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Limpley Stoke Station

Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire

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The station dates from 1857, when the Bradford to Bathampton branch of the Wilts Somerset & Weymouth Railway (WSWR) was finally completed by the Great Western company (GWR). A small yard that was to the left was used for loading building stone from nearby quarries, but this closed in 1960.

Limpley Stoke became a terminus and a junction station on 9th May 1910 with the construction of an extension to the Camerton Branch of the GWR’s Bristol & North Somerset Railway. The line mostly handled coal traffic from the Somerset Coalfield; the coal trains crossed on to the main line then into sidings between Stoke and Freshford where it was possible for the locomotive to run around the train to take it in the opposite direction. A short terminal platform was provided for the few passenger trains that ran to Hallatrow, but these were little used and ceased in 1925. Coal traffic continued until 1951 and the branch track was lifted in 1958.

The main line station closed to passenger traffic in 1966, but the building survives, with a reproduction name board. When the adjacent Limpley Stoke Mill was converted to offices the owners attempted to have the station reopened.

The line from Limpley Stoke to Camerton was the site for filming the classic Ealing comedy film The Titfield Thunderbolt in 1953. It featured the locomotive Lion, which was built for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1838; it is seen in one of the sidings at Limpley Stoke, with the station in the background. The line had also been used to shoot the film of The Ghost Train in 1931.