Rushey Platt railway station is a former station on the

Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

at Rushey Platt, south west of the centre of Swindon in

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 ...

. The line was extended in 1882, and the station opened on 18 December 1883 on the

Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

line from to the temporary terminus at . The S&CER line amalgamated in 1884 with the

Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' tr ...

to form the M&SWJR, and through services beyond Cirencester to the junction at

Andoversford Andoversford is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England, about east of Cheltenham. The village is on the River Coln, parallel to the A40.The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 555. In 2019 ...

with the Great Western Railway's Cheltenham Lansdown to line, which had opened in 1881, started in 1891. An additional loop for goods traffic opened in 1921. Rushey Platt was at the junction where the 1883 S&CER line branched off from the SM&AR link line between Swindon Town railway station and the main Great Western Railway station at . It had platforms on both the through S&CER line and the link, but the service between the two Swindon stations ceased after March 1885 because of the high fees the GWR charged the M&SWJR to run over its tracks, and that part of the station closed only 15 months after it had opened. Passenger services at the through platforms of the station lasted only a further 20 years and were withdrawn in 1905: the station closed on 1 October 1905, the first station on the line to close to passengers. However, the station remained open for goods traffic, mainly milk, until the M&SWJR line closed to goods in 1964, and a private siding lasted even longer. The railway embankment is still visible and all that remains of the station is a very weathered upper platform. The rest of the station has disappeared through time and development, and some of the site has been replaced by part of an industrial warehouse in Swindon's Rushey Platt Industrial Park. The route of the former railway can still be seen with bridges at Mill Lane and Redpost Road.

Route

References

* ''Wiltshire Railway Stations'', Mike Oakley, Dovecote Press, Wimborne, 2004, Disused railway stations in Wiltshire Former Midland and South Western Junction Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1883 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1905 {{SouthWestEngland-railstation-stub