Corsham railway station served the town of Corsham in Wiltshire, England, between 1841 and 1965.

History

The station was on 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 ...

main line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

from London to Bristol and was opened when the

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

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section opened in June 1841. The station was situated in a cutting to the south of the town, with the main station building at the top of the cutting on the town side. There were small shelters with canopies on each of the two platforms. Passengers accessed the up platform using a path, and the down platform from the footbridge. The Station Hotel was situated alongside the main station building. Corsham had extensive and much-used sidings on both sides of the track to the west of the station, with a goods shed and a loading dock. The main goods traffic was stone from the quarries under Box Hill, which was brought to the lineside by a tramway system of gauge. The sidings led right up to the mouth of Box Tunnel, whose eastern portal is less than from the station. A main line siding also extended to an underground wharf in Corsham Down Quarry near the tunnel. Passenger services were withdrawn from Corsham with the end of stopping services between Swindon and Bath in January 1965. Goods traffic had ended in June 1963, though the siding with the loading dock remained in place until 1978. Of the station structures, only the goods shed now remains; the footbridge is still in place as part of a footpath across the main line.

Stationmasters

On 4 May 1926 the Superintendent for the Bristol Division reported to G.W.R. H.Q at Paddington that the station master at Corsham had withdrawn his labour in support of the

General Strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...

. At the conclusion of the strike, he was moved to Bristol as a booking clerk. *Charles Lanham 1859 – 1897 *William Tavinor 1897 – 1898 (afterwards station master at Chepstow) *John Toy 1898 – ca. 1915 (formerly station master at Chepstow) *Thomas Morgan 1915 – 1926 (joined the

and was demoted) *Bruce Conrad Saxon 1926 – 1935 (afterwards station master at Highbridge) *William C. William 1935 – 1939 *Cyril Boundy 1941 - 1951 (afterwards station master at Barnstaple) *D.R. Widdows 1951 – 1956 (afterwards station master at Melksham) *R.M. Ludgate from 1956

Reopening

As the town has grown, reinstating the station has been suggested since at least 2009. In March 2021, a bid was made to the Department for Transport's "

Restoring Your Railway The Beeching cuts were a reduction of route network and restructuring of British Rail in the 1960s. Since the mid-1990s there has been significant growth in passenger numbers on the railways and renewed government interest in the role of rail ...

" fund for a feasibility study into re-opening the station. In October 2021 it was announced that £50,000 would be provided for further studies. Local MP Michelle Donelan, who had been involved in the bid, said she hoped the new station could be built within five years.

References

External links

{{Proposed rail infrastructure projects in the United Kingdom Disused railway stations in Wiltshire Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1841 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Beeching closures in England railway station