Radstock North | |
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General information | |
Location | Radstock, Bath and North East Somerset England |
Grid reference | ST689550 |
Platforms | 2 |
Other information | |
Status | Disused |
History | |
Pre-grouping | Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway |
Post-grouping | SR and LMSR Western Region of British Railways |
Key dates | |
20 July 1874 | Opened (Radstock) |
26 September 1949 | Renamed (Radstock North) |
7 March 1966 | Closed |
Radstock North railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway in the county of Somerset in England.
Opened as Radstock on 20 July 1874, it was located immediately to the northeast of the GWR's Bristol and North Somerset Railway's (B&NSR) Radstock West (1854-1965). However, there was no direct connection between the two competing stations.
Due to the extensive collieries in the area sunk into the Somerset Coalfield, the station was more extensive than others serving similar sized communities. Immediately west of the station was a line to Middle Writhlington Colliery, leading to Clandown Colliery and onwards to the local gas works. Immediately to the east of the station were connections to Ludlow Colliery, and the wagonway to Tyning Colliery. Further east towards Shoscombe was a junction giving access to Lower Writhlington Colliery, Braysdown Colliery and Writhlington Colliery.
The station itself consisted of two platforms, a goods yard and cattle dock, wagon works, and a two-road engine shed with coaling and watering facilities. To the east of the station and locomotive servicing facilities were the former Wheeler & Gregory Wagon Works, and a private timber yard. Operations were controlled from two signal boxes, with a third to the east controlling access to the colliery line's there.
The station closed to goods in 1964. After the decision to close the S&DJR in 1966, a connection was made to the west of the station with the GWR mainline. This allowed trains on the former B&NSR to traverse a short spur through Radstock North to the Lower Writhlington, Braysdown and Writhlington collieries, to transport coal to Portishead power station. Passenger services were withdrawn when the SDJR closed on 7 March 1966. [1] [2] After the last coal from the Somerset Coalfield was extracted from Writhlington Colliery on 28 September 1973, the spur was dismantled.
A head-on collision at Foxcote near Radstock was the worst accident in the line's history.
The site is now a green space alongside a road.
Radstock is a town and civil parish on the northern slope of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England, about 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Bath and 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Frome. It is within the area of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset. The Radstock built-up area had a population of 9,419 at the 2011 Census.
The Somerset and 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.
Kilmersdon is a village and civil parish on the north eastern slopes of the Mendip Hills in Somerset between the towns of Radstock and Frome. It is located on the B3139 between Wells and Trowbridge in Wiltshire. The settlement is recorded in William I's Domesday book and dates back at least 1,000 years; though the core of the village dates from the mid nineteenth century. The parish includes the hamlets of Charlton, South View and Green Parlour.
Binegar railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway in the county of Somerset in England. Opened on 20 July 1874, the station consisted of two platforms, with a building on the down platform. There was a substantial goods yard with two sheds and sidings, controlled from a 24 lever signal box. Being the first station north of the line's summit at Masbury Binegar was also where locomotives used as banking engines on north-bound trains would drop off and cross the line ready to return south.
Chilcompton railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at Chilcompton in the county of Somerset in England and opened on 20 July 1874. Originally the station consisted of a single platform on the Down side with a station building and possibly also a siding. In 1876 a loop and second platform were opened on the Up side, controlled from a 16-lever signal-box on the Down platform, which also controlled access to the goods yard. The line to Binegar was doubled in 1885. In 1886 the line to Midsomer Norton and Radstock was doubled and a replacement 13 lever signal box provided just beyond the Binegar end of the Up platform. The station closed to goods in 1964 and the signal-box closed in 1965; passenger services were withdrawn when the SDJR closed on 7 March 1966.
The Somerset Coalfield in northern Somerset, England is an area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973. It is part of a larger coalfield which stretched into southern Gloucestershire. The Somerset coalfield stretched from Cromhall in the north to the Mendip Hills in the south, and from Bath in the east to Nailsea in the west, a total area of about 240 square miles (622 km2). Most of the pits on the coalfield were concentrated in the Cam Brook, Wellow Brook and Nettlebridge Valleys and around Radstock and Farrington Gurney. The pits were grouped geographically, with clusters of pits close together working the same coal seams often under the same ownership. Many pits shared the trackways and tramways which connected them to the Somerset Coal Canal or railways for distribution.
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 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.
Portishead Power Station refers to a series of two coal and oil-fired power stations which operated in the dock area of Portishead in Somerset, South West England, between 1929 and 1982.
The Cheadle branch line was a railway line of just under 4 miles (6.4 km) in length that served the town of Cheadle, Staffordshire. It was in operation as a passenger line from 1892 to 1963, and closed altogether in 1986. It took 46 years from conception to completion and was notable in that part of the line had to be practically rebuilt partway through its existence.
Shepton Mallet (Charlton Road) was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway in the county of Somerset in England. Opened as Shepton Mallet on 20 July 1874, it was renamed to avoid confusion with the nearby GWR station in 1883. The station consisted of two platforms with the station building on the up side. There was also a goods yard and cattle dock controlled from a signal box.
Bason Bridge railway station was a station on the Highbridge branch of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, serving the village of East Huntspill.
Wellow railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at Wellow in the county of Somerset in England. Opened on 20 July 1874, the station consisted of two platforms, a goods yard and sidings, controlled from an 18 lever signal box.
The Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway was a railway built in Scotland in 1848 to extend the Slamannan Railway to the harbour at Borrowstounness on the Firth of Forth, and to connect with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. It was not commercially successful, but in recent years part of it was taken over by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, which operates the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway.
Writhlington is a suburb of Radstock and 6 miles (10 km) north-west of Frome, in the Bath and North East Somerset district of Somerset, England.
Abersychan and Talywain station served the town of Abersychan in the Welsh county of Monmouthshire. The station was the meeting point for two major pre-grouping railways as they competed for the South Wales coal traffic.
The Llancaiach Branch railway line was a mineral branch line in Glamorganshire, South Wales. It was authorised in 1836 as part of the Taff Vale Railway, and its purpose was to connect collieries at Llancaiach and bring their output to Cardiff for onward shipment. It was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and built on the standard gauge. It opened in 1841 from a junction with the Merthyr line immediately south of Abercynon. It was intended to be horse worked, and included a self-acting rope-worked inclined plane near the junction. The collieries were slow to use the line, preferring their customary use of a tramroad and the Glamorganshire Canal, and the value of the line was diminished when the Taff Vale Extension line, an east-west connecting line belonging to the Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway, intersected it and cut off the colliery connections, and the line became dormant.
Berkeley railway station served the town of Berkeley in Gloucestershire, England. The station was on the Sharpness Branch Line, part of the Midland Railway (MR), which connected the Bristol and Gloucester Railway main line at Berkeley Road station with the docks at Sharpness.
Radford and Timsbury Halt railway station was on the Camerton branch of the Great Western Railway in Somerset, England. It was in use from 1910 until 1915, and again from 1923 until 1925.
Radstock West railway station was a station on the Bristol and North Somerset Railway which served the town of Radstock in Somerset, England.
Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
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Midsomer Norton South Line and station closed | Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway LSWR & Midland Railways | Shoscombe and Single Hill Halt Line and station closed |