Midford railway station

Midford railway station served the village of Midford, in Somerset, England. It comprised one platform on the Bath extension of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR), just to the north of the point where the double track became single tracked.

Midford
The station building and platform, 1962
General information
Location	Midford, Bath and North East Somerset, Somerset England
Grid reference	ST761607
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Pre-grouping	Somerset and Dorset Railway
Post-grouping	SR and LMSR Western Region of British Railways
Key dates
20 July 1874	Opened
10 June 1963	Closed to goods traffic
7 March 1966	Closed to passenger traffic

History

The station was opened in 1874. There was a small goods yard to the north of the station, towards the entrance to the Combe Down Tunnel, which loaded Fuller's earth from Tucking Mill.^[1] South of the station, a signal box presided over the double track junction; the railway then ran across the Midford Valley on the extant high viaduct.

The station was closed with the rest of the line in March 1966 under the Beeching Axe, although it had been unstaffed for some years.

For about four years from 1911 to 1915, Midford had a second railway station, Midford Halt; it was located on the Great Western Railway's Camerton branch, which passed under the S&DJR viaduct.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Wellow Line and station closed		Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway LSWR and Midland Railways		Bath Green Park Line and station closed

The site today

The remains of Midford railway station, September 2007

After a long period in private hands, the site is now part of Two Tunnels Greenway, a surfaced cycleway and footpath. The platform and remains of the goods shed survive.

The station is now owned by the New Somerset and Dorset Railway, which has plans to rebuild the station building and relay the track, once the cycleway will be diverted or accommodated. The site has been cleared to uncover the remains of the old station.^[2]

The New Somerset and Dorset Railway

East-west beneath north–south; Camerton branch viaduct (left) is dwarfed by the viaduct at Midford

The New Somerset and Dorset Railway^[3] formed in early 2009 aims to restore the whole line to main line operations.

As the initial objectives of the New S&DR are focused on the southern end of the line, notably Blandford-Bournemouth, Midford will be restored as a cafe and information centre in the short term, in much the same way the North Dorset Railway (previously the Shillingstone Station Project) is undertaking at Shillingstone railway station.