To install click the Add extension button. That's it.

The source code for the WIKI 2 extension is being checked by specialists of the Mozilla Foundation, Google, and Apple. You could also do it yourself at any point in time.

How to transfigure the Wikipedia

Would you like Wikipedia to always look as professional and up-to-date? We have created a browser extension. It will enhance any encyclopedic page you visit with the magic of the WIKI 2 technology.

Try it — you can delete it anytime.

Install in 5 seconds
4,5
Kelly Slayton
Congratulations on this excellent venture… what a great idea!
Alexander Grigorievskiy
I use WIKI 2 every day and almost forgot how the original Wikipedia looks like.
Live Statistics
English Articles
Improved in 24 Hours
Added in 24 Hours
What we do. Every page goes through several hundred of perfecting techniques; in live mode. Quite the same Wikipedia. Just better.
Great Wikipedia has got greater.
.
Leo
Newton
Brights
Milds

Watchet (WSMR) railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the station on the West Somerset Railway, see Watchet railway station.

Watchet (WSMR)
Watchet (WSMR) railway station
General information
LocationWatchet, Somerset
England
Coordinates51°10′57″N 3°19′55″W / 51.1826°N 3.3319°W / 51.1826; -3.3319
Grid referenceST070434
Platforms1[1][2][3][4]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyWest Somerset Mineral Railway
Key dates
April 1857Opened for goods[5]
4 September 1865Opened for passengers[6]
7 November 1898Closed
1907Reopened for goods
1910Closed[7][8][9]

Watchet was the northern passenger terminus of 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.

As well as the usual goods and passenger facilities the station housed the company offices. A single track engine shed stood at Whitehall, a short distance to the south.[10][11][12]

All station buildings on the line except Gupworthy and Watchet were built to a common design. Watchet station was larger and laid out differently, with no obvious "family resemblance" to the others.[13]

YouTube Encyclopedic

  • 1/1
    Views:
    1 103
  • Virgin Voyager diverted through Denham

Transcription

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.[14] 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.[15]

The initial passenger service consisted of four trains a day out and back.[16]

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.[17]

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

Abandonment

After closure in 1910 the line was subject to minimal maintenance[19][20] 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.[21]

Evocative contemporary descriptions of the line in its later years have been preserved.[22]

Afterlife

Since closure the station building in Market Street has been converted into a private house complete with part of the platform. In 2016 the former locomotive shed was converted into use as a car repair workshop and the former goods shed stands[23] in modern-day use.

In 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.


Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Terminus   West Somerset Mineral Railway   Washford
Line and station closed

References

  1. ^ Sellick 1981, p. 16.
  2. ^ Jones 2011, pp. 106–7, 215, 220, 306 & 343.
  3. ^ Sellick 1970, Opposite p.17.
  4. ^ Dale 2001, Front cover.
  5. ^ Sellick 1981, p. 5.
  6. ^ Thomas 1966.
  7. ^ Oakley 2002.
  8. ^ Sellick 1981, p. 76.
  9. ^ Quick 2009, pp. 399 & 459.
  10. ^ Griffiths & Smith 1999, p. 24.
  11. ^ Jones 2011, pp. 278–279, 340 & 344.
  12. ^ "The station and town". West Somerset Mineral Railway Project.
  13. ^ Jones 2011, pp. 281–285.
  14. ^ Carpenter 1988, p. 44.
  15. ^ Sellick 1981, p. 6.
  16. ^ Sellick 1970, pp. 104–5.
  17. ^ Jones 2011, p. 399.
  18. ^ Scott-Morgan 1980, p. 10.
  19. ^ Sellick 1981, p. 35.
  20. ^ Jones 2011, pp. 339–340, 349 & 360.
  21. ^ Jones 2011, p. 352.
  22. ^ Sellick 1970, pp. 66-67 & 76-77.
  23. ^ "Watchet WSMR goods shed". Historic England.

Sources

Further reading

External links

This page was last edited on 8 January 2024, at 11:10
Basis of this page is in Wikipedia. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported License. Non-text media are available under their specified licenses. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. WIKI 2 is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wikimedia Foundation.
Contact WIKI 2
Introduction
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy