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Am posting here because there seems no life on International forum.
One of my other hobbies (besides train travel) is Genealogy. I know that we have a few posters here from England --- so here goes.
My Ancesters from Wiltshire (Atworth, Box, Corsham area) later settled in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, GB and also in Pontypridd,Glamorgan, Wales. It has been suggested that they may have made the journey by walking or possibly by train. Would there have been a direct rail line between Wilshire and these destinations. Not long distances now but this would have been in a 1860 to 1890 time frame.
What would name of Railway Company have been.
Dee
Posts: 460 | From: North Central CT | Registered: May 2004
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posted
I suppose the Great Western Railway (or "God's Wonderful Railway" as it was popularly known) would have covered the Wiltshire to Bristol route but not sure from there to Glamorgan (only a rather large stone's throw across the Severn from Bristol).
I would hope the service was better then than when I was living in Melksham, Wiltshire in the mid '90s - one train a day each way was the limit, and that only as far as Swindon.
I suspect Geoff may well have the full answer.
Posts: 211 | From: Norfolk England | Registered: Sep 2007
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Box and Corsham both lie on the Great Western railway. From there to Tetbury they could have travelled north east to Swindon by the GWR; changed at Swindon and travelled north west, still on the GWR, to Kemble Junction; changed there to travel south west to Tetbury, which was the terminus of the branch line from Kemble Junction. There are several routes from Tetbury to Pontypridd. Return to Swindon and then travel by the GWR, through the Severn tunnel to Newport or Cardiff and then north west to Pontypridd using the GWR, the Brecon and Merthyr and/or Cardiff Railways, assuming they had been built by the dates in question! I'm sure a quick Google would reveal the opening dates of the Welsh lines, or someone may have a Bradshaw's railway Guide from the period, a publication much loved by Holmes and Watson! Or they could have travelled north west from Swindon to Cheltenham and then Gloucester on what I presume is the Midland and South West Junction Railway. From Gloucester south west into Wales by the GWR again.
Posts: 168 | From: uk. northumberland | Registered: Jun 2007
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It is still possible to reach Kemble from Swindon by train, and from there there is a bus connection to Tetbury. According to the 2003 National Rail Timetable there appear to be 15 trains per day weekdays.
Posts: 168 | From: uk. northumberland | Registered: Jun 2007
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I drive through Corsham on my way to work! Also the train goes through Corsham and Box when I travel by train instead of driving - albeit at 125mph as stations no longer exist at either location.
The Severn Tunnel only opened in 1886; previously they would have had to travel via Gloucester - which trains still do when engineering works is taking place in the tunnel, adding at least an hour onto the journey.
There wouldn't have been any direct trains but it could probably have been done with around three trains depending on exactly where from and to.
Melksham now only has two trains a day in each direction; recent years had five per day. There is a campaign going to get the two biggest towns in Wiltshire (Swindon and Salisbury) linked by direct train which would utilise the Melksham single track line. Kemble is more lucky with 18 trains per day on weekdays, mostly Cheltenham Spa to/from London services via Gloucester.
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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The first of my family to leave Wiltshire for work in the coal mines in Glamorgan appear to have left in the mid-1850s (Stone Miners in Wiltshire). However, the bulk of them left in the late 1880s (determined by 1891 UK Census and birth dates/place of birth of children). It would make sense that improved train service after 1886 would have aided in the migration.
Dee - who is now spending a lot of time checking out web sites with info about the Great Western Railway.
Posts: 460 | From: North Central CT | Registered: May 2004
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Somerset (to the west) and Wiltshire do have several stone quarries, a few still in use today and two that I know of served by rail a few times a day.
One interesting design feature or coincidence (depending on your point of view) is that the sun shines through Box Tunnel on just one day a year - Brunel's birthday (famous for the GWR). It's about 2 miles long, dead straight, on a descending 1 in 100 (1%) grade from east to west, and just in alignment for such an event to take place either on or within a few days of that date. Box Tunnel is between Corsham and Box; the former has a large military base with underground tunnels and caverns alongside and around and above the rail tunnel. Plenty of other conspiricy theories (as there always are with secure facilities).
Back to the Severn Tunnel, there were ferries plying the route before the tunnel was dug, so there wasn't the need to trek up to Gloucester to cross the river - but perhaps the railway advertised heavily the new direct route and influenced people to move to Wales?
Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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Pontypridd, along with the rest of the South Wales, would have been reached in the period around 1860 and still has a thriving rail service now. Before the Severn Tunnel they would probably have headed towards Gloucestershire via the legendary Pontypool Road (at one stage the second busiest station in the country but now just a run-down halt serving a dreary run-down town).
Corsham is on the main London - Bristol line but as noted trains go straight through without stopping. There were plans to re-open the station about 18 months but have been shelved due to the financial crisis.
The ferry service across the Severn was finally killed off not by the railroad but by the opening of a four-mile long road bridge in the 1960's. On the English side, IIRC, it came out at Pilning, which for years has only had one train a week but I understand will never be closed as it gives the rail companies access to the former ferry jetty should there ever be some some of development, war or natural disaster and they needed to bring it back.
Posts: 395 | From: england | Registered: Sep 2002
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