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From the 1830s there had been plans for a
'direct' line from London to Exeter avoiding the detour to Bristol. During
the period of the Railway Mania in the 1840s several schemes were put forward
by the GWR and the LSWR as well as by other independent companies. All were
postponed during the reaction to the 'Mania', but in 1850 the Wilts,
Somerset and Weymouth Company opened a connection from Frome to Westbury, with
GWR support. A branch for coal traffic from Radstock to Frome was opened in
1854. The line from Frome was extended to Yeovil in 1856 and from Warminster,
already linked to Westbury, to Salisbury. Meanwhile the LSWR had begun to
build their direct line from Salisbury to Exeter, and in 1860 this passed
close to Yeovil, to which it was joined by a short branch line. South Somerset
was thus brought more directly into contact with the main line from London to
Exeter, but its impact on the county was not as significant as had been
anticipated. Yeovil for a time had four stations, with complicated changes for
passengers and for goods transfers, but with good alternative services to
London. The town has trebled in population since the coming of the railway,
from 8486 to 25,492, and trade has also increased considerably, but since 1964
the railway links have been considerably reduced.
The plan for a direct route through Somerset
was revived early in the present century. A completely new line was built from
Castle Cary to Curry Rivel, near Langport, and a short new section from
Athelney to Cogload Junction, near Taunton, which, with improvements on the
line from Hungerford to Westbury, made possible in 1906 the opening of the
through route 'via Castle Cary' from Paddington to the South West, with a
saving of 20¼ miles on the journey to Taunton. For the Taunton area and for
places to the West, this meant a great improvement in speeding up the journey
to London, but for the rest of Somerset nothing has been gained, apart from an
easing of the traffic on the BristolTaunton line.
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