History
9 July 1856 A meeting at the Egremont Hotel in Williton to discuss the construction of a railway from
the West Somerset iron-fields to the Bristol and Exeter Railway.
17 August 1857 An Act of Parliament required the building of this railway by the West Somerset Railway
Company and an initial £120,000 was raised.
31 March 1862 Stogumber Station was opened on the WSR line with trains running from Taunton to Watchet
and operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway. The line was broad gauge.
16 July 1874 This line was extended to Minehead.
c 1882 The line was changed to standard gauge.
c 1900 The platform at Stogumber is extended.
c 1921 The WSR is absorbed by the GWR.
6 April 1926 The signal box at Stogumber was closed.
c 1933 The platform at Stogumber was extended again.
c 1935 to c 1939 A holiday Camp Coach was sited at Stogumber and again between 1952 and 1964.
c 1948 The line became part of the Western Region of British Railways.
17 August 1963 The goods facilities were withdrawn and the goods shed demolished soon afterwards.
4 January 1971 The station with the line was closed.
May 1971 The WSR Company was formed to run a heritage railway.
c 1973 Somerset County Council bought the line and leased it back to the WSR Company.
28 March 1976 Trains ran from Minehead to Blue Anchor and to Williton on 28 August 1976.
7 May 1978 The station was opened again and WSR trains were running from Minehead to Stogumber.
The Station Master was Harry Horn.
9 June 1979 WSR line extended to Bishop’s Lydeard.
We have a full history on sale at the station for 10p.