Place Burnham-on-Sea Grid reference ST305488 | Area Sedgemoor Platforms 1 | |
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Pre-grouping Somerset Central Railway Post-grouping SR and LMS
Southern Region of British Railways | ||
Burnham-on-Sea railway station located within the town of Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, was the terminus of the Burnham branch of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. Opened as Burnham by the Somerset Central Railway on 3 May 1858, it was renamed in 1920.
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History
The station, situated behind Abingdon Street, was a terminus although a through platform allowed services to travel on to a 900 feet (270 m) S&DJR built stone pier on the River Severn/River Parrett estuary. For a few years the railway operated steamers across the Bristol Channel to Wales. Railway operations onto the pier ceased in 1888 although the pier continued in use for vessels until the 1950s.
Perhaps the strangest use of the railway along the pier was by the local area lifeboat, which was pushed on rails from the old lifeboat station (located behind the former Morrisons supermarket) and onto the "main line", across the esplanade, and down the pier where the lifeboat could be launched if the tide was right
Burnham-on-Sea closed when regular passenger services were curtailed at Highbridge on the 28 October 1951. Excursion traffic continued until 1962, and the goods depot remained open until 1963.
The nearest station to Burnham is now the former joint-GWR junction station known as Highbridge and Burnham.
The site today
After station's closure, the platform and goods shed were demolished. The former trackbed eastwards was developed into Marine Drive, a road which has helped ease traffic flow into the town. The location of the station itself is on the junction of Marine Drive and Abingdon Street and the former goods yard is now a small car park. An adjacent pub on the High Street was subsequently renamed the Somerset & Dorset. The new RNLI station and yard occupy land to the south and east of the former main station building, adjacent to the site of the former excursion platform. The first ever specifically-designed Somerfield supermarket was built to the seaward-west side, which was then sold to Morrisons.