Blunsdon railway station is a former railway station, now operating as a

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

. It was built to serve the village of

Blunsdon Blunsdon is a civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, in Wiltshire, England, about north of the centre of Swindon, with the A419 forming its southern boundary. Its main settlement is the village of Broad Blunsdon, with Lower Blunsdon nearby; t ...

, north of

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

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 ...

, although located within the boundaries of

Purton Purton is a large village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the centre of Swindon. The parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Purton Common, Restrop, The Fox and Widham. Th ...

History

Blunsdon was one of the last stations to be opened by the

Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

in 1895 on a railway that had opened in 1883. It was little more than a single-platform halt, and milk was the main traffic. It also had a single siding, used for such traffic as fertiliser and other agricultural requirements. It was also one of the first stations on the route to be closed. Regular passenger trains stopped calling in 1922, leaving one solitary passenger train service stopping at Blunsdon on a Sunday until 1924. The station closed completely on 1 August 1937 when goods traffic ceased.

Heritage railway

The site became the headquarters of the

Swindon and Cricklade Railway The Swindon and Cricklade Railway is a heritage railway in Wiltshire, England, that operates on a short section of the old Midland and South Western Junction Railway line between Swindon and Cricklade. Swindon and Cricklade Railway is a regis ...

in the late 1970s because it offered the best road access to the trackbed between

and

Cricklade Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227. History Cricklade ...

. By that time, almost every trace of the original station had gone, and the present structures are all new. Blunsdon station offers a variety of services including the Swindon and Cricklade railway shop, canteen/buffet, toilets and car parking space.

Route

References

* ''Wiltshire Railway Stations'', Mike Oakley, Dovecote Press, Wimborne, 2004,

External links

Information about Blunsdon station on the Swindon and Cricklade Railway website.
{{Wiltshire railway stations Heritage railway stations in Wiltshire Former Midland and South Western Junction Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1895 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1924