Charfield railway station served the village of

Charfield Charfield is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, south-west of Wotton-under-Edge near the Little Avon River and the villages of Falfield and Cromhall. The parish includes the hamlet of Churchend. Village Charfield is a mediu ...

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming part ...

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 ...

. The station was on the

Bristol and Gloucester Railway The Bristol and Gloucester Railway was a railway company opened in 1844 to run services between Bristol and Gloucester. It was built on the , but it was acquired in 1845 by the Midland Railway, which also acquired the Birmingham and Gloucester R ...

, originally a

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

line overseen by

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...

, but later taken over by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

and converted to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

History

Charfield station opened with the Bristol and Gloucester line in 1844 and had substantial Brunel-designed buildings on both platforms. There were sidings to the north and south, and those to the north were converted to loops to allow slow trains to be overtaken by faster trains. In 1928, the

Charfield railway disaster The Charfield railway disaster was a fatal train crash which occurred on 13 October 1928 in the village of Charfield in the English county of Gloucestershire. The Leeds to Bristol London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) night mail train faile ...

occurred when a southbound night-time mail train overran signals into a goods train manoeuvring into these sidings, and in the collision the mail train was diverted into the path of a northbound freight train. Gas from the mail train ignited and 15 people died in the blaze. According to some accounts, among them were two children whose identity was never established. Passenger services were withdrawn from Charfield in January 1965 with the removal of stopping services on the Bristol to Gloucester line. Goods services were withdrawn in September of the same year. The main station building and the station master's house remain, in residential use.

Proposed reopening

Services between

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

pass through Charfield. There have been discussions about the viability of reopening the station. The costs would be shared between

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

and

councils since, although the station would be in South Gloucestershire, the nearby town of

Wotton-under-Edge Wotton-under-Edge is a market town within the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Located near the southern fringe of the Cotswolds, the Cotswold Way long-distance footpath passes through the town. Standing on the B4058, Wotton is ab ...

would be a principal beneficiary. In February 2019, the

West of England Combined Authority The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is a combined authority within the West of England area, consisting of the local authorities of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset. The combined authority is led by the ...

announced a £500,000 feasibility study into plans for two new bypasses and work to see whether Charfield is viable for reopening to passengers. In June 2019, a further £900,000 was allocated for the production of a full business case for the reopening of the station. The January 2020 version of the Joint Local Transport Plan 4 (JLTP4, led by the West of England Combined Authority) proposed to deliver by 2023–2024 a "New station at Charfield funded through the WECA Investment Fund, to support housing growth". In June 2020, Councillor Toby Savage, leader of South Gloucestershire Council, mentioned the possibility of re-opening Charfield station during an announcement of plans for enhanced services between Bristol and Gloucester. A plan agreed by the

on 8 December 2020 set out projects that could potentially be delivered between 2020 and 2030, including the reopening of Charfield station A 12-week public consultation on the re-opening proposals was held between 19 October 2021 and 10 January 2022, with the new station proposed to open at the end of 2024

Services

References

Former Midland Railway stations Disused railway stations in Bristol, Bath and South Gloucestershire Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1844 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Beeching closures in England Proposed railway stations in England {{Gloucestershire-struct-stub