Westbury railway station
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2011) |
Westbury  |
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| Location | |
| Place | Westbury |
| Local authority | Wiltshire |
| Coordinates | 51°15′59″N 2°11′58″W / 51.2665°N 2.1995°WCoordinates: 51°15′59″N 2°11′58″W / 51.2665°N 2.1995°W |
| Operations | |
| Station code | WSB |
| Managed by | First Great Western |
| Number of platforms | 3 |
| Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries |
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| Annual rail passenger usage | |
| 2002/03 * | 0.270 million |
| 2004/05 * |  0.292 million |
| 2005/06 * | 0.306 million |
| 2006/07 * | 0.318 million |
| 2007/08 * | 0.345 million |
| 2008/09 * | 0.368 million |
| 2009/10 * | 0.378 million |
| History | |
| Original company | Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Post-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| 5 September 1848 | Station opened as terminus of line from Chippenham |
| 7 October 1850 | Line extended to Frome |
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Westbury from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year. | |
Westbury railway station serves the town of Westbury, Wiltshire, England. The station is managed by First Great Western.
The station is a major junction, serving the Reading to Plymouth Line with services to and from Penzance and London Paddington (hourly service), Wessex Main Line with services to and from Cardiff and Portsmouth (hourly service), services to Swindon (limited service), Heart of Wessex Line providing local services from Bristol to Weymouth, and services to London Waterloo (limited service) as well as large stone trains from the Mendip quarries.[citation needed]
The buffet at Westbury appeared in a list of "highly commended" station cafes published in The Guardian in 2009.[1]
[edit] History
The station was opened by the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WS&WR) on 5 September 1848,[2] and was the initial terminus of the WS&WR 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 1901, Westbury railway station was entirely rebuilt, creating two "island" platforms six hundred feet long and forty feet wide.[5] It has since been rebuilt and remodelled several times, most recently when the area was resignalled in 1985, but without changing the underlying form created in 1901. A freight yard next to the station is used by bulk limestone trains from the rail-served quarries at Merehead and Whatley in Somerset.[citation needed]
[edit] Services
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2011) |
As befits its status as a busy junction, the station is served by all three main routes that pass through it. On the main West of England, the station is served regularly, with westbound trains continuing to one of Exeter St Davids, Plymouth or Penzance. There are also a pair of weekday commuter services to London Paddington.
On the Cardiff to Southampton and Portsmouth line, there is a basic service in each direction on weekdays and Saturdays and less on Sundays. There is also a separate stopping service between Gloucester, Bristol and Westbury (Monday to Saturday) on this route. Some of these trains continue through to Weymouth (plus another that starts here), whilst there are several from Weymouth to Bristol & Gloucester. On Sundays there are less trains each way between Bristol & Weymouth and less in winter.
South West Trains run a limited service between Bristol and London Waterloo that serves the station. There are a number of other local workings to Frome, Warminster and Southampton plus a single daily through train to Brighton (and two from there).
Finally there is a limited service to/from Swindon via Chippenham, Trowbridge and Melksham - currently there are two trains per day Monday to Saturday and one each way on Sundays.
| Preceding station |  National Rail |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pewsey | First Great Western London - Taunton (Limited) |
Castle Cary | ||
| Trowbridge or Terminus | First Great Western Wessex Line (Limited Service) |
Frome | ||
| First Great Western Wessex Main Line |
Dilton Marsh | |||
| First Great Western Swindon-Westbury/Southampton (Limited Service) |
Terminus or Warminster | |||
| Trowbridge | First Great Western Cardiff Central - Portsmouth Harbour |
Warminster | ||
| Trowbridge | South West Trains London Waterloo - Bristol (Limited Service) |
Warminster | ||
[edit] References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Westbury railway station |
- ^ Wills, Dixe (2009-05-12). "Ten of the best railway cafes". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/may/12/railway-station-cafes-uk-food. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
- ^ 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, March 8, 1884, pg. 7, col. E
- ^ New Route to Weymouth in The Times, July 2, 1901, pg. 10, col. C
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