Dursley and Midland Junction Railway

Dursley and Midland Junction Railway
Legend miles Cross Country Route to Birmingham Cam & Dursley 0.00 Coaley Junction 1.23 Cam 2.38 Dursley Cross Country Route to Bristol

The Dursley and Midland Junction Railway was a company formed to build a short railway in Gloucestershire, England linking the town of Dursley to the Midland Railway's Bristol to Gloucester line at Coaley. The line was built in 1856 and was 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. Apart from the terminus and the junction stations, there was also a station at Cam, about halfway between the two.^[1]

Traffic

Passenger

Dursley station, late 1960s, surrounded by Lister's factory

The railway company built all three stations on the line, including the junction station, but the passenger trains were run by the Midland Railway. Passenger numbers disappointed, and the Midland absorbed the company entirely from 1861. Journeys between Coaley Junction railway station and Dursley took only 10 minutes and around half a dozen trains were provided each day, with excursion traffic in the summer.^[2] The trains that ran on the line were affectionately known as the "Dursley Donkey".^[3]

Freight

Much of the traffic on the line was freight, and Dursley railway station, rather inconveniently situated for the town, became surrounded by the Lister engineering company which provided a lot of the goods.^[4]

Ownership changes

The railway survived both the Grouping of 1923 and nationalisation in 1948.

Closure

The line closed to passenger traffic in 1962. Stopping passenger services continued between Bristol and Gloucester, calling at Coaley Junction, until 1965. Goods traffic on the branch, primarily from Lister's, continued until 1968 and after that the line was worked as a private siding until it was severed by a road accident in 1970.^[1]

What remains

A few traces of the Dursley branch still remain. The original station buildings at Coaley Junction station have gone, but some remains of the platforms and the Goods shed still exist, although in private hands. The course of the railway can be followed most of the way into Dursley (although almost all in private hands), but disappears entirely near where the station used to be and there is no evidence at all of Dursley station. Structures still existing include the crossing keepers house on Coaley Lane, the 1930s concrete bridge over the River Cam at Draycott and a footbridge over the railway between Cam station and Church Road in Cam.

Cam and Dursley station

A new station called Cam and Dursley opened on the Bristol to Gloucester line in 1994 about 300 yards north of the original site of Coaley Junction station.^[5]

References