Watchet (WSMR) railway station

Watchet (WSMR)
Watchet (WSMR) railway station
Location
Place	Watchet
Area	Somerset
Coordinates	51°10′57″N 3°19′55″W / 51.1826°N 3.3319°W / 51.1826; -3.3319Coordinates: 51°10′57″N 3°19′55″W / 51.1826°N 3.3319°W / 51.1826; -3.3319
Grid reference	ST070434
Operations
Original company	West Somerset Mineral Railway
Platforms	1[1]
History
April 1857	Opened for goods[2]
4 September 1865	Opened for passengers[3]
7 November 1898	Closed
1907	Reopened
1910	Closed[4][5]
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
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West Somerset Mineral Railway (WSMR)
Legend
Western Pier Eastern Pier Watchet Harbour West Somerset Railway to Taunton Watchet Watchet (WSR) Engine shed Washford (WSR) Washford West Somerset Railway to Minehead Roadwater Timwood Tunnel Comberow Colton Mine Inclines Winding houses  B3224  2ft Gauge Tramway Brendon Hill Raleigh's Cross Mine Luxborough Road Langham Hill Mine Aerial ropeway Gupworthy New Pit Kennesome Hill Mine Gupworthy Extension not built Hoult Point

Watchet was the northern terminus of the West Somerset Mineral Railway (WSMR), which was built primarily to carry iron ore from mines to Watchet harbour in Somerset, England. The line was unconnected to any other, though it passed under what is now the West Somerset Railway south of the village of Watchet.

As well as the usual goods and passenger facilities the station also housed the company offices. A single track engine shed stood a short distance to the south.^[6]

Services

The stone-built station opened for goods traffic in 1857. A passenger service began in September 1865, connecting Watchet with the village of Washford and the hamlets of Roadwater and Comberow. Passengers were carried up a rope-hauled incline to Brendon Hill and on to Gupworthy on a wagon, free of charge, but at their own risk.^[7]

The initial passenger service consisted of four trains a day out and back.

Like other railways built to serve one industry, such as iron ore carrying lines in Cumbria, their fortunes were at the mercy of that industry. Iron and steel making was given to boom and bust and suffered a significant downturn in the 1870s, exacerbated by imports of cheaper and better ore from abroad. The iron mines which provided the WSMR's staple traffic stuttered to complete closure between 1879 and 1883. The line did not close immediately, two mixed trains a day continued to run until 1898, when all traffic ceased.

In 1907 the Somerset Mineral Syndicate made an attempt to revive the line, reopening Colton mine and starting a new bore at Timwood. Apart from a reopening day special on 4 July 1907^[8] no passenger service was provided. The venture collapsed in March 1910.

Abandonment

After closure in 1910 the line was subject to minimal maintenance^[9] until its metals were requisitioned for the war effort in 1917.

With neither track, rolling stock nor prospects an Act of Parliament was sought and passed to abandon the railway. Its assets were auctioned on 8 August 1924 and the company was wound up in 1925.

Afterlife

Since closure the station building in Market Street has been converted into a private house complete with part of the platform. In 2016 the former locomotive shed was converted into use as a car repair workshop. By 2016 much of the route could still be traced on the ground, on maps and on satellite images. The incline from Comberow to Brendon Hill is a Listed structure.

References

Sources

• Griffiths, Roger; Smith, Paul (1999). The Directory of British Engine Sheds and Principal Locomotive Servicing Points: 1 Southern England, the Midlands, East Anglia and Wales. OPC Railprint. ISBN 0-86093-542-6. OCLC 59458015. 
• Oakley, Mike (2002). Somerset Railway Stations. Dovecote Press. ISBN 978-1904349099. 
• Scott-Morgan, John (1980). British Independent Light Railways. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 0 7153 7933 X. 
• Sellick, R.J. (1981) [1976]. The Old Mineral Line. Dulverton, Somerset: Exmoor Press. ISBN 090013139X. 
• Thomas, David St John (1966). Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: The West Country v. 1. David & Charles. ISBN 0946537178. 

Further reading

• Dale, Peter (2001). Somerset's Lost Railways. Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84033-171-4. 
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1990). Branch Line to Minehead: Preservation Perfection. Middleton Press. ISBN 978-0906520802. 

External links

• The station on a navigable Edwardian OS map, via National Library of Scotland
• 1932 aerial view of the station site, via Britain from above (sign-in needed to zoom)
• The station via Rail Map Online
• The station, via Disused Stations UK
• The line, via WSMR Project
• The line, via Industrial Railway Record
• The line and Brendon iron ore mining, via M H Jones
• The line, via Industrial Railway Record
• The line, via Exmoor Heritage
• The line, via Heritage Locations
• The line, via The Train Web
• The line, via Friends of the WSR
• Watchet Industrial Archaeology, via English Heritage
• The line, via WSMR org
• The line, via WSML Association
• The inclines, via hows org
• The line, via John Speller's Web Pages