Introduction

Evercreech New station and signal-box were situated on the main line of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR), on the section from Bath Junction to Evercreech Junction in the county of Somerset which was known historically as the 'Bath Extension'. The first 'Evercreech' station had been opened by the Somerset and Dorset Railway (S&DR) about two miles south of the actual village of that name (on its original line from Burnham to Wimborne), but when the S&DR opened its 'Bath Extension' to Bath in 1874 the original station became Evercreech Junction and a new station was provided on the Extension next to the village. This new station was called 'Evercreech Village' originally, but renamed Evercreech New not long afterwards.

At first the 'Bath Extension' was single-track throughout with just a few passing-places, one of which was at Evercreech Village, but the line through Evercreech New was doubled in two stages during 1886. [Click here to read more about early S&DR/S&DJR Signalling and the Bath Extension]. The S&DR became the S&DJR in 1875 when the line was leased jointly by the Midland Railway (MR) and London & South Western Railway (L&SWR). After the Grouping of the railways of Great Britain in 1923 the S&DJR became a Joint line under the control of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) and the Southern Railway (SR), who were the successors to the MR and L&SWR respectively. When the railways were nationalised in 1948 the Joint line came under the control of British Railways (Southern Region) (BR(SR)), but in due course control of the old Bath Extension section passed to British Railways (Western Region) (BR(WR)) until the line closed on 6-March-1966.

A rare view of the pre-1918 signal-box		A 1949 copy of the signal diagram		The later 1920 signal-box seen looking north

To be completed...

© CJL Osment 2023
Colour photograph courtesy Duncan Chandler, other images from WCRA collection.