Cheddar railway station was a station on the

Bristol and Exeter Railway The Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with ...

Cheddar Valley line The Cheddar Valley line was a railway line in Somerset, England, running between Yatton and Witham. It was opened in parts: the first section connecting Shepton Mallet to Witham, later extended to Wells, was built by the East Somerset Railway fr ...

Cheddar Cheddar most often refers to either: *Cheddar cheese *Cheddar, Somerset, the village after which Cheddar cheese is named Cheddar may also refer to: Places * Cheddar, Ontario, Canada * Cheddar Yeo, a river which flows through Cheddar Gorge and th ...

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. The station had substantial goods traffic based on the locally-grown strawberries, which led to the line's alternative name as The Strawberry Line.

History

The station was opened as the temporary terminus of the

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 in August 1869. The railway was extended to

Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...

in 1870, converted to standard gauge in the mid-1870s and then linked up to the

East Somerset Railway The East Somerset Railway is a heritage railway in Somerset, running between Cranmore and Mendip Vale. Prior to the Beeching Axe, the railway was once part of the former Cheddar Valley line that ran from Witham to Yatton, meeting the Some ...

to provide through services from to

Witham Witham () is a town in the county of Essex in the East of England, with a population ( 2011 census) of 25,353. It is part of the District of Braintree and is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands between the city of Chelms ...

in 1878. All the railways involved were absorbed into 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 the 1870s. Cheddar was the largest station on the line, with a big station building and an all-over roof that covered both platforms. The station was host to a GWR camp coach from 1935 to 1939. A camping coach was also positioned here by the Western Region from 1952 to 1963 (except for 1953). The Yatton to Witham line closed to passengers in 1963. Cheddar remained open for goods until November 1965, and even then a private siding kept the line in place until March 1969. Most of the station buildings still exist in other uses, but the overall roof was taken down soon after the passenger service was withdrawn.

Services

References

{{commons category, Cheddar railway station Disused railway stations in Somerset Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1869 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1963 1869 establishments in England Former Great Western Railway stations Cheddar, Somerset