The Line Surveyed
Swindon to Gloucester

From Swindon the line sweeps away from the Bristol main line in a north-easterly direction and runs between the engine and stock sheds on the north side and the main works on the south. Three miles later it passes the oil-storage depot of Bremell Sidings which were laid in 1943. The first station on the line was Purton, some 4 miles from Swindon. This station lay to the west of the Cricklade to Wotton Bassett road and consisted of a wooden planked building on the up platform and a small waiting shelter on the down. It had a small single road through goods shed off a passing loop and a loading dock. Storage sidings were later added to the east end and west sides, while the signal box lay to the west of the down platform.

Purton Station

Minety, four miles further down the line. was an original station of the Brunel Chalet design. The down platform was given a long waiting shelter with a low over-all canopy. Like Purton, its goods shed was on a passing loop, the storage sidings and signal box lying to the west of the down platform. Officially known as Minety and Ashton Keynes from the 18th August 1905, it was two miles from the latter which was more centrally served by the Midland and South Western line.

Minety Station

Through Squire Gordon's tunnel stands Kemble Junction, a station with two main line platforms, a through platform for the Cirencester branch and a bay platform for the Tetbury branch. Although serving only a small village the station thrived, as it still does today, because of its wide catchment area of surrounding villages. Kemble station opened on 3lst May 1841, but owing to Squire Gordon's condition that no passenger station should be built on his land, the original wooden platformed station was used solely for changing trains. The station for the village was a mile further down the line. Kemble did not appear in public timetables until May 1882. The station had undergone extensive rebuilding prior to the official opening, including the replacement of the wooden platforms. Built in Cotswold stone, the station was designed in the neo-Tudor style and was given generous platform awnings. Miss Anna Gordon only allowed Kemble station to be built on condition that there was no refreshment room where intoxicants could be sold. Not until 1948, when the estate changed hands, was an inn opened near the station. One striking feature of the old station was the secondary water tank set high above the main tank on a gantry This served the village water supply.

Kemble Station, looking westward.

In 1903 a well was sunk at Kemble and a steam pumping plant installed, built at low level just to the west of the main signal box. This was to provide water to the ever expanding Swindon locomotion and carriage works. The need to pump water from Kemble was due to the high salt content of the Swindon water. In 1935 the pumps were changed to electricity, but the steam pumps were retained for emergencies. On the first Thursday of every month a light tank engine would travel down from Swindon to keep the standby pumps in working order. If the electricity supply failed a pannier tank would be sent from Swindon and the pumps worked from the engine's injectors. In the case of a burst pipe a light engine and shunter's truck equipped with a search light would be sent from Swindon and inspect the trackbed. Should the down line be affected then single line working implemented. In 1971 a new well with electric pumps, supported by a diesel engine stand-by, was employed, the old plant being scrapped. A slight hollow is all that remains of the site.

Kemble was not only the termination of the Cirencester and Tetbury branches but also of the Swindon local service. It initially had no goods facilities, all goods being handled at Tetbury Road. Later, loading bays were added and coal sidings for the local coal haulier.

A mile westwards lay Tetbury Road station opened in April 1845, but closed to passengers when Kemble station opened in May 1882. It was renamed Coates 1st May 1908 and continued as a goods depot until June 1963. It had a stone goods shed on a passing loop and storage sidings laid to the west of the station.

The line ran almost level from Swindon but after Coates the gradients started to increase to 1 in 100 as far as the summit in Sapperton Tunnel.  At the Swindon end of the tunnel lay Sapperton Sidings and it was here that the banking engines which had assisted trains up through the Golden Valley changed tracks to return to their home station. The layout of crossings and sidings were generally completed by 1880 although small alterations have taken place since.

Chalford station, to the west of the tunnel, was opened on 2nd August 1897 to serve the small community. The village was built on the ledges of the valley with narrow footpaths leading to the cottages and chapels. The station was also built on a ledge on the west slope of the hill. The up platform building, a single storey, contained the booking clerks and parcels office and passenger waiting room. The down platform building was a brick-built shelter with toilets and waiting room. This platform was reached by crossing the road bridge to the west of the station. A small goods yard lay to the north side and contained a set of cattle pens, while further east the signal box, a six-ton crane, weighbridge and railmotor engine shed stood.

On the opening day the local Baptist Tabernacle ran an excursion to the Crystal Palace Music Festival, quite an occasion for that time. Chalford was the home of the railmotors, and after 1903 new sidings and a shed were built. This was the first shed to be built solely to house a railmotor, and was built of timber framework clad with corrugated iron on a brick foundation. It was ventilated by smoke troughs on four stacks. Outside was a 12 foot engine pit. On the rails adjacent to the shed were sidings for coal and gas wagons. The water supply was from a pillar tank. An old brake van body served as the engineman's cabin and a covered goods wagon body as a wood store.

