Melksham Times Past

A column about days gone by in Melksham by local historian Lisa Ellis

The Closure and Rebirth of Melksham Station

History discussions with my husband, Graham Ellis, often turn to travel and transport. One conversation led to the “Beeching Axe” and how it affected Melksham Railway Station. I asked him to share his expertise with you.

Graham writes:

I picked up an old timetable for the trains calling at Melksham in 1965 recently. There were seven each way per day (Monday to Saturday), with departures to Bristol, Bradford-on-Avon, Chippenham, Swindon and Westbury. Less than a year later, they were all gone and the station had closed. Part of the “Beeching Axe” cuts that reduced the number of stations in the UK from around 5,000 to about 2,500.   

Services were very much more rush-hour based. Six trains left between 07:00 and 09:00, then nothing until nearly two o’clock. Another eight trains arrived between 16:00 and 18:00 – really a school- and commuter-service – with very little in the middle of the day or evening, and nothing on Sundays.

How times have changed.

The station re-opened in 1985. We now have nine each way per day, seven at weekends. They are well spread in time and all of them through at least between Westbury and Swindon, some beyond. It’s a useful general service, and probably carries more passengers than ever before.

So why did the line through Melksham survive and its station get re-opened, whereas those at Calne, Devizes and Corsham are just memories?

The line through Melksham remained open with a scheduled passenger service for a few more years – a Trowbridge-to-Chippenham train each day, and summer Saturday trains between Weymouth and the Midlands via Oxford. And it was (and still is) used for diverted long-distance expresses between the West County and London, and freight too. The line was reduced from two tracks to just one, thus limiting severely its capacity. The condition of the remaining track is good.

Melksham Station closed along with Lacock, Holt and Staverton in 1966; the buildings demolished soon after. With good fortune, a section of the platform at Melksham remained, and in May 1985, the remaining track was slewed over to allow the station to re-open. Initially, just one train ran each way per day as a commuter service, but with ups and downs the service has grown to be a general-use service. People use trains for all sorts of reasons, and they are busy even in the middle of the day.

The facilities at Melksham station are limited. As a rule, modern trains and timetables work very well with far fewer facilities than 60 years ago. We do have a need for better information at the station. Watch this space as the station blossoms again as designated under the Neighbourhood Plan and further ahead to the Bath and Wiltshire Metro.

Pictured: Melksham Station closure – a view from the former footbridge that crossed the railway tracks , facing toward Bath Road Bridge, 4th April 1966