Westbury railway station serves the market town of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. The station is managed by Great Western Railway.
Westbury  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The entrance to the station is at ground level with the platforms behind and above | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Westbury, Wiltshire England | ||||
| Coordinates | 51°15′59″N 2°11′58″W / 51.2665°N 2.1995°W | ||||
| Grid reference | ST861519 | ||||
| Managed by | Great Western Railway | ||||
| Platforms | 3 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | WSB | ||||
| Classification | DfT category D | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway | ||||
| Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway | ||||
| Post-grouping | Great Western Railway | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 5 September 1848 | Station opened as terminus of line from Chippenham | ||||
| 7 October 1850 | Line extended to Frome | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  0.558 million | ||||
| Interchange |  0.229 million | ||||
| 2020/21 | 0.152 million | ||||
| Interchange | 48,500 | ||||
| 2021/22 | 0.439 million | ||||
| Interchange | 0.164 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.519 million | ||||
| Interchange | 0.247 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.536 million | ||||
| Interchange | 0.252 million | ||||
| |||||
The station is a major junction, serving the Reading to Taunton line with services to and from Penzance and London Paddington; the Wessex Main Line with services to and from Cardiff and Portsmouth, also Swindon; the Heart of Wessex Line with local services from Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth; and services to London Waterloo.
The buffet at Westbury appeared in a list of "highly commended" station cafes published in The Guardian in 2009.[1]
History
editThe station was opened by the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway on 5 September 1848,[2] and was the initial terminus of their line from Chippenham. This line was later extended to Frome, which opened on 7 October 1850.[3] The Salisbury branch opened on 30 June 1856, whilst the opening of the line to Patney & Chirton in 1900 (along with that further west from Castle Cary to Cogload Junction six years later) completed the GWR's new main line from London Paddington to Taunton and beyond.
In the 1880s, the station was one of the meeting places of the South and West Wilts Hunt.[4]
In 1899, Westbury station was entirely rebuilt to cater for the 1900 line, creating two island platforms six hundred feet long and forty feet wide.[5][6] It has since been rebuilt and remodelled several times, most recently when the area was resignalled in 1985 (when the Down Salisbury platform line was lifted), but without changing the underlying form created in 1901. In 2013 the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Transport Body prioritised the reopening of this platform face at an estimated cost of £5.4m.[7]
A freight yard next to the station is used by bulk limestone trains from the rail-served quarries at Merehead and Whatley in Somerset.[8] In April 2009 the rail-served Lafarge cement works to the east was closed.[9]
Accidents and incidents
editOn 28 October 1873, a mail train passed a signal at danger and collided with a luggage train.[10]
On 6 December 2011, a train was derailed at Westbury.[11]
Services
edit
The station is served by all three main routes that pass through it. On the main Reading to Taunton Line, the station is served by westbound trains to one of Exeter St Davids, Paignton, Plymouth, or Penzance; and eastbound services to London Paddington, which depart approximately once every two hours.[12]
There is a service on the Cardiff Central to Southampton Central and Portsmouth Harbour Wessex Main Line, and a separate service between Gloucester, Bristol and Westbury on this route. Some of these trains continue through to Weymouth and in the opposite direction certain trains extend through to Cheltenham Spa and Great Malvern. Others run to Frome, Warminster and Southampton.[13]
There are also services between Westbury and Swindon via Chippenham, Trowbridge and Melksham, marketed as the TransWilts Line. The frequency on this route was improved substantially (to eight trains each way weekdays, five on Sundays) at the December 2013 timetable change.[13]
| Preceding station |  National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pewsey | Great Western Railway (London to Devon and Cornwall) |
Castle Cary | ||
| Trowbridge | Great Western Railway (Wessex Main Line) |
Dilton Marsh or Warminster | ||
| Great Western Railway (Heart of Wessex Line) |
Frome | |||
| Warminster | South Western Railway (Basingstoke - Yeovil) |
Frome | ||
Future
editThe line to Westbury is not due to be electrified as part of the 21st-century modernisation of the Great Western Main Line. Although local councillors support it, the extension of electrification beyond Newbury to Westbury was assessed as having a benefit–cost ratio of only 0.31.[14]
References
edit
- ^ Wills, Dixe (12 May 2009). "Ten of the best railway cafes". Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
- ^ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 244. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
- ^ Butt 1995, p. 100
- ^ Hunting Appointments in The Times, 8 March 1884, pg. 7, col. E
- ^ Oakley, Mike (2004). Wiltshire Railway Stations. Wimborne: The Dovecote Press. pp. 140–141. ISBN 1904349331.
- ^ New Route to Weymouth in The Times, 2 July 1901, pg. 10, col. C
- ^ "Transport Schemes - Prioritisation Process and Provisional Programme, Agenda Item 6, Table 5: Prioritised Schemes" (PDF). Retrieved 28 June 2015.
- ^ Railscot - Photos of Westbury www.railbrit.co.uk; Retrieved 2013-09-17
- ^ James Williams (1 May 2009). "Lafarge cements a place in county's history". Wiltshire Times. Trowbridge, UK. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
- ^ "Collision on the North Western Railway". The Pall Mall Gazette. No. 2716. London. 29 October 1875.
- ^ "Train derails at Westbury causing rail delays". BBC News Online. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
- ^ GB National Rail Timetable May–December 2016, Table 135
- ^ a b GB National Rail Timetable May–December 2016, Table 123
- ^ Haigh, Philip (10–23 July 2013). "Government commits to long-term rail investment". Rail. Vol. 726. p. 8.