Index > Members Area > Stations > Wells Museum Catalogue Abstract - coming soon Wells Photogallery 1 Wells Photogallery 2 - updated 08 July '03 After Closure - Remote link. A Short History of Railways in Wells By Paul Fry, the Wells Railway Historian. The first indication of proposals for a railway into Wells was a Notice in the Wells Journal dated 3rd September 1852. A special meeting was called by the Secretary of the Somerset Central Railway inviting Persons favourable to bringing a line of railways to Wells. This meeting was held in the Wells Town Hall on Friday 10th September 1852 at 12 o'clock to help raise the necessary money for an extension of the line from Glastonbury to the City, so that "Wells would be in communication with the rest of the World". Other reasons put forward as to why Wells needed a railway were: 1) The County Assizes were regularly held there; 2) It was the home of the Bishop of Bath & Wells; 3) The County Lunatic Asylum was nearby. The Bristol and Exeter Railway, having built a railway from its station at Highbridge to Glastonbury, helped by subscribing a considerable amount towards the building of the extension to Wells. This extension was finished more or less by the end of the year 1858 and was formally opened on 3rd March 1859. The first passenger service was run on the 15th March of that year. There was much rejoicing in Wells upon the arrival of the first train, including a ceremonial procession around the town by the Corporation and Guilds, followed by the customary cold collation, fireworks and a grand ball. It was duly noted that their eminences, the High Court Judges, would now be able to travel from the assizes at Exeter to those at Wells with out change of train. The citizens of Wells were soon desirous of the railway being extended further eastward to join up with the Wilts Somerset and Weymouth line, thereby allowing direct travel by train to London. The Somerset Central, however, went for a grander scheme, that of making a line from the Bristol Channel to the English Channel. The expectation was to reap the benefits of the South Wales and French business, thereby missing out Wells by joining up with the Dorset Central Railway. So disappointed were the Wells people that they turned their allegiances towards the newly-formed East Somerset Railway, which had managed to reach Shepton Mallet by 1858. After a short delay for lack of money, the ESR managed to reach Wells by 1862, building their station on the opposite side of the Turnpike Road to the SCR. The two lines were joined up after some problems with the Railway inspector, but he would only allow the passage of freight and not passenger trains. The City was not yet finished with new railways as, in 1870, the Bristol & Exeter Railway, after some junketing over Acts of Parliament, managed to finish their line into Wells through what is known as the Cheddar Valley. In 1874/5, both the East Somerset line and the Bristol & Exeter lines were absorbed by the Great Western Railway. They had been desirous of linking up their two lines, but unfortunately for them, it would mean crossing through the goods yard of the Somerset and Dorset (as it had by then become), and traversing some 600 yards of the S&D line. The Railway Department of the Board of Trade would have none of this. However only after all lines had been altered to the standard gauge about 1878 would they allow passenger trains to travel between Wells Tucker Street and Wells East Somerset via the S&DR's station, for which there was a requirement to pay an annual fee of £400 p.a. GWR trains however, although passing through, did not deem to stop at the S&DR Priory Road to pick up or set down passengers for another 37 years until October 1934. Traffic on the Wells Branch dwindled. In 1951 when it was closed to all traffic, although the old station was retained as goods offices. Traffic on the GWR Wells Branch struggled on until 1964 when it too was closed. Paul Fry © SDRT 2010 All material contained herein is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced, copied, held in an electronic repository system (particularly on another web site) without seeking permission. Every effort has been made to identify the holders of copyright material included within this website. If any material has been used inadvertently without permission or attribution the Trustees of the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust will be pleased to receive information with a view to correcting this in further updates.