Norton Fitzwarren railway station is an untimetabled
station
Station may refer to:
Agriculture
* Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production
* Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle
** Cattle statio ...
on the
West Somerset Railway
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which is ...
in
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. It was built in 2009 about north of the site of the old (Norton Fitzwarren) station that served the village of
Norton Fitzwarren
Norton Fitzwarren is a village, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated north west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 3,046.
History
The village is on the southern slope ...
from 1873 until 1961. There were fatal railway accidents in the vicinity in 1890, 1940 and 1978.
History
First station
![Norton Fitzwarren 57309](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Norton_Fitzwarren_57309.jpg)
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 ...
(B&ER) was opened through Norton Fitzwarren on 1 May 1843 but the nearest station was east at . On 31 March 1862 the original
West Somerset Railway
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which is ...
was opened to , leaving the Exeter line at Norton Junction, but still no station was provided. The first section of the
Devon and Somerset Railway
The Devon and Somerset Railway (D&SR) was a cross-country line that connected Barnstaple in Devon, England, to the network of the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) near Taunton. It was opened in stages between 1871 and 1873 and closed in 1966. ...
to opened on 8 June 1871, making a connection into the West Somerset line just west of the junction with the Exeter line.
[
The first two-platform station was finally opened at the junction on 1 June 1873, located immediately east of the junction (at ). On the northern platform side closest to the village was a small station building, a hotel and the goods yard.] Both the branch lines were operated by the B&ER until 1 January 1876 when it was amalgamated
Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form.
Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to:
Mathematics and science
* Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal
**Pan ama ...
with 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 1931 the GWR started a project to quadruple the track between ]Cogload Junction
Cogload Junction is a railway junction in Durston, Somerset, England. It is where the 1906-opened London to Penzance Line via Castle Cary joins the original line that runs via Bristol Temple Meads. A flyover was constructed in 1931 convertin ...
(where the mainline from and the north met the Castle Cary cut-off line from Yeovil, Reading and ), for the south through Taunton to Norton Fitzwarren. The existing station buildings were demolished, to allow a new up-relief line to be built north of the existing northern platform, followed by the creation of a down relief road south of the southern platform. A new metal passenger bridge was erected, connecting the new station buildings to the north with both island platforms. The completion of the project also allowed the GWR to create the large regional goods facility at Fairwater Yard
Taunton railway station is a junction station on the route from London to Penzance, west of London Paddington station. It is situated in Taunton, Somerset, and is operated by Great Western Railway. The station is also served by CrossCountry t ...
, located just east of the station. The whole project was brought into operation on 2 December 1931.[
]
World War 2: US Army Depot G-50
At the start of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the Royal Army Service Corps
The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...
choose the relatively large scale station serving the small community as the ideal location for a new logistics depot. Finished at the end of 1941, it was immediately taken over by the United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
as part of Operation Bolero
Operation Bolero was the commonly used reference for the code name of the United States military troop buildup in the United Kingdom during World War II in preparation for the initial cross-channel invasion plan known as Operation Roundup, to be ...
in early 1942, one of their 18 supplies depots within the United Kingdom. Redesignated Quartermaster General Depot G-50, they equipped it with extensive railway sidings to the northeast of the railway station.
Part of the reasoning behind the choice of the depot, was that it was one of five within the 18 designated as a US Army Medical Corps
The Medical Corps (MC) of the U.S. Army is a staff corps (non-combat specialty branch) of the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD) consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an M.D. or a D.O. degree, at least one ye ...
supplies depot. Medical supplies were allocated of under cover storage, and a further outside. The US Army also locally developed the 67th General Hospital at Musgrove Park. Both facilities under the control of the US Army Medical Corps came into operation on 1 September 1942.
Closure
On 1 January 1948 the railways were nationalised
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
and Norton Fitzwarren became a part of the Western Region of British Railways
The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex- Great ...
