Lydney Railway Station 1853 (General)
Does anyone know when the railway station came to Lydney? I have been looking online but have yet to find a definitive answer. It appears to be around 1851.
A person I am researching was a railway clerk at Chepstow in 1851. Now, thanks to your great site, I have discovered that in 1853, on the baptism of his son, he was Station Master at Lydney. Now was this wishful promotion - he was the only station staff at Lydney at that time? Or had he really made the leap from clerk to Station Master?
Can you recommend some useful reading?
many thanks
Lydney Railway Station 1853
by pclark 
, Wednesday, August 05, 2009, 22:58 (5662 days ago) @ netti
Hi
Taken from Wikipedia
[edit] History
Lydney Junction was the name of two separate but adjacent stations on two different railway lines. The Great Western Railway station, which is the one that remains open as Lydney railway station, opened in 1851 on the Gloucester to Chepstow section of the South Wales Railway. To the west of this station, the freight-only line of the Severn and Wye Mineral Railway crossed the GWR line on its north-south route taking coal and iron from the Forest of Dean to the docks at Lydney.
In 1875, the Severn and Wye started passenger services and built a new terminus station at Lydney Junction for passenger trains to and from Drybrook, near Cinderford. Four years later, this first station was superseded by a new one as the Severn and Wye joined with the Midland Railway in building the Severn Bridge Railway, which linked Lydney across the river Severn with the Midland's Sharpness Branch Line, enabling access for the Forest of Dean minerals to the new and more extensive docks at Sharpness.
The new Lydney Junction (Severn and Wye) station was linked by a long footbridge to the GWR's station. There were also extensive freight yards in the north-east quadrant between the two lines, and these provided the only rail link between the Severn and Wye and the Great Western lines. The two stations worked closely together, particularly after 1894, when the Severn and Wye Railway was bought by the Great Western and the Midland. Finally, in 1955, under British Railways, the two stations were formally merged into one.[1]
Lydney Junction (Severn and Wye) was used as a through-station for passenger services to and from Berkeley Road railway station and over the Severn Railway Bridge. These services either terminated at Lydney Town railway station, which was in the centre of Lydney, or continued on northwards into the Forest of Dean to terminate at Lydbrook Junction on the Ross to Monmouth line. These services ceased abruptly in October 1960 when the Severn Railway Bridge was damaged beyond economic repair in a shipping accident. Passenger services were officially withdrawn from this Lydney Junction in November 1964 and it remained closed until reopening by the Dean Forest Railway in 1995.
The other Lydney Junction, then renamed Lydney, lost its freight services in 1968 and its staffing in 1969, and the Great Western buildings on the platforms were demolished, though the signalbox remains.
Hope this helps
Pete