Blunsdon railway station

Blunsdon railway station is a heritage railway station serving the village of Blunsdon, north of Swindon in Wiltshire, England.

It was one of the last to be opened by the Midland and South Western Junction Railway in 1895 on a railway that had opened in 1883. It was little more than a single-platform halt, and milk was the main traffic. It also had a single siding, used for such traffic as fertiliser and other agricultural requirements.

It was also one of the first stations on the route to be closed. Passenger traffic went in 1924, though regular trains had stopped calling in 1922, leaving one solitary passenger train service stopping at Blunsdon on a Sunday. Goods traffic ceased in 1937.

The site became the headquarters of the Swindon and Cricklade Railway in the late 1970s because it offered the best road access to the trackbed between Swindon and Cricklade. By that time, almost every trace of the original station had gone, and the present structures are all new.

Blunsdon station is actually within the boundaries of Purton, and the Purton area probably produced most of its original business. Unsubstantiated tradition says the station was named Blunsdon to avoid confusion with the Great Western station already existing in Purton village. Blunsdon St Andrew village is more than two miles away.

Blunsdon station offers a variety of services including the Swindon and Cricklade railway shop, canteen/buffet, toilets and car parking space.

External links

* [http://www.swindon-cricklade-railway.org/blunsdon.html#top Information about Blunsdon station on the Swindon and Cricklade Railway website.]

References

* "Wiltshire Railway Stations", Mike Oakley, Dovecote Press, Wimborne, 2004, ISBN 1 904349 33 1

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