Berkeley Road railway station served the towns of

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

and

Dursley Dursley is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, England. It lies between the cities of Bristol and Gloucester. It is under the northeast flank of Stinchcombe#Stinchcombe Hill, St ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

The station was one of the first six stations built on the

Bristol and Gloucester Railway The Bristol and Gloucester Railway was a railway company opened in 1844 to run services between Bristol and Gloucester. It was built on the , but it was acquired in 1845 by the Midland Railway, which also acquired the Birmingham and Gloucester Ra ...

, originally a

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

line overseen by

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...

, but later taken over by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

and converted to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

. It was two miles east of Berkeley and three north-west of Dursley, and for the first year of its life it was called "Dursley and Berkeley Road". Dursley acquired a station of its own in 1856 with the opening of the

Dursley and Midland Junction Railway The Dursley and Midland Junction Railway was a company formed to build a railway branch line to connect the town of Dursley in Gloucestershire, England, to the nearby main line between Bristol and Gloucester, at Coaley. The line was opened in 18 ...

branch from Coaley Junction. Berkeley Road 2 railway station 2105358 8f94ebbd

Berkeley Road 2 Station 2062786 df861ac3

In 1875, a branch line from Berkeley Road station was built to the new docks at

Sharpness Sharpness may refer to: * Sharpness, Gloucestershire, a port in England * Sharpness (cutting), the capacity of a surface to initiate a cut on another surface * Sharpness (visual), a combination of resolution and acutance ** Critical focus or cr ...

, passing around three quarters of a mile to the north of the town of Berkeley. The branch opened for goods traffic that year and to passenger services in 1876, with a station at

. In 1879 with the completion of the

Severn Railway Bridge The Severn Railway Bridge (historically called the Severn Bridge) was a bridge carrying the railway across the River Severn between Sharpness and Lydney in Gloucestershire, England. It was built in the 1870s by the Severn Bridge Railway C ...

the Sharpness branch became a through-route to

Lydney Lydney is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the west bank of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean District, and is 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Gloucester. The town has been Bypass ( ...

and the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the Counties of England, county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangle, triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and no ...

. As with the

Stonehouse and Nailsworth Railway The Stonehouse and Nailsworth Railway was a short railway line in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It was promoted independently to connect the industrial town of Nailsworth to the main line railway network at Stonehouse. It opened in 18 ...

junction at Stonehouse (Bristol Road) railway station further up the Bristol and Gloucester line towards Gloucester, the actual junction for the Sharpness line was to the north of Berkeley Road station, and branch line trains departed from and arrived at a new set of platforms built at a tangent to the existing Brunel-designed station. The junction was controlled by a signalbox at the north end of the branch line up (towards Gloucester) platform. Berkeley Road, like Stonehouse to the north and

Mangotsfield Mangotsfield is a village and former civil parish in the unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire, in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England, to the north-east of Bristol. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 ...

to the south, was considered one of the more important stations on the Bristol and Gloucester line and some long-distance trains called there. The Sharpness branch, however, became less important and was reduced to single track in the 1930s. Damage to the Severn railway bridge in 1960 led the branch to cease being a through-route and passenger services were withdrawn in November 1964, though it remains open for some goods traffic. Passenger services were withdrawn entirely from Berkeley Road in January 1965 with the withdrawal of stopping services on the Bristol to Gloucester line. Goods facilities at the station remained open to November 1966, except for a private siding which has since closed. The station structure came down after service ended. In November 2019, it was revealed that there were plans to reopen the station to serve two new garden villages nearby.RAIL Issue 892 p.28

Services

References

{{coord, 51.69933, -2.40967, type:railwaystation_region:GB_source:npemap.org.uk-enwiki, display=title Stroud District Former Midland Railway stations Disused railway stations in Gloucestershire Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1844 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Beeching closures in England Berkeley, Gloucestershire