Wilton North railway station

Wilton North railway station is a former railway station serving Wilton, Wiltshire, England. The station was opened in 1856 by the Great Western Railway on its Salisbury branch from Westbury. It was closed to passengers in 1955 and completely in 1965.

Wilton North
General information
Location	Wilton, Wiltshire England
Coordinates	51.0871°N 1.8590°W / 51.0871; -1.8590
Grid reference	SU099319
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
30 June 1856 (1856-06-30)	Opened as Wilton
September 1949	renamed Wilton North
19 September 1955 (1955-09-19)	Closed to passengers
6 September 1965 (1965-09-06)	Closed to freight

History

Opened with the line on 30 June 1856, the station had at first just one platform, on the left of trains towards Westbury. A second platform was added when the line was doubled in 1896. Along with other local stations it was closed on 19 September 1955, but remained open for goods traffic until 6 September 1965. The goods shed remains intact and is used as a shop.^[1]

A short distance to the south, the Salisbury and Yeovil Railway opened a station called Wilton in 1859, on the route that became the West of England line of the London and South Western Railway. In September 1949 the former LSWR station was renamed Wilton South, and the former GWR station became "Wilton North".

Possible reopening

In 2015, the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership proposed a new Wilton Parkway station immediately to the east, on the other side of Kingsway road bridge.^[2] A two-platform, six-carriage-length station would serve the adjacent Park and Ride, as well as the Fugglestone Red housing estate which was being built on the former and adjacent Erskine Barracks site.^[3] Besides providing a link to Salisbury and access to London services, there could be services to other parts of Wiltshire on the TransWilts route.^[4]

As of 2021^[update], Wiltshire Council continues to support the proposal (sometimes called Wilton Junction),^[4] but no government funding has been forthcoming.^[5] Wilton was not among the projects selected for feasibility studies by the Department for Transport under the 2020–2021 "Restoring your railway" initiative.^[6]

References

1. Oakley, Mike (2004). Wiltshire Railway Stations. Wimbourne: The Dovecote Press. ISBN 1-904349-33-1.
2. "Wilton Parkway – a Proposal" (PDF). TransWilts. September 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 August 2017 – via Internet Archive.
3. "Our News & Events" (PDF).
4. "Plans for Wilton and Corsham railway stations move forward". BBC News. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
5. "Wiltshire Council keen to keep Wilton Parkway plans on track". Wiltshire Rail. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
6. "Restoring your railway: successful bids - GOV.UK". GOV.UK. Department for Transport. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2023.

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Wishford Line open, station closed		Great Western Railway Salisbury branch line		Salisbury Line and station open