Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway

The Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway (SMAR) was one of the constituents of the Midland and South Western Junction Railway. It received Parliamentary approval on 21 July 1873 (36 & 37 Vic. cap. 194) and construction began in 1875 [Sands, T.B., "The Midland and South Western Junction Railway", Oakwood Press 1990, ISBN 0 85361 402 4] .

The northern section from Swindon to Marlborough was opened on 27 July 1881 and the southern section from Grafton to Andover on 1 May 1882. The intermediate section from Marlborough to Grafton was initially operated by the expedient of running trains over the Great Western Railway's Marlborough branch and a section of the GWR's Berks and Hants Extension Railway, as the SMAR was unable to complete its own line between Marlborough and Grafton.

Missing link

Having built its lines from the north and the south, the financially-strapped SMAR then found that it could not join them, being unable to afford to persuade landowners to sell their property to build the missing link. Instead, it built a short link within Marlborough to the GWR branch line just south of Marlborough GWR station and another link from the GWR's Berks and Hants Extension Railway just east of Savernake station southwards to Grafton and Burbage railway station. From February 1883, SMAR through trains used the GWR Marlborough branch and a short section of the Berks and Hants Extension Railway main line, including Savernake station. A condition of the GWR lease was that passengers wanting to change at Savernake to other GWR services had to use the GWR trains from Marlborough.Cite book
author = Mike Oakley
title = "Wiltshire Railway Stations"
edition = 2004
publisher = Dovecote Press, Wimborne
ISBN = 1 904349 33 1
page = pp86–88] The missing link was finally completed by the opening of the Marlborough and Grafton Railway in 1898.

windon and Cheltenham Extension Railway

The Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway was incorporated by Act of Parliament on 18 July 1881. A 13½ mile section from Rushey Platt (near Swindon) to Cirencester was opened on 18 December 1883 but further progress towards Cheltenham was delayed by legal and financial problems.

Merger

In 1884, the SMAR combined with the Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway, which ran northwards from Swindon Town, first to Cirencester and then, from 1891, into Cheltenham Lansdown. The combined line was called the Midland and South Western Junction Railway and with its links northwards from Cheltenham to the Midlands and southwards from Andover over the Sprat and Winkle Line to the south coast ports it became a true through line.

Locomotives

* 1-3 Dübs and Company, 0-6-0T, built 1881
* 4 Avonside Engine Company, 0-4-4T, single Fairlie type, built 1878, acquired 1882
* 5-7 Beyer Peacock, 2-4-0T, built 1882
* 8 Beyer Peacock, 2-4-0T, built 1884

References