Wells, on the Southern side of the Mendips, never came within easy range of the main lines through Somerset, yet eventually three stations were built there by different companies. The first came in 1859 with a branch line from Glastonbury; the second in 1862, with the extension of the East Somerset Railway from Shepton Mallet; and the last, but in the long run the most important, was the Cheddar Valley and Yatton Railway, completed to Wells in 1870. Until the modern development of motor traffic, this line brought excursionists to Cheddar, Wookey and Wells, and also carried a great deal of dairy produce and strawberries to Bristol and London.

The railway age reached its climax after the First World War, just as the impact of the motor car began to be felt. In 1923 the railway companies were reorganised into four groups and of these the Great Western had the greatest influence in Somerset, though the Southern kept a hold on the south of the county. After nationalisation in 1948, the Western Region of British Rail took over control of most of the lines in Somerset, but until 1964 the former Southern Railway lines remained with the Southern Region. In the 1950s the increasing competition of motor vehicles of all kinds drew attention to the need for a plan for the most economical use of the railways. In 1962, Dr Beeching was appointed to carry out the 'rationalisation' of the railways, and under his 'plan' most of the branch lines, together with all small stations on the main lines, have been closed. Only the main trunk routes remain fully operative.

It is not easy to appreciate today how great an impact the coming of the railway had upon the people of a county like Somerset. Within a single generation, between 1840 and 1865, the whole outlook of local people was changed, with increased travelling made possible even for ordinary families, and with a new interest in national affairs brought by London newspapers and the telegraph, used by the railways after 1855. The greatest change came with the growth of the holiday trade as the seaside towns-Weston-super-Mare, Burnham, Clevedon, Portishead, Minehead and Watchet-took advantage of their situation to welcome the visitors and the trade brought by the railway. For the farmers (and Somerset is still primarily an agricultural and grazing county) the railways brought new markets for milk and milk products, for melting barley and for market-garden crops. Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the cloth industry had provided employment in most of the towns and villages of Somerset. When the railways came it was already rapidly declining, but no great industrial centres developed to take its place. Towns were able to expand other local industries such as gloving in Yeovil, sheepskindressing and boot and shoe making in Street and Glastonbury, paper making at Watchet, Wookey and Wells, but the villages declined as the railways opened up new opportunities in the towns of Somerset and elsewhere, especially after the agricultural depression of the 1870s.