. Passenger traffic was withdrawn on 30 October 1961,[ after which passengers for the two branches once again had to change trains at Taunton until these routes were closed on 3 October 1966 (the Devon and Somerset line) and 4 January 1971 (West Somerset line).][ The goods yard continued to operate until 6 July 1964, when the logistics facilities of ]Norton Manor Camp
Norton Manor Camp, also known RM Norton Manor is a Royal Marines base located near Norton Fitzwarren, north west of Taunton, Somerset, in England. It is home to 40 Commando.
In 2016, the government announced that Norton Manor Camp would be clos ...
closed.[
The goods facilities had always handled a large volume of locally grown ]cider apple
Cider apples are a group of apple cultivars grown for their use in the production of cider (referred to as "hard cider" in the United States). Cider apples are distinguished from "cookers" and "eaters", or dessert apples, by their bitterness or ...
s, and on 1 March 1983 a private siding utilising much of the former up-relief road connection to the WSR was opened into the Taunton Cider Company's factory on the northwest side of the former station site.[ Although this factory has since closed,][ it was this private siding that allowed the ]West Somerset Railway
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which is ...
, in its new heritage railway
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
guise, to be connected to the national railway network.[
]
West Somerset Railway
In 2004 the West Somerset Railway Association
The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which i ...
(WSRA) (the volunteer organisation that supports the WSR) purchased of land west of its railway and north of the main line at Norton Fitzwarren.
This included a short length of the track bed of the dismantled Barnstaple branch line. This track bed and a new north-west chord have eventually formed a triangle where rolling stock is turned when required. Part of the land is used for ballast reclamation, with waste material being delivered to the site by Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
in conjunction with their track renewals depot at nearby Fairwater Yard
Taunton railway station is a junction station on the route from London to Penzance, west of London Paddington station. It is situated in Taunton, Somerset, and is operated by Great Western Railway. The station is also served by CrossCountry t ...
.
There is also sufficient space to allow for the construction of a locomotive and rolling stock restoration depot in the future.[
The WSRA built a single concrete platform on the west side of the Minehead to Taunton line in 2009. This is not shown in the regular timetable but is for use during special events when a shuttle service can bring people from . It is long enough to handle four-coach trains. It was first used on 1 and 2 August 2009 in association with a vintage vehicle rally on the WSR's land at Norton Fitzwarren.
There is no public access to the site currently, however it is hoped this will change in the future as the adjacent 'Ford Farm' site has been identified as a Potential Mixed Use Development site in the Taunton Deane Core Strategy
with an associated transport policy statement that any such development should include improved access to the adjoining West Somerset Railway station.
The WSR entered into a partnership with the modern ]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 ...
(GWR) in 2019 to operate Summer Saturday services between and on Saturdays when special events were taking place. On 3 August, services called additionally at Norton Fitzwarren for the annual Steam Fayre Vintage Rally, run by the WSRA, taking place at the station. These GWR services were the first time the new station was served by trains from the national rail network.
Accidents
Three significant accidents have happened on the main line in the vicinity of Norton Fitzwarren:
* The Ocean Mails collision – 4-4-0ST No. 2051 was withdrawn following a fatal collision at Norton Fitzwarren on 11 November 1890 while working a special Travelling Post Office
A Travelling Post Office (TPO) was a type of mail train used in Great Britain and Ireland where the post was sorted en route.
The TPO can be traced back to the earlier days of the railway, the first ever postal movement by rail being performe ...
conveying mail from a trans-Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
liner which had been landed at .
* The wartime collision – another crash occurred on 4 November 1940, which left 27 people dead, this time when a driver of a train leaving Taunton under blackout conditions due to the war misread signals and believed he was on a different line to the one on which he was travelling. The train was derailed at trap points as the driver mistook main line signals for his own.
* The Taunton sleeper fire – a coach in the 22:30 sleeper train from to London Paddington station
Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great We ...
caught fire on the morning of 6 July 1978 and was brought to a stand near Norton Fitzwarren. Twelve people were killed and 15 people were injured.
References
{{Somerset railway stations
West Somerset Railway
Disused railway stations in Somerset
Former Great Western Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1873
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1961
Heritage railway stations in Somerset
Railway stations built for UK heritage railways
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2009