Rushey Platt railway station

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Rushey Platt
Station on heritage railway
Remnants of Rushey Platt Station, Swindon - geograph.org.uk - 1716321.jpg
The site of the station in 2010
General information
Location Swindon, Swindon
England
Platforms4
History
Original company Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway
Pre-grouping Midland and South Western Junction Railway
Key dates
1883opened
1905closed to passengers
Railway lines in Swindon
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Stratton
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Stratton Park Halt
Stratton St Margaret Works
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BSicon lDAMPF.svg Hayes Knoll
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Chiseldon Camp Halt
BSicon lDAMPF.svg Blunsdon
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Chiseldon
Moredon Halt
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Swindon Town
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Swindon
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Rushey Platt
Purton
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Wootton Bassett Junction
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Rushey Platt railway station is a former station on the Midland and South Western Junction Railway at Rushey Platt, south west of the centre of Swindon in Wiltshire.

The line was extended in 1882, and the station opened on 18 December 1883 on the Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway line from Swindon Town to the temporary terminus at Cirencester Watermoor. The S&CER line amalgamated in 1884 with the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway to form the M&SWJR, and through services beyond Cirencester to the junction at Andoversford with the Great Western Railway's Cheltenham Lansdown to Banbury line, which had opened in 1881, started in 1891. An additional loop for goods traffic opened in 1921. [1]

Rushey Platt was at the junction where the 1883 S&CER line branched off from the SM&AR link line between Swindon Town railway station and the main Great Western Railway station at Swindon. It had platforms on both the through S&CER line and the link, but the service between the two Swindon stations ceased after March 1885 because of the high fees the GWR charged the M&SWJR to run over its tracks, and that part of the station closed only 15 months after it had opened.

Passenger services at the through platforms of the station lasted only a further 20 years and were withdrawn in 1905: the station closed on 1 October 1905, [2] the first station on the line to close to passengers. [1] However, the station remained open for goods traffic, mainly milk, until the M&SWJR line closed to goods in 1964, and a private siding lasted even longer.

The railway embankment is still visible and all that remains of the station is a very weathered upper platform. The rest of the station has disappeared through time and development, and some of the site has been replaced by part of an industrial warehouse in Swindon's Rushey Platt Industrial Park.

The route of the former railway can still be seen with bridges at Mill Lane and Redpost Road.

Route

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Moredon Halt   Midland and South Western Junction Railway
Swindon & Cheltenham Extension Railway
Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway
  Swindon Town

Related Research Articles

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The Cirencester branch line was a five-mile-long single-track branch railway line in Gloucestershire, England that connected Cirencester to the main line at Kemble. It was opened by the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway in 1841. The main line was extended from Kemble to a junction near Gloucester in 1845, by the GWR which had taken over the C&GWUR. The branch supported a busy passenger and goods business, but these declined in the 1930s, and closure was threatened in the 1950s. To reduce costs and maintain the viability of the line, lightweight four-wheel diesel railbuses were introduced, and they proved popular. Nevertheless, the line's decline was inexorable, passenger service closed in 1964 and the goods service ending the following year.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Railways Pages 280-293 A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 4. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1959". British History Online. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  2. Quick, M. E. (2002). Railway passenger stations in England, Scotland and Wales – a chronology. Richmond: Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 371. OCLC   931112387.

51°33′08″N1°48′34″W / 51.5522°N 1.8094°W / 51.5522; -1.8094