Evercreech Junction railway station

Evercreech Junction was a railway station at Evercreech on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

Evercreech Junction
Derelict station in September 1972
Location	Evercreech, Mendip England
Grid reference	ST639366
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Pre-grouping	Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
Post-grouping	LMS / Southern Railway Western Region of British Railways
Key dates
3 February 1862	Opened as "Evercreech"
20 July 1874	Renamed "Evercreech Junction"
29 November 1965	Closed to goods
7 March 1966	Closed to passengers

Originally opened in 1862 as "Evercreech" on the original S&D line from Burnham-on-Sea to Broadstone, it became in 1874 the junction for the northwards extension towards Bath that bankrupted the company. A station opened on the Bath extension more than a mile to the north of Evercreech Junction, much nearer to the village of Evercreech, was called Evercreech Village, and later Evercreech New.

Highbridge branch train in 1962

The junction itself was to the north of the station, where there were also marshalling yards. Branch trains to and from Burnham and Highbridge started and finished at Evercreech in latter years. To the south of the station a level crossing carried the main A371 road across the line.

The former Railway Hotel, renamed after closure

In 1963 the station featured in "Branch Line Railway", a BBC documentary on the Joint Railway presented by John Betjeman. However, it was closed three years later along with the whole line as part of the Beeching axe. The station inn was renamed The Silent Whistle on the closure of the line.

Three years after closure

Today the residual station buildings are private homes, with the former station track bed forming their gardens. The former goods yard is a small industrial estate, while the station hotel was renamed again as The Natterjack in the 1970s.[1]