Stert and Westbury Railway
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The Stert and Westbury Railway was opened by the Great Western Railway Company in 1900 in Wiltshire, England. It shortened the distance between London Paddington station and Weymouth, and since 1906 has also formed part of the Reading to Taunton line for a shorter journey from London to Penzance.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) had opened its main line between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads in 1841. It was extended westwards through Taunton and trains were running through to Penzance by 1867. Another route left the main line at Thingley Junction, west of Chippenham, ran south to Westbury in 1848 and was extended to Weymouth in 1857. Both these lines carried trains connecting with ships – from the Channel Islands at Weymouth, and from America at Plymouth – but the GWR was sometimes referred to as the 'Great Way Round' as its routes to these places were longer than the rival London and South Western Railway.
In 1895 the GWR started work on laying a second track on the Berks and Hants Extension Railway which was part of a route westwards from Reading to Devizes, and on constructing the Stert and Westbury line that would connect the Berks and Hants line with Westbury. The new line was ready for goods traffic on 29 July 1900 and passenger trains started to use the line on 1 October. The new line was 14 miles 35 chains (23.2 km) long and reduced the distance from Paddington to Westbury and Weymouth by 14.24 miles (22.9 km). From 2 July 1906 the line was also carrying trains from Paddington to Penzance due to the opening of the Langport and Castle Cary Railway which shortened this journey by 20.25 miles (32.6 km).
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