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• The roadside station...
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Washford Station is situated at the second highest summit of the line between Watchet and Blue Anchor, at a point where road and rail take advantage of a gap in the hills that stretch from the coastal cliffs to the Brendon Hills inland. The climb to Washford in either direction is fairly stiff for steam locomotives - coming up from Blue Anchor there is a one mile section at 1 in 65, the steepest on the line. The station building is the original, built when the line opened in 1874. Next to the main building is a small wooden structure. This was the signal box and now houses a lever frame forming part of the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust exhibits.
The Trust took over the then derelict site in 1976, and have transformed the area into one of the very best railway museums in the land. There are any number of artefacts, mostly saved from the old Somerset & Dorset Railway, nearly all restored in pristine condition. For more information about the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust, visit their web site...
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• Washford and surrounding area...
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The most well known feature of Washford is Cleeve Abbey, a relic of the days before King Henry VIII's infamous antics. Situated on the lane to Roadwater and Torre, the site is run by the National Trust and is open on most days.
Washford once boasted two railway stations, one on the West Somerset Railway which remains today, and one on the earlier West Somerset Mineral Railway, which ran from the iron mines high up on the Brendon Hills to the harbour at Watchet, but which finally closed just before the First World War. after a couple of closures and reopenings. The old trackbed, now a pleasant footpath, runs alongside the West Somerset Railway all the way to Watchet and is a great way to get away from it all.
Right alongside the Station is the Washford Inn, where visitors can enjoy a drink and a meal or even bed and breakfast! The village has a small range of shops.
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Washford Station
