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Chippenham railway station

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Chippenham railway station is on the Great Western Main Line (GWML) in South West England, serving the town of Chippenham, Wiltshire. It is 93 miles 76 chains (93.95 mi; 151.2 km) down the line from the zero point at London Paddington and is situated between Swindon and Bath Spa on the GWML.[1] The Wessex Main Line diverges from the GWML to the southwest of Chippenham and runs to Trowbridge via Melksham.

Chippenham
National Rail
The station buildings, seen from the southwest
General information
LocationChippenham, County of Wiltshire
England
Coordinates51°27′45″N 2°06′55″W / 51.4625°N 2.1154°W / 51.4625; -2.1154
Grid referenceST920737
Owned byNetwork Rail
Managed byGreat Western Railway
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeCPM
ClassificationDfT category C1
History
Original companyGreat Western Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
31 May 1841Opened
Passengers
2019/20Decrease 1.937 million
 Interchange Increase 29,117
2020/21Decrease 0.373 million
 Interchange Decrease 6,709
2021/22Increase 1.124 million
 Interchange Increase 24,205
2022/23Increase 1.445 million
 Interchange Increase 26,946
2023/24Increase 1.578 million
 Interchange Decrease 22,518
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated22 June 1978 (1978-06-22)
Reference no.1268119
Legacy SystemLBS
Legacy System number462213
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station is managed by Great Western Railway, which also operates all the trains that call. Only two platforms remain in use; the platform by the main entrance is now disused.

History

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Station entrance (1989)

The main line of the Great Western Railway (GWR) was authorised in 1835, and opened in stages:[2] the section from Hay Lane westward to Chippenham opened on 31 May 1841.[3][4] The final section of the line, between Chippenham and Bath, opened on 30 June 1841.[5]

Chippenham was soon served by other lines. The Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WS&WR) was authorised in 1845 and the first section opened on 5 September 1848; this ran from Thingley Junction, west of Chippenham, to Westbury, and the WS&WR was absorbed by the GWR in 1851.[6][7] The Calne Railway was authorised in 1860 and opened on 3 November 1863; this company remained independent for some years, until absorbed by the GWR in 1892.[8][9]

In 1858 the station was expanded and gained a goods shed and an engine shed.[10] A railway connection was laid to Chippenham Gas Works in 1906; this connection closed in 1932. Chippenham engine shed closed in March 1964 and services on the Calne branch ended in 1965. Chippenham East and West signal boxes closed on 21 August 1966. As from 1 February 1976 the original down platform was taken out of use and services travelling west used the south side of the island platform.[11]

Description

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The original station building at Chippenham was built to Isambard Kingdom Brunel's design and opened in 1841.[12] With the subsequent opening of lines to Salisbury and Weymouth, the station was not adequate to meet the increased demand and was redesigned by J H Bertram in 1856 to 1858; it is a Grade II listed building, constructed in Bath Stone ashlar with a bay window at one end and a wing at the other, making a long, low composition.[13][14]

 
Platform view in 1989. The footbridge carried a public right of way over the railway, and has since been replaced with a taller bridge providing access to the two operational platforms.

Platform 1 is used for westbound Great Western Main Line services towards Bristol Temple Meads, the West Country and South Wales, and for Wessex Main Line services towards Southampton Central. Platform 2 is used for eastbound services towards London Paddington and Cheltenham Spa. On the disused platform there is cycle storage, a seating area and a café.[11]

There are two footbridges at the station, although until 2016 one only carried a right of way over the railway. This bridge was replaced with a new one providing steps and lifts on both platforms, opening in January 2016.[15][16][17] This work was funded under the Department for Transport's Access for All scheme, although in any case the bridge required replacement as part of the project to electrify the Great Western main line, as it was too low for the overhead wires to fit underneath. The footbridge was closed for two weeks in September 2016, eight months after opening, due to drainage issues.[18] It had also been criticised as no lift was provided to the car park to the north of the station, although provision was made for its installation in the future. In 2022, work to install the third lift began.[19][20]

Beside the station is a Grade II listed K6 Red telephone box.[21] In the old station yard to the south of the railway (now a car park) there is a Grade II listed Brunel-designed stone-built office.[22] In the northern station yard (also now a car park) is another Grade II listed building, partly in random stone but mainly weather-boarded on a timber frame with a pitched slate roof. It is an early weighbridge house and coal merchant's office dating from around 1840, and may have belonged to Rowland Brotherhood's engineering works.[23] The Grade II* listed Chippenham viaduct, also designed by Brunel, is detailed below.

