opening
Accordingly, the line was ceremonially opened amongst great celebration on 17 December 1877, and to ordinary public operation the following day. There were six mixed (passenger and goods) trains each way, Monday to Saturday. It was a single track of standard gauge, using Vignoles (flat-bottom) rails. The "one engine in steam" system of operation was to be used and there was one intermediate station at Somerford (later named Great Somerford), which did not have goods facilities at first. The junction with the GWR main line was at Dauntsey, between Swindon and Chippenham, where branch trains had a bay platform. Branch trains did not run beyond Dauntsey; there was a short length of loop siding alongside the branch line at Dauntsey, used for running round passenger trains. The line was 6 miles 4 furlongs and 1½ chains (10.5km) in length; there was a tunnel at Malmesbury, and the station there was on Gloucester Road just beyond Stanes river bridge. The construction had cost £76,565 so far—the final cost was to be £87,094.
Somerford's goods facilities opened on 1 January 1879; inward traffic was largely agricultural feed and coal.
On 3 March 1880 torrential rainstorms resulted in floodwater in the River Avon, which damaged Poole's Bridge, between Dauntsey and Somerford. The line was severed for five days.
It had long been evident that the company's destiny lay with the Great Western Railway and absorption had been talked of for some time. This was implemented on 1 July 1880 and confirmed by Act of Parliament on 6 August 1880. The Malmesbury Railway Company ceased to exist.[2]
The Badminton line
At this time the Great Western Railway route from London to South Wales ran from Swindon to the Severn Tunnel via Box. The company was spurred by a rival scheme to consider shortening the route, and the South Wales & Bristol Direct Railway, an offshoot of the GWR, was authorised in 1896. The route became known as the Badminton Line, and was to leave the old GWR main line at Wootton Bassett[note 2] and run on a substantially straight alignment to Patchway, where it would join the old route to the Severn Tunnel. This new route would come closer to Malmesbury, but not through the town. During the ensuing years a number of petitions were presented without success to the GWR by the town authorities, proposing that the new line should run through Malmesbury, or that the branch line should directly connect to it.
The construction of the new line proceeded and it was fully opened in July 1903. There was a station at Little Somerford. In anticipation of the opening, to avoid confusion, Somerford station on the Malmesbury branch was renamed Great Somerford from 1 January 1903. The new line crossed over the old branch adjacent to the River Avon near Little Somerford.[3]
In the 1920s and 1930s the GWR had been examining the means by which the operating expenses of branch lines might be reduced, and a proposal was put forward to make the Malmesbury branch join the Badminton line at Little Somerford, instead of Dauntsey on the Chippenham line. This was approved, and the main construction work, a connecting link at Little Somerford on a gradient of 1 in 50 up to the Badminton line, started on 9 May 1932. On 17 July 1933 the new connection opened and the Dauntsey section was closed; Little Somerford was the junction station for Malmesbury, and Great Somerford station closed.
The main line stopping service at Little Somerford was sparse – four trains each way daily – but there was a morning through train from Swindon, an afternoon through train from Malmesbury to Wootton Bassett, and an evening round trip to Swindon. The Malmesbury branch train used the main line platforms, as no bay was provided.[2]
Stabling on the Dauntsey line
Following closure of the Dauntsey section, the former line was used for wagon storage. From July 1934 the configuration was changed to give access from the Somerford end, a connection being laid in specially, referred to as Kingsmead Siding.
Closure
After the Second World War, passenger usage of the line declined abruptly; a two-hourly regular bus service from Swindon to Bristol via Malmesbury was started in 1948, providing greater convenience than the train service, and other services to Chippenham and elsewhere soon followed. A survey showed that only 23 passengers used the 11:35 train from Malmesbury in a sample week. Closure was inevitable despite local opposition, and the last train ran on 8 September 1951.
Goods traffic continued on the branch; Malmesbury signal box was abolished in 1956, with the yard points being hand worked. Business continued to decline and total closure of the branch took place on 11 November 1962.[2][4]
Notes
↑ Wilts and Gloucestershire Railway seems to be the proper title; Fenton uses Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Railway on page 13 and Wilts and Glos Railway on page 14; he quotes the scheme as "being finally sanctioned in the Commons on 21st June 1864" but the Bill was not enacted until Royal Assent on 25 July.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838 with the initial route completed between London and Bristol in 1841. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of 7 ft —later slightly widened to 7 ft 1⁄4 in —but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892.
The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads. It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the original route of the first Great Western Railway which was merged into the Western Region of British Railways in 1948. It is now a part of the national rail system managed by Network Rail with the majority of passenger services provided by the current Great Western Railway franchise.
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The South Wales Main Line, originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. It diverges from the core London-Bristol line at Royal Wootton Bassett beyond Swindon, first calling at Bristol Parkway, after which the line continues through the Severn Tunnel into South Wales.
The Bristol and Gloucester Railway was a railway company opened in 1844 to run services between Bristol and Gloucester. It was built on the 7 ftBrunel gauge, but it was acquired in 1845 by the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge Midland Railway, which also acquired the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway at the same time.
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 Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway was a railway company intended to link Cheltenham, Gloucester and Swindon, in England. It was authorised in 1836 but it found it very hard to raise money for the construction, and it opened only a part of its line, between Swindon and Cirencester, in 1841. It sold its business to the Great Western Railway, which quickly built the line through to Gloucester in 1845 and Cheltenham in 1847; part of that route was shared with other companies.
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.
Great Somerford is a village and civil parish within Dauntsey Vale, Wiltshire, England, near the south bank of the river Avon. It lies approximately 3+1⁄4 miles (5.2 km) southeast of Malmesbury and 12 miles (19 km) west of Swindon. The hamlet of Startley and the area known as Seagry Heath are within the bounds of the parish.
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.
Dauntsey railway station served the village of Dauntsey, Wiltshire from 1868 to 1965. It was situated on the Great Western Main Line which runs from London to Bristol.
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.
The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' trains to reach the port of Southampton. The M&SWJR was formed in 1884 from the amalgamation of the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway and the Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway. The line was absorbed by the Great Western Railway at the 1923 grouping of the railways, and became part of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The railway closed to passengers in 1961, and to goods between 1964 and 1970. A small part of it has been reopened as the heritage Swindon and Cricklade Railway.
The Severn Bridge Railway was a railway company which constructed a railway from Lydney to Sharpness in Gloucestershire, England. It was intended chiefly to give access for minerals in the Forest of Dean to Sharpness Docks, and the company built a long bridge, 1,387 yards (1,268 m) in length, over the River Severn. The line opened in 1879.
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.
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.
Little Somerford is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Malmesbury and 7.5 miles (12.1 km) northeast of Chippenham.
Great Somerford Halt was a station on the Malmesbury Branch Line of the Great Western Railway in Wiltshire, England. It was open from 1877 to 1933 for passengers, and 1879 to 1922 for goods.
The Badminton railway line is a railway line opened in 1903 by the Great Western Railway between the Great Western Main Line at Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire and Patchway and Filton, north of Bristol, England. Forming the eastern section of the South Wales Main Line, it shortened the distance between South Wales and London for heavy mineral traffic and for express passenger trains; it relieved congestion on the line through Bath.
Little Somerford railway station served the village of Little Somerford, Wiltshire, England from 1903 to 1963. It was on the South Wales Main Line and served as the junction for the Malmesbury branch line from 1933.
References
↑ E F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959
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