Yeovil Pen Mill is one of two railway stations that serve the town of Yeovil, in Somerset, England; the other is . It is situated just under a mile to the east of the town centre. The station is located south of , on the Heart of Wessex Line. It is managed by Great Western Railway, which operate services along with South Western Railway.
History
thumb|left|Railways in Yeovil
The station was opened by the Great Western Railway (GWR), as part of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth route on 1 September 1856. The route was completed to on 20 January 1857. The Bristol and Exeter Railway's (B&ER) line from Taunton, which initially terminated at , was extended to connect with the GWR at Yeovil Pen Mill from 2 February 1857. Both these lines were built using the broad gauge. The GWR line was converted to what become the standard gauge in June 1874. The B&ER line was mixed and had trains of both gauges from 12 November 1868 but broad gauge trains ceased operation after 30 June 1879 by which time the B&ER had been taken over by the GWR.
The station originally had two platforms, one for each direction, with a train shed for protection. A fire on 18 April 1859 resulted in one building being burnt down. All trains then used the 'up' platform, built for trains towards and , until the station was rebuilt in the 1880s.
Stationmasters
- George Roberts ca. 1857
- William Clarke 1860 - 1863 (formerly station master at )
- George Pinkerton 1863-1872 (formerly station master at Taplow, later station master at )
- George King Forster 1876-1887
- Richard Stonnill 1887 - 1894 (formerly station master at Aberdare, later station master at )
- Samuel Martin 1894-1899
- J. Parry 1899-1907
- W.F. Vaughan 1907-1916
- Frank George Dunford 1916-1926
- P. Williams 1926-1933 (afterwards station master at Highbridge)
- William Gard ca. 1942
- L.E. Hole 1944-ca. 1956 (formerly station master at )
Description
Yeovil Pen Mill has three platform faces, but only two are in use. Platform 1 is used predominantly by trains heading north and platform 3 is used mostly by trains heading south to Weymouth. The former platform 2 is now unused; there is only a single track between platforms 1 and 2, but trains open their doors on the platform 1 side.
Services
thumb|South Western Railway (left) and Great Western Railway (right) trains
Great Western Railway operates the majority of services at Pen Mill, on their route between and , via .
South Western Railway operates a few services between and Pen Mill, some via Yeovil Junction and others via .