The Cheddar Valley line was a railway line in Somerset, England, running between Yatton and Witham. It was opened in parts: the first section connecting Shepton Mallet to Witham, later extended to Wells, was built by the East Somerset Railway from 1858. Later the Bristol and Exeter Railway built their branch line from Yatton to Wells, but the two lines were prevented for a time from joining up. Eventually the gap was closed, and the line became a simple through line, operated by the Great Western Railway.
The line became known as the 'Strawberry Line' because of the volume of locally grown strawberries that it carried. It closed in 1963. Sections of the former trackbed have been opened as the Strawberry Line railway walk, which runs from Yatton to Cheddar. The southern section operates as a heritage railway using the name East Somerset Railway.
History
Main line railways
Important inland market towns suddenly found themselves at a huge disadvantage when trunk railways connected competing communities, giving them cheap and fast transport of the necessities of life, and of their products. When the Great Western Railway (GWR) opened throughout between London and Bristol in 1841, the inhabitants of Wells and Shepton Mallet saw that a railway connection was important for them.
The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WS&WR) obtained its authorising act of Parliament, the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. liii), on 30 June 1845, to build from the main line near Chippenham, to Salisbury and to Weymouth, the latter part running through Frome, Witham and Castle Cary towards Yeovil. The was soon taken over by the ; construction enabled the line as far as Frome to be opened on 7 October 1850, but the line towards Weymouth had a low priority, and the section between Frome and Yeovil did not open until 1 September 1856.Derek Phillips, Steaming Through the Cheddar Valley, Oxford Publishing Co., Hersham, 2001, Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, Branch Line to Cheddar including the Wrington Vale Light Railway, Middleton Press, Midhurst, 1997,
East Somerset Railway
Inhabitants of Shepton Mallet saw that a branch line to the (now ) line was feasible, and a provisional East Somerset Railway Company was formed at a meeting on 29 September 1855. The line was to join the at Frome. The was supportive, but made it clear that the promoters would not receive financial help from them. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was retained as the little company's engineer, and after a survey he recommended that Witham would be a preferable point of junction, reducing construction costs. A contractor, Rowland Brotherhood of Chippenham, agreed to subscribe £25,000 to the company's share issue if it could raise £30,000. On 5 June 1856 the East Somerset Railway Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. xvi) was passed, authorising share capital of £75,000. The City of Wells had anticipated a rail connection from the Somerset Central Railway, which had opened from Glastonbury to Highbridge in 1854; the Somerset Central main line was to have passed through the city, but the railway's priorities had changed and even a branch connection was much delayed. Accordingly, interested parties in Wells approached the provisional directors of the East Somerset line; if Wells subscribed £12,500, would the connect to their city? They would, and nearly all of the promised subscription was quickly forthcoming; the obtained the East Somerset Railway (Extension to Wells) Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. cv) on 27 July 1857 extending their powers to reach Wells, and authorising an additional £40,000 capital. The connection to Wells opened in 1862.
Contract had been let to Brotherhood for the construction of the Shepton Mallet section early in 1857 and in October 1858 Captain Yolland of the Board of Trade visited the line for the formal inspection prior to opening for passengers. There were a number of detail issues: a turntable was provided at Shepton Mallet but not at Witham; and the signalling arrangements at Witham were questionable. The company undertook that only tank engines would be used, rendering the turntable unnecessary, and Brunel personally managed to persuade the Board of Trade that opening was permissible: they agreed, and the opening took place on 9 November 1858.
The line was single, and on the broad gauge with longitudinal sleepers and bridge rails. The would work the line including maintaining the permanent way.E T MacDermot, History of the Great Western Railway, volume I part 2, published by the Great Western Railway, London, 1927
Extending to Wells
The Somerset Central Railway opened its line as far as Wells on 15 March 1859, and seeing that the projected extension there would abstract business from them, they proposed to the that the two lines should link at Street, combine and arrange for the whole combined line to be worked by the . The did not favour this arrangement, and decided to proceed with its own extension. However the implacable opposition of a landowner made adherence to the route originally designed impracticable, and a deviation to avoid his residence was planned; this was authorised by another act of Parliament, the East Somerset Railway Act 1860 (23 & 24 Vict. c. lxxiii), of 14 June 1860. It appears that a connection with the Somerset Central Railway at Wells had been included in the original act, but that this was dropped from the 1860 act. Work on the line started in December, the main contractor being D. Baldwin, and the line was ready for Board of Trade inspection in February 1862.