The engine shed was destroyed by fire on the night of the 8th January 1919 inspite of the brave efforts of the Chalford signalman Harry Grimmett, and the Brimscombe horse-drawn fire engine. railmotor no. 48 was destroyed in the fire but the gas tank wagon and a railmotor trailer were saved, the Brimscombe banker being called to push them to safety. Local rumour blamed the bus company for starting the fire but it was almost certainly caused by vagrants who used the shed as a night refuge. Two thousand pounds worth of damage was caused by the fire and the shed was never rebuilt. Despite the lack of shelter the railmotors and railcars continued to be serviced at Chalford until the 2lst May 1951 when the work was transferred to Brimscombe.

Chalford looking towards Swindon

Brimscombe was a former station on the line and lay at the foot of the 1 in 66 incline to Sapperton. It was the stabling point for the Sapperton bankers which were housed in a single road engine shed to the east of the station. The goods yard and shed lay to the western end. The complex layout needed the control of two signal boxes. Cattle pens and a loading bay were added later. The up platform, as usual accommodated the main station building. The down platform was provided with a stone built waiting shelter. These buildings were notable as they were of true Brunelian style, based on the Culham chalet design. A covered footbridge linked the two platforms.

Brimscombe Station

Stroud station was opened on 14th April 1845, when the first Director's train passed through. Only a fortnight before the road bridge over Rowcroft was still being constructed, after the demolition of a block of houses. The town is sited at the junction of several Cotswold valleys and was at the heart of the local woollen industry. The station buildings, although based on a Brunel design, are rather disappointing being of low frontage. Some of the fine tall chimney stacks have been repaired and replaced, but only to ape the originals. Some rebuilding and refurbishment took place between 1870 and 1890 and again in 1914 when, due to the increased traffic created by the railmotors, it was necessary to set back the down platform buildings and lengthen the up platform at its western end. Two water towers were sited in the down yard with the Great Western bus shed near by.

The number of passengers booked in 1868 was 49,597, while the number twenty years later was 77,309. In l889, 81,482 passengers were booked with receipts of over ten and a half thousand pounds. Originally no footbridge was provided, the passengers taking the "risk" of the level crossing which resulted in many fatal accidents. The bridge was built by the local engineering firm of Daniels. The goods yard, which lay to the east of the station, was expanded in the late 1880s by the removal of a soil bank from the outside of the Imperial Hotel, adjacent to the main station yard. A through goods shed was built of Cotswold stone with an attached side office. The shed bears the GWR painted lettering "GWR STROUD STATION Express goods train services daily transits between important towns". To the west of the station was the private siding of R. Townsend, seed merchant. The siding lay at right angles to the main siding and trucks were hand shunted via a wagon turntable. Should the wind be against the direction of movement then the local tank engine would travel down on the up line to give assistance. Both the main sidings and the west siding were provided with a signal box Loading bays were added to both the up and down yards at the eastern end. The west end of the station was built on the brick arches of Watts viaduct, and the down platform provided an aerial view into the Stroud Brewery.

The railway required that a standard time be kept throughout the system, and until 1880 this standard time was known as Railway Time. However it was noted by the Greenwich Royal Observatory that "Stroud did not immediately adopt to Railway Time, and the citizens continued to use local time, which meant that the 11.30am London train left at 11.21am. This time difference of nine minutes was enough for trains to be missed, so in 1858 a railway clock was set up in Kings Street Stroud". This weight wound clock, built by Robert Bragg, has been preserved in Stroud library, its original place being taken by an electric clock.

Stroud Station

Stonehouse, or Burdett Road as it was renamed on the 17th September 1951 owing to the confusion with the Midland station, was again of Brunel design although rather spartan. It had a fine stone shelter on the up platform which retained its high angular chimney until general demolition in the 1970s. The down platform was built very much lower than normal and this meant a long step down for passengers. A covered footbridge linked the two platforms at the eastern end. The goods shed and cattle pens were situated in the small goods yard, but the latter had disappeared by 1922. The signal box, sited at the eastern end, controlled the line from Standish to Stroud and managed to survive demolition when the station was modernised in 1976. The down platform was also rebuilt to standard height in 1976.

Stonehouse (Burdett Road) on a winters day

An early GWR rule book stated that Great Western engines between Cheltenham and Standish were distinguished from Midland engines by having two white diamonds painted on the buffer beams, and at night by an additional white light under the usual one.

After Tuffley the Midland line swung away to its loop into Gloucester Eastgate, while the Great Western line carried on, passing the avoiding line and crossing the Midland metals at Tramway Junction. Then it was a straight run past the Horton Road shed into the Central station.

The remains of Horton Road Shed with the site of Barnwood shed in the background