West Pennard

Introduction

The railway station and signal-box at West Pennard were located on the branch of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR) from Evercreech Junction to Highbridge in the county of Somerset. On 28-August-1854 the Somerset Central Railway (SCR) opened a single-track broad-gauge (7' 0¼") line from a junction with the Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) at Highbridge to a terminus at Glastonbury and this was the first section of the future S&DJR. Sometime thereafter the SCR began the construction of an extension eastwards towards Bruton with the aim of meeting up with the northwards expansion of the Dorset Central Railway (DCR) from Wimborne. This extension was constructed as standard gauge (4' 8½") to match with the DCR, with the existing SCR system becoming mixed-gauge, and it was opened on 3-February-1862, although the entire through route to Wimborne was not opened until 1863. On 1-September-1862 the SCR merged with the Dorset Central Railway (DCR) to form the Somerset and Dorset Railway (S&DR). The broad gauge fell into disuse and was removed from the S&DR system about 1870.

In 1874 the S&DR opened its new 'Bath Extension' line from its existing station at Evercreech (which then became Evercreech Junction) to Bath Junction and in 1875 the S&DR became the S&DJR 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 remained a Joint line, but now 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. The railways of Great Britain were nationalised in 1948 and in 1950 the Joint line west and north of Evercreech Junction came under the control of British Railways (Western Region) (BR(WR)). Goods traffic ceased at West Pennard on 10-June-1963 and subsequently the sidings, passing-loop and signal-box were abolished on 25-August-1964. The station was closed when the S&DJR was closed to all passenger traffic on 6-March-1966.


Looking west through the station pre-1929 (left) and the signal-box after closure (right) in British Railways days

To be completed...