Bishops Lydeard railway station is a
heritage railway
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
station in the village of
Bishops Lydeard
Bishops Lydeard () is a village and civil parish located in Somerset, England, north-west of Taunton in the district of Somerset West and Taunton. The civil parish encompasses the hamlets of East Lydeard, Terhill, and East Bagborough, and had a ...
,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is the southern terminus for regular trains on the
West Somerset Railway
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which is ...
.
History
B&ER/GWR
The station was first opened on 31 March 1862 when the
West Somerset Railway
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which is ...
was opened from
Norton Junction
Worcestershire Parkway is a split-level railway station where the Cotswold and Cross Country lines cross near Norton, Worcester, England. It opened on 23 February 2020.
Purpose
The Cross Country Route from Birmingham to Cardiff, Bristol a ...
to , operated by the
Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER). On opening the station had just one platform on the line's west side, with goods facilities consisting of a siding to a
goods shed
A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
on the west, and a passing loop plus two sidings on the northeast was served by a passing loop and two sidings. There was also a house for the station master.
The B&ER became part of the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
in 1876, but the West Somerset Railway remained an independent company until 1922 when the Great Western absorbed it.
The second eastern platform was not added until 1906, together with a connecting foot bridge.
The standard-pattern GWR medium-scale signal box was also added at the end of the platform, operated via a 25 lever stud-locking frame.
[ On 10 June 1936 the line was doubled from here to Norton Fitzwarren,][ resulting in the signal box being upgraded to a 32 lever frame.][
]
British Railways
Nationalisation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
in 1948 saw it become a part of the Western Region of British Railways
The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex- Great ...
. On 1 March 1970 the signal box was closed and its frame removed, and the track from Norton Fitzwarren through Bishop’s Lydeard and as far as Williton was operated as a single track. The station was closed by BR, along with the entire line, on 4 January 1971.
West Somerset Railway
After the entire line and its trackbed were bought by Somerset County Council
Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county.
On 1 April 2023 the county counc ...
, the West Somerset Railway agreed to lease the line as a heritage railway
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
, with the later possibility of operating timetabled service trains into via operating company, the WSR plc. Track remains to Norton Fitzwarren, controlled through a single token and colour light signals, to allow special trains and occasional goods trains to operate through from Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
to the WSR.[
The WSR revived the line from its western end, starting at Minehead and operating to , before extending operations through to Bishops Lyeard on 9 June 1979. Initially the section west of Williton was operated as one-train-only, before the WSR began operating Bishops Lydeard as a terminus. After the society secured a new 33 lever frame in 1981, following extensive fund-raising, the station's loop was extended to its current length of , to allow for dual-platform arrival/departures. ]HM Railway Inspectorate
Established in 1840, His Majesty's Railway Inspectorate (HMRI) is the organisation responsible for overseeing safety on Britain's railways and tramways. It was previously a separate non-departmental public body, but from 1990 to April 2006 it ...
approved the new plans in 1997, and the full system including control of the Norton Fitzwarren section came into use from August 1998.
Description
Today the station has two operational platforms. It is the headquarters of the West Somerset Railway Association which provides volunteer support for the railway and the Associations's ''Quantock Belle'' dining car train is based here.
The original south western No.1 platform, was extended yet further towards Taunton by the WSR to allow for dual-platform departure. The old goods shed
A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
has been restored and is used as a visitor centre and museum; its artefacts includes a GWR sleeping car, and the Taunton Model Railway Club’s model railway layout. The original station offices with modern toilets are now used by the West Somerset Railway Association.[
The northern 1906-built platform, No.2, is today the stations main operating platform. Accessed via a carpark to its rear, it contains the ticket office, toilets and a shop, and the now enclosed signal box, with a similar platform extension towards Taunton. This extension provided for the inclusion of the Taunton-facing platform No.3 but this is only operated as a siding as it has no direct connection to the running lines. It is normally used to house the "Quantock Belle" dining cars.][
The northern locomotive stabling yard is also based here (northeast of No.2, not accessible to the public), which is where visiting locomotives arriving by road are unloaded onto the WSR.][
]
Services
Trains run between and at weekends and on some other days from March to October, daily during the late spring and summer, and on certain days during the winter. During special events a shuttle service runs between Bishops Lydeard and and from time to time special trains also run through onto Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
's tracks at .
In 2019, the WSR entered into a partnership with the modern Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
(GWR) to operate services to Bishops Lydeard on occasional summer Saturdays from beginning on 27 July 2019 which ended on October 5th 2019. In May 2022 it was announced that the "Reconnecting Bishops Lydeard to Taunton Working Group" has been established to explore the possibility of reconnecting on the West Somerset Railway
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which is ...
to for the purpose of reinstating scheduled trains.
Access
For those outside the area, Bishops Lydeard is the WSR main access point:
*Train: the nearest national rail station is , served by Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
and CrossCountry
CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the Cross Country franchise.
The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) ...
trains.
*Bus: Service from Taunton serves Bishops Lydeard station directly.
*Car: Sign posted from junctions 25 or 26 of the M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...
, the station is located just off the A358 road
List of A roads in zone 3 in Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island ...
on the opposite side to the village. There is a large free car park adjacent to station platform 2.
References
External links
Bishops Lydeard station on the West Somerset Railway website
{{authority control
West Somerset Railway
Heritage railway stations in Somerset
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1971
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1979
Former Great Western Railway stations
Museums in Somerset
Railway museums in England
1862 establishments in England