Dunster railway station is near

Dunster Dunster is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England, within the north-eastern boundary of Exmoor National Park. It lies on the Bristol Channel southeast of Minehead and northwest of Taunton. At the 2011 Unit ...

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 and is 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 i ...

, a heritage railway.

History

The station was opened on 16 July 1874 by the Minehead Railway. The line was operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway which was also amalgamated into the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1876. The Minehead Railway was itself absorbed into the GWR in 1897. A small signal box stood at the end of the platform, but was demolished in 1926 when this was extended. In 1934 a ''new'' signal box at the opposite end of the station, brought second-hand from

Maerdy Maerdy (, cy, Y Maerdy) is a village and community (and electoral ward) in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying at the head of the Rhondda Fach Valley. History "Maerdy" i ...

, was put into use when the line from Dunster to was doubled in 1934. The GWR was nationalised into British Railways in 1948 and from 1964, when goods traffic was withdrawn on 6 July, the line was run down until it was eventually closed on 4 January 1971. The line was reopened as a heritage railway operated by the

on 28 March 1976. The signal box was moved to Minehead in 1977 but the goods yard is now home to the railway's civil engineering team.

Description

The station is located one mile from the village of

, which contains many historic buildings. The stone station building and

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

is on the south side-west of the line, its imposing design reflects its former status as the station for distinguished visitors to

Dunster Castle Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a English country house, country house, in the village of Dunster, Somerset, England. The castle lies on the top of a steep hill called the Tor, and has been fortified since the late Anglo- ...

. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. A

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...

was provided on the opposite side of the line, and this building and surrounding yard are now used as a workshop and base for the WSR's Permanent Way (civil engineering) department. The Railway Printing Company is based in the old parcels office within the main building. From here they supply tickets printed on their old

Edmondson railway ticket The Edmondson railway ticket was a system for recording the payment of railway fares and accounting for the revenue raised, introduced in the 1840s.Farr, M (1997). "Edmondson, Thomas". In: Simmonds and Biddle (1997), Page 141 It is named after ...

press to the WSR and many other heritage lines.

Services

Trains run between and at weekends and on some other days from March to October, daily during the late spring and summer, and on certain days during the winter.

References

External links

West Somerset Railway - Dunster station

Dunster Station
{{Somerset railway stations West Somerset Railway Heritage railway stations in Somerset Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1874 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1971 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1976 Former Great Western Railway stations Grade II listed buildings in West Somerset Grade II listed railway stations