page_title: Reading–Taunton line
section_title: On to Taunton
hierarchical_section_title: Reading–Taunton line / Route / On to Taunton
caption_attribution_description: English: First Great Western's 43186 speeds along the avoiding line at Westbury in Wiltshire with a London Padidngton to Plymouth service. The Westbury White Horse can be seen carved on the hillside above the train.
context_page_description: The Reading–Taunton line is a major branch of the Great Western Main Line from which it diverges at Reading railway station. It runs to Cogload Junction where it joins the Bristol to Exeter and Penzance line.
  Since 1906 it has served as the principal route from London Paddington to Devon and Cornwall, having been built by the Great Western Railway joining up several earlier railway lines. These included the Berks and Hants Railway from Reading to Hungerford and part of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway from Westbury to Castle Cary. The section from Reading to Westbury is sometimes called the "Berks and Hants Line".
context_section_description: Communities served
  Pewsey–Westbury–Frome–Bruton–Castle Cary–Taunton
  Long distance trains continue to follow the Kennet and Avon Canal which runs along the line. Beam engines are preserved at Crofton Pumping Station that once pumped water to the summit level of the canal.  The canal goes beneath the line in a 500 yards (457 m) tunnel beneath the site of the closed Savernake Low Level railway station, and the remains of the bridge that carried the Midland and South Western Junction Railway.  There was never a station at Burbage but the siding served a wharf which allowed transhipment of goods between the canal and railway.
  Some trains call at Pewsey railway station, where one platform building is a replica of an earlier building but the building on the main platform is original.  The site of Patney and Chirton railway station marks the start of a cut-off line that avoided the long loop (to the right) through Devizes railway station on the Berks and Hants Extension Railway.
  Approaching Westbury, non-stop trains curve to the left to pass under the Wessex Main Line and avoid the complex of junctions around the station, but trains that call here diverge to the right at Heywood Road Junction.  Another line curves sharply to the right to join the Wessex Main Line towards Trowbridge at Hawkeridge Junction, a route that forms a diversionary route for the Great Western Main Line.  The line curves left past the Panel Signal Box to join the Wessex Main Line in the opposite direction and enter the station.
  There are sidings on both sides of the line west of the station. On the right are those used for stabling the local DMUs between services, and a Network Rail distribution centre for ballast. The sidings on the left are mainly used by stone trains from Mendips quarries further west along the line.  Our line diverges right from the Wessex Main Line (which continues towards Salisbury) and curves around behind the virtual quarry to reach Fairwood Junction where trains that avoided the station rejoin the historic route, which here was constructed by the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway.
  Crossing from Wiltshire into Somerset, the line passes through Clink Road Junction, where a branch line diverges on the right to Frome railway station, where a rare wooden train shed survives, and Whatley Quarry. Frome is served by Heart of Wessex Line local services but few long-distance trains call there instead of following the avoiding line to Blatchbridge Junction.
  The next junction on the right is at Witham, where the old East Somerset Railway carries stone trains from Merehead Quarry and continues to Cranmore.  After passing through Bruton railway station, the line passes the remains of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at Cole, and then arrives at the junction station at Castle Cary.  Here it curves right, away from the Heart of Wessex Line which continues to Weymouth via Yeovil Pen Mill, a diversionary route that is used when the usual route to Exeter is blocked.
  The main line is now on the Langport and Castle Cary Railway that opened on 2 July 1906 to shorten the so-called "Great Way Round" via Bristol. After passing through Somerton Tunnel the line soon finds itself crossing the low-lying and comes onto the Somerset Levels and on to Langport and Curry Rivel Junction, where the old Yeovil branch line. used to join from the left, only to diverge right at Athelney to join the Bristol to Taunton Line at Durston.  The 1906 openings saw an additional cut-off from Athelney to Cogload Junction where the line joins the route from Bristol, the old Bristol and Exeter Railway. The Taunton and Bridgwater Canal runs alongside the railway. The line passes the site of Creech St Michael railway station and the junction of the former Chard Branch Line.
caption: A westbound service from London passing Westbury with the Westbury White Horse in the background
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