The inspector was again Yolland, now apparently a Lieutenant-Colonel. He observed that there was now a turntable at Shepton Mallet, in the middle of the line, but none at either terminus, and the signalling system was inadequate: he declined to pass the line as ready. The Board of Trade seems to have overruled him on receiving undertakings that one engine at a time would be in use on the line. A ceremonial opening of the line took place on 28 February 1862, and the public opening was next day, 1 March 1862. The electric telegraph was hastily installed in pursuance of an undertaking given to the Board of Trade, and was ready on 1 May 1862.
ESR sold to the GWR The East Somerset Railway (ESR) was not a success in financial terms, and after a few years the possibility of a sale to the wealthy Great Western Railway (GWR) was being considered. The East Somerset valued its line at £87,138, but the was unwilling to pay that price for an unsuccessful railway. The was planning to convert the gauge of the former Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth line to standard gauge, and gave notice to the East Somerset in January 1874 that it would do so in May. The directors could hardly have been surprised at this development, but it meant that they too would have to convert the gauge of their line. The cost of that would be £7,390, money that they did not have. The now had no alternative to selling to the , which they did for preference stock valued at £67,442.Phillips, page 11 The sale took effect on 2 December 1874.
Somerset Central Railway As described above, the Somerset Central Railway (SCR) had opened its branch line from Glastonbury to Wells on 15 March 1859; the Somerset Central was a broad gauge line at this time, worked by the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER), with which it joined at Highbridge. It was originally contemplated that the line would make a direct connection with the East Somerset line, but this did not take place. The station was aligned towards the station, but they stopped on opposite sides of Priory Road without connecting to one another.
The Somerset Central was taking steps to become independent of the , mixing the gauge of its track and acquiring its own rolling stock. In August 1862 it merged with the Dorset Central Railway, together forming the Somerset and Dorset Railway (S&DR).
The Somerset Central had intended making a branch from Wells to Yatton, joining the main line there, and including the formation of the direct connection to the East Somerset line at Wells, and a spur there to enable direct running from Glastonbury to Bristol. The Somerset and Dorset Railway took over the project, obtaining the (27 & 28 Vict. c. clxxxi) on 14 July 1864 for the Cheddar Valley and Yatton Railway. The had promoted a competing line, but a settlement was reached in which the and the agreed to abandon schemes encroaching on each other's area of influence, and the Cheddar Valley and Yatton scheme was transferred to the ; the transfer of powers was ratified by the Bristol and Exeter Railway (Additional Powers) Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. xcvii) on 19 June 1865.Ernest F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959
Cheddar Valley and Yatton Railway The Bristol and Exeter Railway proceeded with the construction of the project it had acquired; their chief engineer, Francis Fox, was resident engineer for the work. The authorised scheme was to run to the East Somerset Railway station at Wells, running through and calling at the Somerset and Dorset station there, and the track was to be on the broad gauge. There was to be a 180-yard (165-metre) tunnel at Shute Shelve.
A difficulty with the route emerged at Wells: the tracks at the approach to the Somerset Central Railway (now ) station had been laid out in a way that cut across the proposed Cheddar Valley line to the East Somerset station. The Board of Trade made it clear that the proposed through line was not acceptable, and the had to construct a separate station at Wells on Tucker Street, short of the . There would now be three stations in Wells.
The line was opened to Cheddar on 3 August 1869: the lavish passenger station was not ready, and for a period the goods shed was used for passenger purposes. The passenger station was open on 9 or 10 May 1870.Phillips, page 14
The line was opened to the Tucker Street station at Wells on 5 April 1870.Christopher Awdry, Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies, Patrick Stephens Limited, Wellingborough, 1990,
Connecting through Wells
From that date Wells had three stations, none of them connected, yet all aligned with through running in mind: from north-west to south-east, the station at Tucker Street; the Somerset and Dorset station aligned as a through station, but with its line from Glastonbury approaching from the south-west; and the (former ESR) station. All were called "Wells" at this stage.
This situation persisted for several years; in 1876 the Deputy Chairman of the visited, and reported
Proceeding through the Somerset & Dorset station I had pointed out to me what had already been done to form a physical connection with the B&E lines, so that, by arrangement, vehicles could then pass from one of our stations to the other. Proceeding to the Great Western station ... the first thing which attracted my attention was a new first class coach, sent from Swindon ... [it was] destined to relieve a B&E coach, and it had been sent to the wrong station at Wells, and to reach the right one, it had to do so via Bristol.Report from Sir Alex Wood to Chairman of the GWR, quoted on pages 77-79 of Phillips
It appears that from the beginning the desired track had been laid; when Board of Trade sanction to open it was refused, the Somerset and Dorset company nonetheless charged the for the agreed rental charge. Later the approached the asking them to agree to work goods movements over the line, as the Board of Trade refusal only applied to passenger trains; the replied that it would "hesitate to use the junction [i.e. the connecting line] without the authority of the Board of Trade."Phillips, page 104