Awards

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In 2004, the station received an award to recognise its safety and security. The award, which lasted for two years, followed a passenger survey which found that 98% of the passengers through Chippenham said they felt 'safe' or 'very safe' whilst on the premises. The station is monitored by 24-hour CCTV and is alarmed.[24]

Services

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A First Great Western service from London Paddington

The station has frequent eastbound services to London Paddington; and westbound services to Bristol and Bath, with some extensions to Devon, Taunton, and South Wales. Currently, these trains run every half an hour in both directions and extensions to stations further afield westbound are made regularly.[25]

The "TransWilts" line from Swindon via Chippenham to Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury has trains every two hours each way on weekdays and six each way on Sundays. Two southbound weekday trains continue through to Salisbury and two northbound to Cheltenham Spa, with one each extending to Southampton Central in the south and Worcester Foregate Street in the north via the Bristol-Worcester Line. On Sunday, in addition to another Salisbury service three trains run to Frome, of which two utilise the rest of the Heart of Wessex Line and terminate at Weymouth on the south coast.[26]

Chippenham station connects to the Wessex Main Line via Melksham.

Preceding station   National Rail Following station
Bath Spa   Great Western Railway
Great Western Main Line 		  Swindon
Melksham   Great Western Railway
Wessex Main Line 		 
  Historical railways  
Corsham
Line open, station closed 		  Great Western Railway
Great Western Main Line 		  Christian Malford Halt
Line open, station closed
Disused railways
Terminus   BR (Western Region)
Chippenham and Calne Line 		  Stanley Bridge Halt

Future

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There were plans to electrify the Great Western Main Line along its whole length (Heathrow Junction to Bristol Temple Meads), which were originally scheduled for completion by 2016.[27] However, in November 2016, the work to electrify the section between Chippenham and Bristol (as well as Oxford to Didcot) was suspended due to 'cost overruns' until further notice.[28] The wires stop just east of Chippenham station.

Train operator Go-Op included Chippenham in its 2016 and 2019 plans for a service from the west of England to the West Midlands, via Oxford.[29][30]

The Chippenham Station Hub project aims to improve the appearance of the station's forecourt and increase parking provision by building multi-storey car parks, releasing land for development.[31] There are seven phases, with Phase 1, the refurbishment of the booking office, having been completed and Phase 2 (redevelopment of Sadler's Mead car park) being in progress as of 2020.[32][33]

Engineering works

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Northwest of the station is an engineering works, established on a smaller site north of the station in 1842 by Rowland Brotherhood to support the Great Western Railway, and later supplying equipment to the worldwide rail industry. From 1894 it was home to the company which in 1935 became Westinghouse Brake and Signal, manufacturers of railway air braking and signalling equipment. Westinghouse was acquired by Hawker Siddeley in 1979, then sold to BTR in 1992. After BTR merged with Siebe to form Invensys, Westinghouse Brakes was sold in 2000 to Knorr-Bremse, who opened a new factory at Bowerhill, Melksham.[34][35]

The signals business remained at Chippenham and became Westinghouse Rail Systems, within Invensys Rail Group. This business was sold to Siemens in 2013 and became part of Siemens Rail Automation.[36] Proposals submitted in 2016 for redevelopment of the site include homes, shops and a hotel as well as business space.[37]

Chippenham viaduct

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Chippenham viaduct
Coordinates51°27′40″N 2°07′09″W / 51.46121°N 2.11921°W / 51.46121; -2.11921
OS grid referenceST 91815 73588
CarriesRailway
CrossesA420, New Road
LocaleChippenham
OwnerNetwork Rail
Characteristics
DesignArch
MaterialStone, brick
No. of spans9
History
DesignerIsambard Kingdom Brunel
Opened1841 (1841)
Statistics
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated22 June 1978 (1978-06-22)
Reference no.1267956
Legacy SystemLBS
Legacy System number462388

Immediately west of the station lies the Grade II* listed Chippenham viaduct, designed by Brunel and completed in 1841.[38] The first arch, over New Road, appears to have been modelled on the Roman triumphal arch. It has a 26-foot (8 m) span and is flanked by two smaller pedestrian arches of 10 feet (3 m), and extended to the west by a later brick arcade, making a total of nine arches. All is surmounted by a heavy cornice and parapet. The north side is faced with Bath stone ashlar with some brick patching, while the south side is in blue brick following widening in the early 1900s.[39][38] Chippenham Civic Society has placed a blue plaque on the viaduct, which it refers to as the "Western Arches".[40]

