Wessex Main Line

Last updated

Wessex Main Line
Romsey Station Class 158 April 2014.jpg
Overview
StatusOperational
Owner Network Rail
Locale Wiltshire
Hampshire
South East England
South West England
Service
Type Regional rail, Heavy rail
System National Rail
Technical
Line length85mi 49ch (137.77 km)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
Route map
Wessex Main Line.png
(Click to expand)

The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. [1] 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.

Contents

Stations served

The stations served are listed below.

Passenger services are currently operated by Great Western Railway services between Portsmouth Harbour and Cardiff Central , supplemented by South Western Railway between Salisbury and Southampton Central with their service between Salisbury and Romsey via Southampton Central, and by Great Western Railway intercity services between Bristol Temple Meads and Bath Spa that operate between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads. [2] Some services start at Swindon. Almost all Great Western Railway services continue beyond Southampton Central along the West Coastway line to Portsmouth Harbour, and beyond Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Tunnel Junction, Newport and Cardiff Central along the South Wales Main Line.

Chippenham branch

There is a link from Trowbridge to Chippenham, with an intermediate stop at Melksham. Despite showing strong passenger growth in the previous few years, the new franchise reduced services in December 2006 to two each way per day, at times barely convenient for commuters. The frequency was increased from December 2013 and services were extended south to Westbury and north to Swindon, providing a regular timetable branded as TransWilts. [3]

History

Southampton to Salisbury

The South West Main Line of the London and Southampton Railway, which changed its name to the London and South Western Railway in 1839, had reached Southampton in 1840. A branch to Salisbury (Milford) from a junction on the main line at Eastleigh (then called Bishopstoke) was opened in 1847. The branch passes through Romsey and the Dean valley; today part of its route forms the Eastleigh–Romsey line.

A more direct route between Southampton and Romsey was adopted in 1865 on completion of the Sprat and Winkle Line (at first by the Andover and Redbridge Railway, but taken over by the LSWR before completion). This forms the current route of the Wessex Main Line: departing westbound from Southampton Central via Millbrook and Redbridge before branching north to Romsey.

North of Salisbury

Crossing the river at Bradford-on-Avon Bradford on Avon railway bridge.jpg
Crossing the river at Bradford-on-Avon

The line through Wiltshire and Somerset was completed in stages, after the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WS&WR) was authorised by Parliament in 1845. The first section to be opened, in 1848, ran from Thingley junction to the west of Chippenham on the Great Western Railway, via Melksham and Trowbridge to Westbury. [4] The WS&WR company was unable to fund further construction, and in 1849 the directors decided to sell their line to the GWR.

The GWR's branch to Salisbury from Westbury was completed through the Wylye valley in 1856, with the first section, as far as Warminster, having been opened in 1851. [5]

The route from a junction near Staverton, north of Trowbridge, to Bradford-on-Avon had been constructed in 1848 but the rails were not laid. This branch, via Bradford then along the Avon valley to join the GWR main line at Bathampton, was completed in 1857.

Across Salisbury

Further work was required at Salisbury to complete the Bristol-Southampton route, as the GWR station was in the west of the city at Fisherton, about 1 mile (1.6 km) away from the earlier LSWR station at Milford on the southeast side. In 1857 the LSWR's West of England line (London-Exeter via Basingstoke and Andover) arrived in northeast Salisbury, at first using the Midford station. In 1859 the LSWR opened a new station at Fisherton, immediately south of the GWR station, to serve two lines: the Andover line, which had been extended across the city, and the new Salisbury and Yeovil Railway towards Exeter. The Milford station was then closed to passengers. [6]

A transit shed was opened between the two Fisherton stations in 1860, to allow goods to be transferred between the GWR's broad gauge wagons and the LSWR's standard gauge. Following the conversion of the GWR to standard gauge in 1874, a connecting siding was built in 1878 to allow shunting of wagons. A direct route for passengers came into use with the inauguration of a Cardiff to Portsmouth service in 1896. [7]

20th century

At Salisbury, the LSWR station (which had been expanded in 1878) was further expanded and remodelled, with a large extension to the station building completed in 1902. [8] The GWR station continued to be used by branch services until it was closed to passengers in 1932; it was used as a goods depot until 1991 and is now part of Salisbury Traincare Depot. [9] Milford continued as a major goods depot until 1967. [10]

Westbury station was rebuilt in 1899 to cater for the Stert and Westbury Railway, opened 1900, which now forms part of the Reading–Taunton line.

On the Chippenham branch, the halts at Beanacre and Broughton Gifford closed in 1955. [11] The smaller stations on the Salisbury branch – Heytesbury, Codford, Wylye and Wilton North – closed to passengers in the same year, [12] although in most cases goods service continued into the 1960s. In Hampshire, Nursling station closed in 1957. [13]

Bathampton [14] and Limpley Stoke [15] stations closed in 1966. The same year saw closure of the remaining local stations on the Chippenham branch: Lacock Halt, Beanacre Halt, Melksham, Holt (along with the entire Devizes branch) and Staverton Halt. [11] [16] The section of line between Thingley Jn and Bradford Junction continued to be used by freight trains and occasional passenger trains, such as during engineering works or summer excursions. A regular passenger service was reinstated in 1985 with the reopening of Melksham station.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West of England line</span> British railway line

The West of England line is a British railway line from Basingstoke, Hampshire, to Exeter St Davids in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex Main Line at Salisbury. Despite its historic title, it is not today's principal route from London to the West of England: Exeter and everywhere further west are reached more quickly from London Paddington via the Reading–Taunton line.

