Stogumber railway station

Stogumber railway station is a station in Kingswood, Somerset, England which serves the nearby village of Stogumber. It was opened by the West Somerset Railway in 1862 and closed by British Rail early in 1971. It was subsequently reopened in 1978 by the present day West Somerset Railway, a heritage line. It has a different layout to most stations, in that the main building lies on the opposite side of the tracks to the platform.HistoryThe station was first opened on 31 March 1862 when the West Somerset Railway was brought into use between Norton Junction and. The small station building was put on the east side of the track and the platform on the west; access between the two was across a pedestrian level crossing. A loop line served a goods shed opposite the platform to the north of the station building.The railway was operated from the start by the Bristol and Exeter Railway which became a part of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1876, but the West Somerset Railway remained an independent company until 1922 when it too was absorbed by the GWR. The platform was extended northwards in 1900 and again in 1933; a small signal box was in use here for a few years but was closed on 6 April 1926. The GWR undertook many projects to increase the capacity of the line in the 1930s. Because of the position of the goods shed opposite the platform it was not possible to add a second track and platform at Stogumber, so a passing loop was instead constructed at Leigh Bridge just 0.75mi south of the station. It was opened on 16 July 1933 but the signal box was generally only used during the daytime each summer. A camp coach was placed in the goods yard for several years. The lack of facilities at this remote location meant that this was accompanied by a water tanker and stores van.

Tags: Train Station