Thread by @KYPNorthSom

Continuing on the theme of #Journeys, today we're taking a look at the former Weston, Clevedon & Portishead railway.

When Brunel built the broad gauge railway from Bristol towards Exeter the route by-passed these 3 towns as the diversion would not have been worthwhile. 1/

When this main line was opened in 1841, at the same time a broad gauge branch line was also opened to Weston.
Trains on the Weston branch were horse-drawn until 1848 when steam was used. 2/

A branch line to Clevedon from a junction at Yatton was opened in 1847 still as part of the Bristol & Exeter Railway.
In 1867 the Bristol & Portishead Pier & Railway opened a branch line from Bedminster to Portishead, which was operated by the Bristol & Exeter Railway. 3/

In 1884 a standard gauge tram line was proposed by the Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon & Portishead (Steam) Tramways Company to link the three towns. 4/

The power behind the scheme was Mr JFR Daniel, Secretary to the Bristol & Portishead Railway, who was later to become Managing Director of the WC&PR.
The line was to run on the street along the Boulevard in Weston and from then off-road apart from level crossings. 5/

An Act of Parliament to authorise the construction of the railway was passed in August 1885, but due to various legal and financial problems, the time limit of the Act expired and further Acts had to be passed in July 1890 and Dec 1891. 6/

Two years after the opening, the tramway was designated a Light Railway and the name was changed to the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Light Railway Company. 7/

The finances of the railway became serious as early as 1905, and it entered receivership in 1909, being in decline up to the outbreak of World War II, not helped by the increase in road traffic. 8/

Due to an ever-worsening financial state, the Company applied for a Court Order to close the line and the last train ran on 18 May 1940.
The GWR purchased the railway (but not the land) to use it for storage, and for a short time up to 200 coal wagons were stored on the line. 9/

10/ The two Terriers survived for a few years, and one carriage survives to this day.

It was decided to remove the track for use in the war effort, and it was cleared between 1942 & 1943.

(Information courtesy of Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Railway wcpr.org.uk/index.html)