Washford (WSMR) railway station

Washford (WSMR)
Location
Place	Washford
Area	Somerset
Coordinates
Grid reference	ST048411
Operations
Original company	West Somerset Mineral Railway
Platforms	1
History
April 1857	Opened for goods
4 September 1865	Opened for passengers
7 November 1898	Closed
1907	Reopened
1910	Closed
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West Somerset Mineral Railway (WSMR)
Legend
Western Pier Eastern Pier Watchet Harbour WSR to Taunton Watchet (WSMR) Watchet WSMR Engine Shed Washford Washford (WSMR) WSR to Minehead Roadwater Timwood Tunnel Comberow x20px Colton Mine Inclines Winding Houses x20px 2ft Gauge Bridge over B3224 x20px Tramway Brendon Hill Raleigh's Cross Mine Luxborough Road Langham Hill Mine x20px Gupworthy New Pit Aerial Ropeway Gupworthy Kennesome Hill Mine x20px Extension not built x20px Hoult Point

Washford was an intermediate station on 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.

The station offered the usual goods and passenger facilities.

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.

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 no passenger service was provided. The venture collapsed in March 1910.

Abandonment

After closure in 1910 the line was subject to minimal maintenance 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

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.

External links

• The station on a navigable Edwardian OS map, via National Library of Scotland
• 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

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Roadwater Line and station closed		West Somerset Mineral Railway		Watchet (WSMR) Line and station closed