Shepton Mallet (High Street) railway station

Infobox UK disused station
name = Shepton Mallet (High Street)
gridref = ST622440


caption =
manager = East Somerset Railway
GWR
owner = GWR
Western Region of British Railways
locale = Shepton Mallet
borough = Mendip, Somerset
platforms = 2
years = 9 November 1858
events = Opened as "Shepton Mallet"
years3 = 9 September 1963
events3 = Closed to passenger traffic
years2 = 1949
events2 = Renamed "Shepton Mallet (High Street)"
years4 = 1969
events4 = Closed to goods traffic

Shepton Mallet (High Street) was a railway station on the East Somerset Railway, serving the town of Shepton Mallet in the English county of Somerset.

The station opened in 1858 as the interim western terminus of the line from the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway at Witham (Somerset). In 1862, the East Somerset line was extended westwards to Wells and in 1878 a junction was made in Wells with the Cheddar Valley Railway that enabled through running between Witham and Yatton. By this time the line had been taken over entirely by the Great Western Railway.

For most of its life, the station was known simply as "Shepton Mallet", the larger title coming into use in 1949 to differentiate the station in the British Railways era from the town's other station on the unconnected Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The S&DJR station, less conveniently situated for the town centre, had been known as Shepton Mallet (Charlton Road) since 1883.

The station closed to passenger traffic with the withdrawal of services between Yatton and Witham on 9 September 1963. Goods traffic ceased within a year, though goods trains continued to pass through until 1969 with stone from a nearby quarry. The station building did survive as a depot for a cleaning company for some years. However the site now been cleared for redevlopment to take place. The station building however has been dismantled for use by the East Somerset Railway for the planned 'new' station at Shepton Mallet which will be on a new site. See http://www.eastsomersetrailway.com/news/newsitem.php?item=217

References

* Somerset Railway Stations, Mike Oakley, Dovecote Press, Wimborne, 2002. ISBN 1 904340 09 9