Page head: Station Staff and train. Image used by kind permission of Bob & June Thomas.
Bridgwater Mercury and Western Counties Herald 5th May 1858:
“Sometime ago it was considered advisable to connect Burnham, by a branch Railway from Highbridge, with the Bristol and Exeter and Glastonbury lines of railway, and it was naturally expected that the enterprise would pay by means of excursionists to the rising watering- place and the traffic sure to flow from Wales. To render the branch railway more likely to prove remunerative the formation of a pier was necessary, and within twelve months from the period of the work’s commencement both railway and pier were completed. To the exertions of George Reed, the chief credit of this success is undoubtable due. The line and pier have been constructed by the Somerset Central Railway Company at a cost, in the whole, of £20,250, the railway costing £14,000 and the pier £6,250. The engineer was Mr Gregory, assisted by Mr Snow, resident engineer; and the contractors were Messrs J and C Rigby………The railway consists of a single line of rails, and the pier is a long strip of masonry, from the high water to low water mark, (a continuation of the line itself,) with an unpaved slip cut out on the western side, which allows vessels to be alongside to unload.”
For more details see ‘Opening of the Railway’.
The photo above is from Summer 1885, which is the earliest picture of the railway we have.
The track followed the path now described by Marine Drive as far as the Apex park entrance, and then paralleled the Burnham Rd into Highbridge.
Of interest The children are – from left to right – David Strickland, Sara Trotman, Christine ?, John Strickland, Judith Stevenson and Lenard Thompson.
This image kindly provided by Cedric May. C 1980.
This image kindly provided by Alan Dobinson.
This image kindly provided by Carol Keen.
This image kindly provided by Alan Dobinson.
These were probably erected when the South Esplanade was tarmaced around 1932 and the lines going down the Jetty taken up.
A view of the location of the original station buildings taken in 2016.
The same location of the station buildings taken by the late Glyn Luxon around 1960
The station buildings when viewed from the High Street.
Folow this link for a contemporary account of the opening of the railway.
I found your page after watching the enchanting film made about the still operational railway in 1963, narrated by the poet John Betjamen on the IPlayer. I wonder if your like to embed or link it from the main page on the stations history?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03495yn
Hello Alastair,
We need to think about our Railway story as there are three topics on it’s history on three different heading. A copy of John Betjamen’s video is on the ‘Other’ page under ‘Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway’; plus ‘Events (Historical )’ page – ‘The Opening of the Railway’ .
I was born in Burnham and my childhood home was next to the line so I have a lasting interest of these times but never got to travel the line from Burnham to Highbridge.
Thanks for sharing your interest..
Hello Nathan and thank you for your posting.
We would be interested in seeing your model of Burnham’s station so please let us know how you get on.
Of interest I have the complete rail plan of rails down to the jetty. It you would like to see these please get back to me. Unfortunately in 00 gauge it does take quite a long space.
I also have the plans for Highbridge S&D station but this would involve 7 platforms !
Thanks again,
John
Many thanks for these photos and the captions. I am very interested in the Somerset and Dorset Railway and I am creating 00 gauge static dioramas of the stations at Burnham on Sea, Midsomer Norton and Shillingstone, using readymade buildings from the Bachmann Scenecraft series. The photos and track plan of Burnham are fascinating and are proving most useful for my modelling project. My N Gauge model railway features Troy near Albany north of New York City and Durham in Ontario.
As soon as I saw the track plan I thought: what an amazing resource for someone to model this piece of railway history! I wonder if you plan to try and represent the winching mechanism and wagons being moved up and down the steep pier gradient? Either way, I’d also love to see the model. Have you thought of sharing the process and outcomes on YouTube perhaps?
Hello Nathan ,
I second Alastair’s comments re hoping to see your completed model.
We would love a photo for this site if possible, please. I would need to contact you via our email address but should you wish to do this please drop a comment here and I will do the necessary.
Thanks also to Alastair for reminding me about this.
John