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Great Western Coffee Shop > Sideshoots - associated subjects > Railway History and related topics > OTD - 2nd March 1953 - Passenger service to Highworth ceases
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Author Topic: OTD - 2nd March 1953 - Passenger service to Highworth ceases  (Read 3835 times)
grahame
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« on: March 01, 2022, 22:58:09 »
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highworth_branch_line

Quote
The Highworth branch line operated a service for paying passengers from 9 May 1883.

[snip]

The line was not commercially successful as a passenger route. Following nationalisation, services were proposed to be withdrawn by British Railways in 1952 although the goods service would remain open.The passenger service closed on 2 March 1953, while goods services from Highworth to Kingsdown Road continued until 3 August 1962.
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ellendune
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« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2022, 11:30:40 »
Quote from: grahame on March 01, 2022, 22:58:09
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highworth_branch_line

Quote
The Highworth branch line operated a service for paying passengers from 9 May 1883.

[snip]

The line was not commercially successful as a passenger route. Following nationalisation, services were proposed to be withdrawn by British Railways in 1952 although the goods service would remain open.The passenger service closed on 2 March 1953, while goods services from Highworth to Kingsdown Road continued until 3 August 1962.

Surely it means Highworth Junction (in Swindon) to Kingsdown Road Junction (for Vickers)
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Bmblbzzz
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« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2022, 12:49:46 »
I've often been to Highworth but I never realised it had once had a railway. Would this be the same line that you can see branching off to the north-east a short distance to the east of Swindon station, that (I think) serves the BMW Mini factory?
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« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2022, 12:55:15 »
Quote from: Bmblbzzz on March 02, 2022, 12:49:46
I've often been to Highworth but I never realised it had once had a railway. Would this be the same line that you can see branching off to the north-east a short distance to the east of Swindon station, that (I think) serves the BMW Mini factory?

Yes that is the stub of the Highworth branch. It serves the Mini Factory and European Metal Recycling
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Marlburian
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« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2025, 18:15:03 »
A  new YouTube video  (just two days old) about the Highworth branch.

OK, there are lots of "old railway" videos, but I'm mentioning this one for two reasons:

1. the amount of surviving track, now obscured by vegetation.

2. in the summer my cousin-criminologist from a Welsh university was discussing with a senior officer at Wiltshire Police a meeting so she could research something sensitive.  There was some confusion as to whether this would take place at Devizes or Swindon, and some discussion between us as to how she would get to either place by train, though we agreed that it would make sense for her to travel to me, stay overnight, and then I could drive her to either place. (In both cases the routes would be very scenic.) I pondered how I would amuse myself during her meeting. Had it been Swindon I might have killed time in Highworth. Now I realise that the overgrown track was very close to Swindon police station - and I might now explore it next year.

As it happened, no meeting took place, possibly because her research would have related to over-sensitive areas.
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