Evercreech Junction railway station explained

Evercreech Junction
Status:Disused
Borough:Evercreech, Mendip
Country:England
Grid Name:Grid reference
Platforms:2
Pregroup:Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
Postgroup:LMS / Southern Railway
Western Region of British Railways
Years:3 February 1862
Events:Opened as "Evercreech"
Years2:20 July 1874
Events2:Renamed "Evercreech Junction"
Years3:29 November 1965
Events3:Closed to goods
Years4:7 March 1966
Events4:Closed to passengers[1]

Evercreech Junction was a railway station at Evercreech on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

Originally opened in 1862 as "Evercreech" on the original S&D line from Burnham-on-Sea to Broadstone, it became in 1874 the junction for the northwards extension towards Bath that bankrupted the company. A station opened on the Bath extension more than a mile to the north of Evercreech Junction, much nearer to the village of Evercreech, was called Evercreech Village, and later Evercreech New.

The junction itself was to the north of the station, where there were also marshalling yards. Branch trains to and from Burnham and Highbridge started and finished at Evercreech in latter years. To the south of the station a level crossing carried the main A371 road across the line.

In 1963 the station featured in "Branch Line Railway", a BBC documentary on the Joint Railway presented by John Betjeman. However, it was closed three years later along with the whole line as part of the Beeching axe. The station inn was renamed The Silent Whistle on the closure of the line.

Today the residual station buildings are private homes, with the former station track bed forming their gardens. The former goods yard is a small industrial estate, while the station hotel was renamed again as The Natterjack in the 1970s.[2]

External links

51.1272°N -2.5168°W

Notes and References

  1. Book: Quick, M E. Railway passenger stations in England, Scotland and Wales – a chronology. 2002. Railway and Canal Historical Society. Richmond. 176. 931112387.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20070218163816/http://www.gebejay.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/sdrail8.html Station remains