Midford Station, nestled amid Somerset & Dorset’s scenic railway, embodies the golden era of train travel. It’s the gateway from Bath Green Park, where the line shifts from single to double track, spanning 32 historic miles to Templecombe.
Unlike other stations, Midford exudes a unique charm with its wooden structures blending into the hillside. It’s not just railway infrastructure; it was a magnet for enthusiasts and adventurers alike.
For me, Midford is more than a station—it’s a treasure trove of childhood memories exploring the abandoned viaducts and forgotten lines. That nostalgia, coupled with my fascination for S&D’s inner workings, has sparked an ambitious project.
Join me as we bring history to life, crafting a railway amidst breathtaking landscapes. Midford might just transcend from a plan to reality. Time will tell, but the journey promises pure excitement.
Tucked into the steep-sided valley south of Bath, Midford railway station was a modest yet significant stop on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR). Situated between Bath Junction and Evercreech Junction, this stretch of line was historically known as the Bath Extension. Though the station itself was small, its strategic location at the transition between single and double track made it an important operational point, playing a role in the S&DJR’s ongoing battle with geography and economics.
In 1874, the Somerset & Dorset Railway (S&DR) extended its line northward from Evercreech Junction to Bath, establishing a station at Midford. At first, the entire line was single-track with only a handful of passing places. According to an undertaking given by the S&DR to the Board of Trade (BoT) on 15 July 1874, the only block post between Bath Junction and Radstock was at Wellow, the next station south of Midford. Just a year later, in 1875, the S&DR was absorbed into the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR), jointly leased by the Midland Railway (MR) and London & South Western Railway (L&SWR). This marked the beginning of a new era of investment and operational complexity for the line.
As traffic increased, sections of the Bath Extension were gradually double-tracked. By 1894, everything south of Midford to Templecombe No.2 Junction had been doubled, easing congestion on that stretch. But the final miles between Midford and Bath remained a stubborn bottleneck, and for good reason. Trains departing Bath faced an immediate climb—1 in 50 and 1 in 66 gradients for over two miles—plunging into Devonshire Tunnel (440 yards) before entering the notorious Combe Down Tunnel (1,829 yards). With limited clearance and no ventilation, Combe Down Tunnel became infamous among railwaymen, its thick smoke choking the air inside. It remains Britain’s longest unventilated railway tunnel.
Despite plans to double this last section, the enormous cost of widening the tunnels proved prohibitive. Some preparatory work was carried out as far as the southern approach to Combe Down Tunnel, but the scheme was abandoned. Midford, therefore, remained the critical transition point between single and double track, a role it would hold until closure.
Perched on a narrow ledge carved into the hillside, Midford station was simple yet atmospheric. The single platform was located on the Up side of the line, with a collection of wooden buildings offering the essential facilities. To the north, the railway passed under Bridge No. 17, better known as the “Long Arch”. At 37 yards, its extreme skew made it more of a short tunnel than a bridge, a distinctive feature of the station’s surroundings. Just beyond it, a facing point led to two sidings on the Down side, forming a diminutive goods yard.
South of the station, the line immediately crossed the Midford Viaduct, a striking double-track structure that spanned the main road, the Wellow Brook, the Great Western Railway’s Limpley Stoke–Camerton–Hallatrow branch, and the remains of the Somerset Coal Canal. Beyond the viaduct, the railway entered a cutting, where another small siding trailed off the Up line. Though little used in later years, it once served a variety of industries, shipping out hay from local farms and unloading explosives for nearby collieries.
Following the 1923 Grouping, the S&DJR fell under the joint control of its parent companies’ successors—the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) and the Southern Railway (SR). This arrangement continued until nationalisation in 1948, when the line was initially managed by British Railways (Southern Region) (BR(SR)), before eventually transferring to British Railways (Western Region) (BR(WR)).
By the mid-20th century, the S&DJR’s days were numbered. Despite its cult following among railway enthusiasts, the line struggled with inefficiencies, declining freight traffic, and government policy shifts away from rural railways. On 6 March 1966, Midford station—along with the rest of the S&DJR—closed for good.
Today, remnants of the station and its viaduct survive, offering a glimpse into the golden age of British steam railways and the remarkable engineering feats that once brought trains through the valley at Midford.