<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">Eastleigh railway station</span> Railway station in Hampshire, England

Eastleigh railway station serves the town of Eastleigh in the county of Hampshire in England. It is located on the South West Main Line and is the junction station for two other routes, the Eastleigh-Fareham Line and the Eastleigh-Romsey Line. It is 73 miles 35 chains (118.2 km) from London Waterloo. South of the station are Eastleigh Railway Works and Eastleigh Depot.

<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">Swindon railway station</span> Railway station in Wiltshire, England

Swindon railway station is on the Great Western Main Line in South West England, serving the town of Swindon, Wiltshire. The station is 77 miles 23 chains down the line from the zero point at London Paddington and lies between Didcot Parkway and Chippenham. It is managed by Great Western Railway, which also operates all of the services from the station. It is the busiest station in Wiltshire, and the fifth busiest station in South West England.

<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">Trowbridge railway station</span> Railway station in Wiltshire, England

Trowbridge railway station is a railway station on the Wessex Main Line serving the county town of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, England. The station is 24 miles (39 km) south east of Bristol Temple Meads and is managed by Great Western Railway.

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

Bradford-on-Avon railway station is a railway station on the Wessex Main Line in between Avoncliff and Trowbridge, serving the town of Bradford on Avon, in Wiltshire, England. The station is 9 miles 35 chains (15.2 km) south east of Bath Spa. The station was originally conceived by the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, but was not built until after the company was purchased by the Great Western Railway in 1850 and did not open until 1857.

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

Warminster railway station serves the historic market town of Warminster in Wiltshire, England.

<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 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.

This article describes the history and operation of the railway routes west of Salisbury built by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and allied companies, which ultimately became part of the Southern Railway in the United Kingdom. Salisbury forms a natural boundary between the Southern Railway core routes in the counties surrounding London, and the long route connecting with the Devon and Cornwall lines.

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 Salisbury and Yeovil Railway linked Salisbury (Wiltshire), Gillingham (Dorset) and Yeovil (Somerset) in England. Opened in stages in 1859 and 1860, it formed a bridge route between the main London and South Western Railway (LSWR) network and its lines in Devon and Cornwall. Its trains were operated by the LSWR and it was sold to that company in 1878. Apart from a short section in Yeovil it remains open and carries the London Waterloo to Exeter service of South Western Railway.

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

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weymouth Wizard</span>

The Weymouth Wizard was a named summer service operated by Great Western Railway (GWR) via the Heart of Wessex Line between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth. The special service was named when GWR started running a single Saturday summer InterCity 125 service between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth.

The Eastleigh to Salisbury line is the railway line from Eastleigh (Hampshire) through Romsey to Salisbury (Wiltshire) in England. It was constructed by the London and South Western Railway in 1857 from Bishopstoke; the station's name was changed to Eastleigh in 1889. At Salisbury the line ran to Milford station on the south-eastern margin of the city, but in 1859 an extension to the present-day Salisbury station was built, and the lines from Andover through Salisbury to Yeovil were connected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milford railway station (Wiltshire)</span> Closed railway station in Wiltshire, England

Milford railway station was the first railway station to be built in the city of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, in 1847. The Bishopstoke to Salisbury line approached from the south-east, and terminated in the Milford area of the city by the Church of St Martin. In 1859, passenger services were transferred away to the newer station located at Fisherton, with Milford retained as a goods depot until the 1960s.

References

  1. Le Vay, Julian; Le Vay, Benedict (2014). Britain from the Rails: Including the nation's best-kept-secret railways. Bradt Travel Guide. pp. 145–147. ISBN   9781841629193.
  2. "Rail Travel". Destination Wessex. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  3. "Train timetable". Melksham Rail User Group. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  4. Oakley 2004, p. 140.
  5. Oakley 2004, p. 138.
  6. Oakley 2004, pp. 106–113.
  7. Oakley 2004, p. 107.
  8. Oakley 2004, pp. 110–112.
  9. Oakley 2004, pp. 108–109.
  10. Oakley 2004, p. 113.
  11. 1 2 Oakley 2004, p. 14.
  12. Crittall, Elizabeth, ed. (1959). "Railways". A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 4. London: University of London. pp. 280–293. Retrieved 23 March 2017 via British History Online.
  13. Butt 1995, p. 176.
  14. Butt 1995, p. 29.
  15. "Limpley Stoke Station". Bradford on Avon Museum. 30 September 2010. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  16. Oakley 2004, pp. 68–70.

Further reading