Yeovil–Taunton line
[note 1] A short part of the branch was incorporated into a new direct route from Reading to Taunton in 1906, which shortened the distance from London to Devon and Cornwall.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was appointed engineer and the two companies worked in collaboration with the GWR operating the B&ER for a period.
[3] At the end of September 1846, Brunel resigned his position as engineer to the B&ER and he was superseded by Charles Hutton Gregory.
[3] Early in 1847 the B&ER let a contract for construction between Yeovil and Martock, a distance of six miles (9.7 km) and comprising the only heavy earthworks on the line; this was completed two years later.
[3] However, in view of the new expenditure on rolling stock (connected with the B&ER decision to work the main line itself), the directors decided to suspend operations and nothing more was done until 1852.
[4] Later maps (made after the extension to the Town station) show Hendford as forming a broad Y shape, with its stem facing west, the goods yard on the northern arm, and the single platform passenger station on the southern arm close to Hendford Hill.
The "arrangement continued until 1895, when the GWR provided some additional bay platforms allowing the Yeovil branch train to run into Taunton".
[3] The London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) had for many years been trying to extend its line to Exeter, and had experienced many setbacks.
At this time, the stations in Yeovil were Pen Mill, on the GWR's Wilts Somerset and Weymouth line, and the Hendford terminus of the B&ER.
In August 1859 the Sherborne Mercury published that the B&ER and S&YR had agreed to the construction of a new joint station at the point of junction.
Pending its completion they agreed to accommodate S&YR traffic at Hendford, and for the purpose they laid an independent (i.e. separate second) standard 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) gauge track alongside their own single line, and to lay mixed gauge track in Hendford station yard.
[3][5] In 1867 the Somerset and Dorset Railway (S&DR) sought parliamentary powers to extend from their line at Shapwick to Bridgwater, then a significant port.
To defeat this proposal in Parliament, the B&ER undertook to lay mixed gauge on their main line from Highbridge (where the S&DR and the B&ER lines crossed) to Bridgwater to the quays there, and on to Durston and from Durston to Yeovil, and to work a service of standard-gauge trains on that route.
[3] Speller says that As a result, the B&ER purchased six standard-gauge 0-6-0 locomotives for running trains over these lines, but traffic proved so sparse that they were converted to broad gauge.
[6]However the passenger service on the route did not start, and in response to a shareholder's question, it was stated[10] that the L&SWR had declined through working or other facilities.
[3] It may be that through goods from remote parts of the L&SWR system was lucrative, but permitting the B&ER access to that network was the thin end of a wedge.
[4][6] On 13 August 1928, a halt was built on the B&ER main line to serve Creech St Michael.
In the mid-twentieth century, passenger services generally worked by a single GWR Pannier tank 0-6-0PT with two slam-door carriages, and later an auto trailer powered by a 14XX Class 0-4-2T locomotive.
The only section which remains open today is that either side of the site of the former Athelney railway station across the Somerset Levels, serving the Reading to Taunton Line.
With the addition of the junctions on either side of the station, for the Langport and Castle Cary Railway in 1906, an expansion programme was agreed.
The main station building was moved to Stoke St Gregory playing field and is now the cricket and tennis pavilion.
The Bristol and Exeter opened its Yeovil branch line on 1 October 1853 from a new station situated at the north end of the cutting at Durston.
Despite the Langport and Castle Cary Railway opening in 1906, which effectively left Durston and Lyng Halt on a loop line from Cogload Junction, the station continued to serve the branch.
The locomotive turntable was taken out of use on 21 September 1952 and the branch closed on 15 June 1964, with Durston station remaining open only until 5 October 1964.
