THE final train left the terminus at Tetbury – in the south-west corner of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire – on April 5, 1964 with all due fanfare of the time. Like many such branch line closures of the Beeching era, one can imagine quite a few tears being shed as that last working disappeared into the distance, its characteristic sounds becoming fainter until they were extinguished forever.
While there is now no chance of the line reopening, there is some light at the end of this particular railway tunnel with the recent award of a £5800 Heritage Lottery Grant, which will enable the fond memories of those who recall the Tetbury branch line to be recorded, collated and exhibited in the Tetbury Goods Shed Arts Centre.
Long time coming
Tetbury was at the end of a branch from Kemble, an extant station on the Swindon to Gloucester ‘Golden Valley Line’. Kemble was unusual in that it had opened in 1845 just to allow passengers to change between main line trains and the branch to Cirencester (opened in 1841), there being no other public access. The Great Western Railway had to overcome a lot of opposition from landowner Squire Robert Gordon, who did not want any railways disturbing his peace, or local riff-raff turning up expecting to catch a train, and it would take until 1882 for Kemble to become a public station with road access.
The nearest station to Tetbury at that time was the ominously-named ‘Tetbury Road’ (1845-82), the suffix ‘Road’ indicating a healthy hike destination – in this case, the station was a full seven miles from the town. Tetbury Road closed when Kemble gained its road access, but what Tetbury ahead to get to the actual really wanted was its own railway.
Tetbury railway station in the early 20th century.
The train is pointing towards Kemble, with the goods shed visible in the background at the very end of the branch.
The first suggestion of a line had been back in 1845, when plans were drawn up by the Wiltshire & Gloucestershire Junction Railway (W&GJR), but it would be another 44 years before a railway finally arrived. The first attempt to build a line, from Stroud to Tetbury and Malmesbury, had begun in 1865. After the original company was wound up in 1871, intervened, ‘the propriety of taking the necessary steps for obtaining railway communication between the town of Tetbury and the GWR near Kemble Junction.’