Cam and Dursley railway station

Cam and Dursley railway station is a railway station serving the village of Cam and the town of Dursley in Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the main Bristol-Birmingham line, between Yate and Gloucester, at a site close to where Coaley Junction railway station was situated from 1856 to 1965.

Cam and Dursley
Location	Coaley, Stroud England
Coordinates	51.718°N 2.359°W
Grid reference	SO753021
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	CDU
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Original company	Railtrack
Key dates
14 May 1994	Opened for limited service
30 May 1994	Opened for full service
Passengers
2015/16	0.194 million
2016/17	0.201 million
2017/18	0.189 million
2018/19	0.191 million
2019/20	0.226 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Bristol and Gloucester Railway
Gloucester–Newport line (SWR) to Newport Gloucester Birmingham & Gloucester Rly (MR) to Birmingham  M5  Haresfield Golden Valley line (GWR) to Swindon Stonehouse (Bristol Road) Stonehouse & Nailsworth Rly (MR) to Nailsworth/Stroud Stroudwater Navigation Frocester Cam & Dursley Coaley Junction Dursley & Midland Junction Rly (MR) to Dursley  M5  Berkeley Road Sharpness branch line (MR) to Sharpness  M5  Charfield Wickwar Wickwar tunnel Thornbury branch line (MR) to Thornbury Yate Westerleigh Junction South Wales Main Line (GWR) to London Paddington Coalpit Heath Sidings Ram Hill Colliery Westerleigh Goods Depot  M4  Bristol Parkway Mangotsfield & Bath branch line (MR) to Bath South Wales Main Line (GWR) to Swansea Mangotsfield Goods line to Avonmouth docks Staple Hill Staple Hill Tunnel Filton Abbey Wood Fishponds Avonside Locomotive Works Clifton Extension Rly (GWR & MR) to Avonmouth Kingswood Junction River Frome Atlas Locomotive Works and collieries  M32  Stapleton Road Lawrence Hill Waste Depot Goods Depots Bristol St Philip's Bristol Harbour River Avon (from Bath) (GWR) Temple Meads Goods Depot Great Western main line to London Paddington Bristol Temple Meads Bridge over Victoria Street tunnel under St Mary Redcliffe churchyard Bristol Harbour Railway St Philip's Marsh depot River Avon (to the sea) Bristol & North Somerset Rly (GWR) Bristol and Exeter Railway (GWR) to Taunton and Exeter

The new station

Following a campaign for the reopening of Coaley Junction, the new station called Cam and Dursley opened on 14 May 1994, about 420 yards (380 m) north of the original site, although full opening did not occur until 30 May 1994.[1] The new station is unstaffed, and consists of two platforms, linked by a footbridge, a car park covered by CCTV and a bus stop with shelter. Passenger facilities consist of shelters with seats on both platforms and a ticket machine, with passenger help points installed in late 2010.

Passenger services are provided by Great Western Railway on a largely hourly basis on the Bristol to Gloucester route. It is the nearest station to the town of Wotton-under-Edge, which is seven miles away.

Bus services run regularly to the station. The 210/211 service provides a link between Dursley, Cam and the station, and runs to a timetable that links in with trains to both Gloucester and Bristol. Service 87 runs from Dursley to Wotton-under-Edge and Thornbury every two hours during the day, and service 281 provides an infrequent service to Coaley, Ashmead Green, Upper Cam and Dursley.

There is a rail user group for the station, Coaley Junction Action Committee (CoJAC), which, following the opening of the new station, continues as a group to press for improvements in the service.

The previous station

Coaley Junction station, with the Dursley branch train on the right, 1960

Coaley Junction station was originally the junction for the short Dursley and Midland Junction Railway branch to Cam and Dursley, built in 1856 and later taken over by the Midland Railway. The station, also known as Dursley Road, opened to goods on 2 August 1856 and to passengers on 18 September 1856. The station had two short platforms on the main line with a very short and sharply curved platform on the branch. Goods facilities were limited, but included a brick goods shed (still in situ) with a crane. The signal box stood at the end of the platform between the branch and mainline.[2]

The branch closed to passenger traffic on 10 September 1962, although the mainline platforms remained open for passengers until 4 January 1965. The station closed to goods on 28 June 1968, although the branch remained as a long siding to R A Lister and Company's works at Dursley until 13 July 1970.

Services

Great Western Railway's local services operate all services at this station. A new timetable was brought out on 10 December 2006 which saw the introduction of a mostly hourly "clockface" service, and a considerable increase in the number of trains calling, with northbound services (on Mondays to Fridays) increased from 11 to 15 and southbound services increased from 13 to 16. Northwards, services are to Gloucester with alternate services continuing on to Cheltenham, Ashchurch for Tewkesbury, Worcester Shrub Hill and Great Malvern. Southbound, services are to Bristol Temple Meads and onwards to Bath and Westbury, with some services carrying on to Weymouth and occasionally Southampton Central and Brighton.[3] A two-hourly service runs on Sundays between Bristol and Gloucester only.

References

1. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 51. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
2. Peter K. Smith (1985). An historical survey of the Midland in Gloucestershire: station layouts and illustrations. Poole: Oxford Publishing Co. pp. 95–97. ISBN 0-86093-301-6.
3. Table 123 & 134 National Rail timetable, May 2016

External links

• CoJAC, the rail user group for Cam and Dursley station