Salisbury
| The earliest plan for connecting Salisbury to the burgeoning
railway network was drawn up by George Stephenson in 1837 with a proposed line
from Basingstoke to just east of Taunton on the Bristol and Exeter Railway, by
way of Salisbury and Yeovil. As with many railway schemes, this one came to
nought but other schemes quickly followed, the first to bear fruit being a
branch line from Bishopstoke (now Eastleigh) to Salisbury, built by the
L&SWR, with the first train (a newspaper train) arriving at the terminus at
Milton, south east of the city, on 21st January 1847. A broad gauge line
promoted by the Wiltshire, Somerset and Weymouth Railway had come to a halt at
Warminster in 1851 and would have stayed there were it not for great pressure
being brought to bear on the GWR (owners of the WS&WR) to complete the line
as far as Salisbury, which they did in June 1856 when they opened it to a
terminus in Fisherton Street. Meanwhile the L&SWR was very slowly
progressing towards Salisbury with a branch line from Basingstoke, initially
opened as a single line due to difficulties in completing the full line within
the timescale laid down. Opening on 1st May 1857, this line ran to Milford
Junction, from where trains set back into the terminal station. Work continued
with building the line through Salisbury and on towards Yeovil with the first
through station opening at Fisherton on 2nd May 1859, the same day as trains
started running as far west as Gillingham, and replacing the Milford terminus
which was downgraded to a goods depot.
The greeting modern-day travellers have at Salisbury station. photograph by Tony Bush Another railway, opened in 1859, was the grand sounding Salisbury Market House Railway that was promoted by the Salisbury Railway and Markey House Company. Originally conceived as a tramway, in the event this short line was built as a traditional railway to avoid street congestion. Remaining stubbornly independent, the company wanted the L&SWR to lay broad gauge rails through its station so that the Market line could connect with the GWR at its Fisherton terminus. This the L&SWR refused to do but did agree to leave sufficient room under the main line "for an arch proper for the broad gauge". This, though, was never constructed. The line was worked by the L&SWR and its successors, but was not included in the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, so remained independent for the whole of its life, which ended in 1964.
The outside of the 1902 Salisbury station as it was on 10th January 1976. photograph by Dave Mant When the main line to Exeter was opened throughout on 19th July 1860 it was hindered by two restrictions - the first due to much of it being single track and the second due to a badly structured station at Salisbury (Fisherton). This had a single platform, some 800 feet long, which had to accommodate both up and down trains. This situation was exacerbated due to the method of working adopted - trains would arrive in a "ticket platform", well outside the station, and wait for a path to the platform. A practice that did not endear itself to passengers!
The main line was doubled by 1870, but the problem of the station at Salisbury still remained. Expansion as the L&WSR would have liked was not possible as, due to the siting, it would encroach on the GWR's line and terminus at a time when the GWR and the L&SWR were on less than friendly terms due to the L&SWR's "ganging up" with the Midland Railway to out-manouevre the GWR and obtain ownership of the S&DJR! The answer was to build an entirely new up station east of the existing one, which then became the down station. Each had its own buildings and they were connected by a footpath and subway. The new station, with a platform some 683 feet long, opened on 19th August 1878. Fortunately relations between the GWR and the L&SWR eventually improved to the point when, in 1902, a new four platform station was opened on the Fisherton site, three of these platforms on land obtained by means of a land exchange with the GWR and by re-siting of the L&SWR engine shed. GWR trains were then allowed access to the through station by means of a double junction. This new station was badly damaged on the night of 30th June 1906 as a result of the accident involving the Ocean Liner Express, caused in some small part by the curvature of the station which had been necessitated when finding a route around the existing GWR terminus! To a large extent the station and its environs was now as it would remain until rationalisation after the end of steam. Today there is no sign of the former GWR station (which closed on 12th September 1932), which is now the site of a SWT traincare depot. The steam infrastructure, of course, was demolished a couple of years after the demise of Southern steam in 1967. The trackwork has been rationalised slightly through the station, has been removed completely (bar a down bay) from the down side and radically reduced to the west of the station. |
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M7 Class º30033
was the Salisbury station pilot on 3rd March 1962 and is seen here alongside
the East Signalbox. The photographer is the proud owner of the smokebox plate
from this loco which was purchased at an Eastleigh works open day for what is
now a very small sum!
photograph by Dave Mant |
| The smokebox number from the above locomotive.
photograph by Dave Mant |
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A view taken between the coal stage on the right and the shed on
the left on 23rd January 1966. The locomotive in store is BR Standard Class 4 º75066. Facing is the
combined water tower, dormitory and stores building.
Photograph by Dave Mant |
| A view of Salisbury locomotive shed on 30th January 1966. Steam
outnumbers diesel - but not for long!
photograph by Dave Mant |
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In August 1962 a very unusual form of motive power was photographed on the ACE
at Salisbury - a Schools Class,
º30934 St Lawrence. How this came about is not
presently known, but the train arrived in Salisbury behind this loco, about
30-40 minutes late. There was some conversation between the engine crew and
Salisbury shed staff and, rather than being replaced by a Bulleid pacific,
St Lawrence took on water and hauled the ACE on to London. Getting the
train moving round the bend off the platform and up to Salisbury Tunnel
Junction was quite some effort, with drain cocks fully opened and blower on
full blast. St Lawrence could be heard all the way to the tunnel! Four
months later, she was withdrawn from service.
photograph by John Bradbeer |
| Rebuilt Bulleid light pacific
º34040 Crewkerne at the Salisbury coal stage on 19th March 1966.
Photograph by Dave Mant |
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A closer view of Crewkerne at the coal stage.
photograph by Dave Mant |
| º80152 was a BR Standard
4MT tank, a type not often seen in Salisbury until the later years when
some were transferred here. This 19th March 1966 view is over the wall at the
west end of platform 1 when the remains of the GWR station were being used as a
goods yard.
Photograph by Dave Mant |
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Standard class 4 4-6-0
º75070 Departing 'wrong line' in the days before bi-directional
working from platforms 3 & 4 on 20th March 1966. This view was taken from
the trackbed of the Market House branch, the pointwork for which had not yet
been removed. On the right is the site of the Milk Platform and the original
station up platform which was by then used for storage by the engineers - and
was a useful vantage point for photography. Now this is the site of the Staff
Association club.
photograph by Dave Mant |
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This page was created 6 January 2008
