Yeovil–Taunton line: Difference between revisions

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|} The Yeovil to Taunton Line was a railway line built by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, to link its Taunton railway station to the Mid-Somerset market town of Yeovil.

Input

^[1]

Present

A3088 Yeovil to Stoke-sub-Hamdon (A303), Somerset ^[2]

References

^ "Yeovil Branch". John Speller. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
^ "A3088 Yeovil to Stoke-sub-Hamdon (A303), Somerset". sabre-roads.org.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-21.

[1] "Yeovil Branch". John Speller. Retrieved 2012-06-21.

[2] "A3088 Yeovil to Stoke-sub-Hamdon (A303), Somerset". sabre-roads.org.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-21.

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 ==Input==
 <!-- Although authorized as early as 1845, the Bristol & Exeter Railway's branch from Durston, east of Taunton, to Yeovil was nearly a decade in the making. The six miles between Yeovil and Martock were constructed but not opened to traffic in 1847-49, but then the money ran out and the work was suspended. Work resumed on the remaining thirteen miles in 1852 and the line finally opened on 1 October 1853. At first the trains terminated in Hendford, an eastern suburb of Yeovil, but with the opening of the B&E/L&SW joint station at Yeovil Town in 1860 the line was extended into the town center. There was also a connection to the Great Western Railway at Yeovil Pen Mill, provided in 1857. The intermediate stations on the line between Durston and Yeovil were Athelney, Langport (Langport West after Langport East on the Castle Cary to Taunton line opened in 1906), Martock and Montacute. Thorney & Kingsbury Halt was added in 1927. Partly because of the congested state of Taunton station in the early days the Yeovil trains terminated at Durston, rather than running over the main line into Taunton. This meant that passengers wishing to travel between Yeovil and Taunton had to get out and wait for another train at Durston. This horrid arrangement continued until 1895, when the GWR provided some additional bay platforms allowing the Yeovil branch train to run into Taunton. As the price for not building an independent narrow line to Bridgwater, the L&SWR was able to force the B&ER to lay mixed gauge between Highbridge and Durston on the main line and over the Yeovil branch. This was accomplished in November 1867. The B&ER purchased six narrow gauge 0-6-0 locomotives for running trains over these lines, but traffic proved so sparse that they were converted to broad gauge. They were ultimately converted back to narrow gauge again after the abolition of the broad gauge. The broad gauge lines were taken up in 1874 (at the same time the GWR converted the Somnerset, Wilts and Weymouth line at Pen Mill to narrow gauge), after which only narrow gauge trains ran on the Yeovil branch. This was a pity in that only a few weeks before the Associated Companies had begun slipping a coach from the "Flying Dutchman" at Bridgwater and working it on to Yeovil. Thereafter the passengers in the slipped coach had to change trains. --><ref>{{cite web|url=http://spellerweb.net/rhindex/UKRH/GreatWestern/Broadgauge/BristolExeter/Yeovil.html|title=Yeovil Branch|publisher=John Speller|accessdate=2012-06-21}}</ref>
+==Present==
+A3088 Yeovil to Stoke-sub-Hamdon (A303), Somerset
+<!-- At a mere six miles long, and graced with an unmemorable 4-digit number, it is easy to underestimate how high up the hierarchy of roads in Somerset the A3088 ‘Tintinhull Link’ is. For the most part a primary route, it provides the main connection from the A303 London to Exeter trunk road into Yeovil. It also forms part of a major strategic route – via the A37/A3088/A303/A358 – from the Weymouth, Dorchester and the Dorset coast to Taunton and the M5 for all points north. The present A3088 was built in the late 1980s almost entirely along the alignment of the former Yeovil to Langport railway. Some of the old bridges over the road remain from its days as a railway, including where the original A3088 passes over the new one. The old A3088 through Montacute and Stoke-sub-Hamdon, until it met the A303 further west near South Petherton, was entirely bypassed by this new alignment. The A3088 begins on a roundabout junction, with the A37/A30 multiplex, at the southern end of Yeovil town centre. This first, non-primary, section strikes west through Yeovil’s industrial sprawl – business and retail parks – for a mile or so before meeting short spur of the A3088 at another roundabout. This spur links to the A30 at a roundabout on the western edge of town, to the west of the A37, and is the point at which ‘primary route traffic’ from the A37 for Dorchester and beyond joins. Through traffic on the A37 from Dorchester to Bristol via Shepton Mallet is signposted along the A3088 and A303 to bypass Yeovil. In addition traffic for Honiton and Exeter is routed this way to take the A303 in preference to the very low-quality, non-primary, A30 west of Yeovil. Now primary, the A3088 runs for another half mile or so to another roundabout where it turns to the left. There is a link form this roundabout to the old A3088 for access to the western suburbs of Yeovil including Preston Plucknett. For the next four miles the road heads uninterrupted, and almost completely straight, in a northwesterly direction to meet the dual carriageway A303 at a busy roundabout. There is a side turning, about a mile before the A303, giving access to the old road at the north end of Montacute village. The popular National Trust property of Montacute House is signed from this junction. --><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12230|title=A3088 Yeovil to Stoke-sub-Hamdon (A303), Somerset|publisher=sabre-roads.org.uk|accessdate=2012-06-21}}</ref>
 ==References==