Upper Soudley Halt railway station

Upper Soudley Halt railway station is a disused railway station that was opened by the Great Western Railway (GWR) on the former Bullo Pill Railway, later known as the GWR Forest of Dean Branch.

Upper Soudley Halt railway station
General information
Location	Soudley, Forest of Dean England
Coordinates	51.7919°N 2.4964°W / 51.7919; -2.4964
Grid reference	SO658104
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Great Western Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
3 August 1907 (1907-08-03)	Station opened
3 November 1958 (1958-11-03)	Station closed

History

A 1911 RCH map of railways in the vicinity of Upper Soudley Halt.

v t e Railways and Canals of the Forest of Dean
Railways legend Waterways legend
Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway Mitcheldean Road Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway Mitcheldean Road & Forest of Dean Jn Ry Drybrook Quarry Ross and Monmouth Railway Drybrook Halt Lydbrook Junction Nailbridge Halt Steam Mills Crossing Halt Lower Lydbrook Churchway Colliery Upper Lydbrook Whimsey Halt Mineral Loop Drybrook Road Coleford Railway Serridge Platform Cinderford New Wimberry Quarry Whitecliff Quarry Bilson Halt Speech House Road Ruspidge Halt Bicslade Tramroad Staple Edge Halt Bicslade Wharf Eastern United Colliery Coleford (CR) Upper Soudley Halt Coleford (S&WR) Bullo Cross Halt Gloucester– Newport line Milkwall Newnham Parkhill Colliery Ruddle Road Halt New Fancy Colliery Howbeach Colliery Parkend Forest of Dean Central Railway Whitecroft Awre for Blakeney Tufts Junction Mineral Loop Norchard River Severn Middle Forge Jcn Lydney Town Severn Railway Bridge Severn Bridge Gloucester and Sharpness Canal St Mary's Halt Sharpness Lydney Junction Sharpness Docks Lydney Sharpness branch line Upper Forge Lydney Harbour Pidcock's Canal Lydney Canal Lower Forge Gloucester– Newport line River Severn

The station - serving the village of Soudley; was located at 2 miles 16 chains from Newnham and opened when passenger services were introduced on 3 August 1907.^[1] From the outset the station (which had been built on a 1 in 66 gradient) was provided with a wooden fronted platform and a GWR Pagoda type hut.^[2][3] This platform was situated on the up (eastern) side of the line, adjacent to the public highway and was rebuilt from its original height of 1 foot 2 inches to the standard height of 3 feet during November 1908 (similar alterations were also made to other platforms on the line).^[4]

The platform, as well as being accessible from the public highway, could also be accessed from the former Bullo Pill Tramway (locally known as the Dram Road) which was latterly used as a footpath, but there is no record of a boarded crossing over the track ever being provided at that location.^[5] In the later years, crews working down trains (uphill towards Bilson) claimed to have run short on steam and regularly abandoned their trains on the unofficial foot crossing; conveniently located next to the White Horse Public House.^[6]

Services

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Bullo Cross Halt Line and station closed		Great Western Railway Bullo Pill Railway		Staple Edge Halt Line and station closed

References

1. Pope, Ian; Karau, Paul (1997). The Forest of Dean Branch - Volume 2. Didcot: Wild Swan Publications Ltd. p. 235. ISBN 1-874103-36-4.
2. Yorke, Stan (2009). Lost Railways of Gloucestershire. Newbury: Countryside Books. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-84674-163-0.
3. Smith, Peter (1983). An Historical Survey of the Forest of Dean Railways - Layouts and Illustrations. Poole: Oxford Publishing Co. p. 124. ISBN 0-86093-167-6.
4. Paar, H. W. (1971). The Great Western Railway in Dean. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 60. ISBN 0-7153-5369-1.
5. "Tramroad remains in the Forest of Dean" (PDF). Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
6. Pope, Ian; Karau, Paul (1992). The Forest of Dean Branch - Volume 1. Didcot: Wild Swan Publications Ltd. p. 111. ISBN 1-874103-05-4.

Further reading

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2008). Branch Lines around Ross-on-Wye. Middleton Press. figs. 79-80. ISBN 9781906008307. OCLC 370350430.