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Title: OTD - 7th March 1966 - Lines and stations closing Post by: grahame on March 06, 2022, 23:33:17 Quote Despite the Labour government elected in 1964 promising no further major railway cutbacks, an active campaign to save the line was lost when on 6 September 1965, the closure consent covering most of the S&D and the line to Bristol via Mangotsfield was issued. Tom Fraser was the Minister of Transport at the time. That consent was followed by another for Broadstone station and Creekmoor Halt as these stops had also been served by another passenger service, though that had already been withdrawn. Closure scheduled for 3 January 1966 was deferred when one of the road operators withdrew his application for a licence to provide some of the alternative road services, and an emergency service was introduced on that date instead. This reduced the number of trains departing Bath to four a day (06:45, 08:15, 16:25 and 18:10), and two a day (06:55 and 16:00) from Highbridge. There were no through trains other than the 18:46 from Bournemouth Central on Saturdays, with journeys being broken at Templecombe and no suitable connections provided. There were no services on Sundays. Finally, on 7 March 1966 the whole S&D line from Bath to Bournemouth – and also the Evercreech Junction to Highbridge line – was closed under the Beeching Axe and dismantled. (http://www.wellho.net/pix/sandd1875.jpg) Public domain map - Somerset and Dorset in 1875. Bridgwater Branch and Wimbourne cutoff added later It's somewhat sad that here we are, so many years later, bemoaning the lack of connectivity by public transport from Bristol and Bath to Poole and Bournemouth across the Western Gateway subnational transport body area. What's the current status of the alternative road services? Quote This was the second station in Wilton, the Great Western Railway (GWR) having opened one on their adjacent route in 1856. To avoid confusion between the two stations the former SR station became 'Wilton South' in September 1949, and at the same time the former GWR station became "Wilton North". The North station closed to passengers in 1955 but goods continued to be handled there until 1965. In the meantime, at the South station goods traffic ceased on 6 July 1964 and then passenger services were also withdrawn on 7 March 1966. And should not there be a station at Wilton now? Title: Re: OTD - 7th March 1966 - Lines and stations closing Post by: Electric train on March 07, 2022, 06:44:39 It's somewhat sad that here we are, so many years later, bemoaning the lack of connectivity by public transport from Bristol and Bath to Poole and Bournemouth across the Western Gateway subnational transport body area. What's the current status of the alternative road services? The benefits of the 20/20 hindsight, the great lure and affordability in the 1960's of the freedom that car ownership offered moved the population onto the roads .................. this in part was at the hands of Ernest Marples and his business interests in Marples Ridgway and Partners, who constructed roads Title: Re: OTD - 7th March 1966 - Lines and stations closing Post by: CyclingSid on March 07, 2022, 07:11:08 And also
Steyning Line (also known as the Adur Valley line) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyning_Line (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyning_Line) Passenger services were withdrawn from Monday 7 March 1966. The last train was on the Sunday evening, the 2128 from Brighton to Horsham. The track was lifted soon afterwards and the signalboxes demolished, with the stations going the same way in 1969. The Steyning and Cranleigh lines were largely fated by the "by the inconvenient timetabling of connections", which is a subject we are discussing elsewhere The line now makes up the southern half of the Downs Link, the northern half following the Cranleigh Line towards Guildford. Shoreham toll bridge is one of two road bridges, that I know of, where the railway company collected the tolls. This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |