Little Somerford railway station served the village of
Little Somerford
Little Somerford is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, southeast of Malmesbury and northeast of Chippenham.
The northern boundary of the parish follows approximately the B4040 Malmesbury– Swindon road. The Bristol Avon forms ...
,
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 from 1903 to 1962. It was on the
South Wales Main Line
The South Wales Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell De Cymru), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. ...
and served as the junction for the
Malmesbury branch line from 1933.
History
When the Malmesbury branch line was opened in 1877, it left the
Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the or ...
at and had one intermediate station just north of
Great Somerford
Great Somerford is a village and civil parish within Dauntsey Vale, Wiltshire, England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon, Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). near the south bank of the river Avon. ...
. In 1903 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 ...
opened the
South Wales Main Line
The South Wales Main Line ( cy, Prif Linell De Cymru), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. ...
which provided a more direct route to South Wales, passing close to the south of Little Somerford village and to the north of the earlier line. A small station at Little Somerford
was opened on the day the line was opened to passengers, 1 July 1903.
In 1933 the connection of the branch to the main line network was altered so that the branch began at Little Somerford, and the section south to Dauntsey was closed. Thus from 17 July 1933 Little Somerford became a junction, until the branch was closed (to passengers in September 1951 and completely in November 1962). Main line passenger service at the station was withdrawn in April 1961 and goods traffic in June 1963.
References
Disused railway stations in Wiltshire
Former Great Western Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1903
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1961
1903 establishments in England
1961 disestablishments in England
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