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chippenham railway station.
  1. ^ Padgett, David (June 2018) [1989]. Munsey, Myles (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western & Wales (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 5B. ISBN 978-1-9996271-0-2.
  2. ^ MacDermot, E.T. (1927). History of the Great Western Railway, vol. I: 1833–1863. Paddington: Great Western Railway. p. 25.
  3. ^ MacDermot 1927, p. 124
  4. ^ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 60. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  5. ^ MacDermot 1927, p. 131
  6. ^ Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. London: Guild Publishing. p. 52. CN 8983.
  7. ^ MacDermot 1927, p. 286
  8. ^ MacDermot, E.T. (1931). History of the Great Western Railway, vol. II: 1863–1921. Paddington: Great Western Railway. p. 6. OCLC 55853736.
  9. ^ Awdry 1990, p. 20
  10. ^ Daniel, John (April 2013). "A Selection of Great Western Stations". The Great Western Archive. Chippenham. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  11. ^ a b TransWilts Community Rail Partnership (2009). "The "TransWilts" – Some key facts". Melksham, Wilts: Self. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  12. ^ Beckett, Derrick (2006). Brunel's Britain. David & Charles. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-7153-2360-1.
  13. ^ Clark, R H (1981). An Historic Survey of Selected Great Western Stations, volume 3.
  14. ^ Historic England. "CHIPPENHAM STATION, ENTRANCE BUILDING AND ATTACHED PLATFORM CANOPIES (1268119)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Timeline: Access for All stations list". Network Rail. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  16. ^ Armstrong, Julie (2 February 2015). "115-year-old railway bridge comes down as part of £3m access scheme". Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  17. ^ "Opening of Chippenham station's new footbridge and lifts". Network Rail. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  18. ^ "New railway station bridge in £3m revamp needs work after just 8 months". The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  19. ^ "£1million scheme to provide step-free access at Wiltshire station". RailAdvent. 5 January 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  20. ^ "Chippenham railway station: Work begins on £1m upgrade". BBC News. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  21. ^ Historic England. "K6 TELEPHONE KIOSK ADJACENT TO CHIPPENHAM RAILWAY STATION (1268123)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  22. ^ Historic England. "CHIPPENHAM STATION, FORMER BRITISH RAIL OFFICE IN THE CAR PARK (1268121)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  23. ^ Historic England. "MORTIMORES WEIGHBRIDGE OFFICE, CHIPPENHAM STATION YARD (1267960)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  24. ^ "Chippenham railway station receives national award for security" (Press release). First Great Western. 21 December 2004. Retrieved 4 June 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  25. ^ "First Great Western Trains". Services near the bottom. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  26. ^ "Swindon to Westbury via Melksham (TransWilts line services)" (PDF). Great Western Railway. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  27. ^ "Network Specification 2011 – Western". Network Rail. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  28. ^ Great Western line electrification 'deferred' amid cost overruns
  29. ^ "Proposed route". GO-OP. Archived from the original on 23 October 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  30. ^ "Rail travel boost for Frome". Frome Times. 26 March 2019. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  31. ^ "Chippenham Station". SWLEP. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  32. ^ "News - Chippenham railway consultation - News - Wiltshire Council". wiltshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  33. ^ "News - Work on improvements for Chippenham Car Park start this week - News - Wiltshire Council". wiltshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  34. ^ O.S. Nock (2006). A Hundred Years of Speed with Safety: The Inception and Progress of the Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company Ltd., 1881 – 1981. Hobnob Press. ISBN 978-0-946418-51-0.
  35. ^ "Invensys Sells Westinghouse Brakes to Knorr-Bremse". Invensys. 25 April 2000. Archived from the original on 14 March 2006.
  36. ^ "Siemens completes Invensys Rail acquisition". Railway Gazette. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  37. ^ Mackley, Stefan (29 April 2016). "Plans submitted to redevelop Langley Park". The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  38. ^ a b Historic England. "Railway Viaduct (1267956)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  39. ^ Biddle, Gordon (2003). Britain's Historic Railway Buildings: an Oxford Gazetteer of Structures and Sites. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866247-1.
  40. ^ "Heritage Blue Plaques | Chippenham Civic Society". Retrieved 5 June 2021.
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