Malmesbury railway station

Malmesbury railway station served the town of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England. The station was on the short Malmesbury branch from the Great Western Railway's main line from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads.

Background

In 1864 the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Railway Company was authorised to construct a line from Stroud to Christian Malford Halt through Tetbury and Malmesbury. Work started on 1 June 1885, but due to disagreements between the two major shareholders, the Midland Railway and the Great Western, work was stalled, and in 1871 the company was wound up.

Operations

In 1872 Government approved a cut down plan to build a line from Dauntsey to Malmesbury, opening on 18 December 1877. Unusually, the station was accessed by a short tunnel, and beyond the town, perhaps with the original scheme development to Stroud in mind. After the Severn Tunnel was constructed to directly connect to South Wales, its line crossed the Malmesbury branch. In 1933, connection was made with this line, and the additional line truncated.^[3]

On 10 September 1951 the line closed to passenger traffic, and to goods 10 years later on 11 November 1962^[4], after which the tracks were lifted. The station site today is an industrial estate development, in part tenanted by Hilditch.

References