Yeovil Junction is the busier, but less central, of two railway stations serving the town of Yeovil, in Somerset, England; the other is . The station is sited outside the town, in the village of Stoford; the station was in Dorset until 1991. It is located down the line from .
It was opened by the London and South Western Railway in 1860, on its London to Exeter line now known as the West of England Main Line. Today, it is managed by South Western Railway and is also the home of the Yeovil Railway Centre.
History
thumb|left|Railways around Yeovil
The Salisbury and Yeovil Railway (S&YR) opened the final part of its line from on 1 June 1860. Near to Bradford Abbas, it crossed over the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth line of the Great Western Railway (GWR) on a bridge, then ran alongside it and the Yeovil Branch Line of the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) to reach that company's terminus at , on the west side of Yeovil. Just a few weeks later, on 19 July, the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened its Yeovil and Exeter line. This left the S&YR at Bradford Abbas Junction and crossed over the GWR line to its own station at Yeovil Junction, and then continued on towards Exeter Queen Street.
The station was a junction because another line led back to join the S&YR at River Junction, so trains could run from Exeter direct to Hendford (the terminus was moved to a joint B&ER/LSWR Yeovil Town railway station from 1 June 1861). The original eastwards connection from River Junction to Bradford Abbas was closed in 1870, after which most main line trains only called at Yeovil Junction where passengers could change onto a connecting train for the short journey to Yeovil Town. The LSWR operated all trains over the S&YR and bought the smaller company in 1878.
The station at this time had two platforms serving three tracks. The northern side was the track for trains to and London Waterloo; the middle track was covered by a train shed and could be used from either platform and was for the trains to Yeovil Town; the southern track was for trains to Exeter. Goods traffic was handled on the north side of the main line and a turntable was placed on the south side. On 13 June 1864, a new line was opened from the GWR up to a goods station at Clifton Maybank adjacent to the LSWR station. The GWR was a broad gauge line until 1874; broad and standard gauge wagons could be brought alongside each other at Clifton Maybank to allow goods to be transhipped between them. Yeovil was now in the middle of a single track section between Sherborne and .
This soon proved a rationalisation too far and the double track was restored between Sherborne and Yeovil Junction on 1 October 1967, but all trains had to use the eastbound main line platform. A limited passenger service to Yeovil Pen Mill was reinstated in 2015, since when this has gradually increased in frequency.
A permanent way depot was established in the old goods yard on the north side of the station in 1965. A small Ruston and Hornsby four-wheel diesel locomotive no. DS1169 was kept here for shunting until 1972. In 2001, the area was used by the Somerset and Dorset Locomotive Company as a depot for its fleet of hire locomotives, although this use has now ceased. The turntable has been retained on the south side of the line and is often used for turning the locomotives of steam-hauled excursions. This, and the Clifton Maybank site, has been the home of the Yeovil Railway Centre since 1993. Signalling here is now supervised from the Basingstoke area signalling centre.
Accidents and incidents
There have been a number of accidents at Yeovil Junction over the years, although most were minor with few injuries: it came under new management in 2011.
Platform layout
Tracks serve both sides of the platform and are each signalled for trains to run in either direction.
- 1 tph to
- 1 tph to
- 2 tpd to .
Somerset Council operates the circular bus route 68 from the station to Yeovil bus station, Yeovil Pen Mill and the nearby village of Barwick.
See also
- Southern Railway routes west of Salisbury