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Chard Junction railway station was situated on the London and South Western Railway’s West of England Main Line in Somerset, England. It was the junction of a short branch line to Chard. It was opened in 1860 as Chard Road and closed in 1966. An adjacent milk depot was served by its own sidings from 1937 to 1980. A signal box remains to control Station Road level crossing and a passing loop on the long section of single track railway between and . Although no longer a station nor a junction, the name 'Chard Junction' still appears on the signal box and official maps. Whilst the station has been unused since 1966, the site has been subject to protection in planning terms from redevelopment that would preclude the station being reopened for passenger and as a possible freight terminal. In 2010 the site was sold by the former British Railways Board and offered to Somerset County Council who declined to buy it as they thought it would cost too much money to re-open it. Based solely upon this statement the Local Planning Authority South Somerset District Council are currently stating that they will no longer protect the site in planning terms from redevelopment. In January 2012 a planning application for a concrete batching facility was lodged by Darch and Sons, currently this application is being deliberated by South Somerset District Council and as a result a campaign group has been set up to try and protect the station site from development and to get the planning protection reinstated. Supporters of the campaign include David Laws MP, County and District Councillors and the local newspaper the ''Chard and Ilminster News''. The support group has accused the Local Planning Authority and County Council of "following in the footsteps of Beeching". ==History== The London and South Western Railway's (LSWR) line from Yeovil to Exeter was opened on 19 July 1860. A station named 'Chard Road' was provided on the Somerset–Devon border to serve the nearby town of Chard, the 'Road' part of the name indicating that it was not in the town. On 8 May 1863 a branch line was opened to , but it was not until August 1872 that Chard Road was renamed 'Chard Junction'. A signal box was erected at the junction in 1875. From 1 January 1917 the branch line was worked by the Great Western Railway (GWR) with the trains and staff that worked its own branch from to the Chard Joint station that had been opened in 1866. In 1923 the LSWR became a part of the larger Southern Railway (SR). Sidings for dedicated milk trains to serve a new creamery were laid on the south side of the station in 1937,〔 shunted by the dairy's own Ruston and Hornsby four-wheel diesel locomotive (works number 183062 built 1937). Taken over by the Wiltshire United Co-operative Society, in 1974 a second hand Ruston and Hornby 0-4-0 replaced it (304470 built 1951), which had previously been locomotive 12 at Windsor Street gas works in Birmingham. The original locomotive was retired into preservation two years later. 1948 saw the SR and GWR nationalised to become the Southern Region and Western Region respectively of British Railways. Things continued much as before but traffic was dwindling. Passenger trains were withdrawn from the Chard branch on 10 September 1962, although goods traffic continued for a few years more.〔 From 1963 the line west of Salisbury was transferred to the Western Region and just a few months later ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' report recommended the closure of many rural stations and lines. In 1964 through trains beyond Exeter were mostly rerouted off the line through Chard Junction and along the Bristol to Exeter line instead. Just two years later, on 7 March 1966, Chard Junction was closed to passengers and on 3 October that year the remaining goods traffic on the branch line was withdrawn and the line closed completely.〔 Further rationalisation saw the main line reduced to just a single track in 1967, although a passing loop was retained at Chard Junction. The eastwards to was singled on 7 May, followed by the westwards to on 11 June. The old level crossing gates were removed in January 1968 and replaced by full road-width lifting barriers.〔 The sidings serving the milk factory were taken out of use in 1980, although two years later a new signal box was built to replace the original that was then more than 100 years old.〔 Additional loops have been installed since the 1960s; from December 2009 the single-line sections will be eastwards to and westwards to the long loop at . 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chard Junction railway station」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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