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| Melksham's railway in pictures See here and here for historic pictures 
All of the trains that stop at Melksham start from, terminate at, or pass
through Westbury from where services leave in no less that six directions.
The train arrives in Melksham. As you can see from the widths of the bridge,
the line was originally double tracked but it's now a single line section that
takes about 20 minutes for the train to pass along from Trowbridge to Thingley
Junction. Passengers join a train at Melksham. Although
we're currently threatened with a reduction in service, the train seems to have
been getting busier of late.Whenever I go to the station during the day, the station car park is full (it never used to be!) and there seem to be more people getting off and on the train; I was up there to drop off a customer returning to London last Thursday and I counted some 15 people waiting for the train; perhaps about half that number arrived on the train ... and this was at what I expect to be a quieter time of day.  Everyone's left and joined the train, and she's off towards Chippenham and then
on to Swindon. She'll pause there for a few minutes and then head back ... bringing
in more visitors and picking up passengers for Trowbridge and Westbury. Change at Chippenham for London (Paddington). The express arrives to collect one
of our customers who's been with us on a course in Melksham. The Melksham train
provides a valuable set of long distance connections, and the income generated by
the train is far more than just the local fares. The line through Melksham is often used as a diversion route at weekends, and for
engineering trains too. Imagine my surprise one Sunday to be standing on the
bridge to take a picture of the passenger train, to hear a heavy rumbling instead
and this long works train came through. I'm rather suspecting that the passenger
train that was due would have been a little late, or perhaps it had turned into
a bus! Another view of a track relaying train passing along the line. The stone quarries
of the Mendips are close to Westbury, and our line is the natural route through for
the trains carrying the ballast from there up to the Chippenham, Wootton Bassett,
Swindon, Wantage and Didcot areas, and perhaps further afield too.Further pictures of trains along the Swindon to Westbury corridor ... Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury.i |
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