Dilton Marsh railway station is a railway station serving the village of Dilton Marsh

Dilton Marsh

Dilton Marsh is a village and parish in the County of Wiltshire, in the south west of England.-Location:Its closest town is Westbury, which lies due east of the village....

 in Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

The station is located on the Wessex Main Line

Wessex Main Line

The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth.- Places served :The places served are listed below.*Bristol*Keynsham*Oldfield Park*Bath...

 between Bristol Temple Meads and Southampton Central railway station

Southampton Central railway station

Southampton Central railway station is a main line railway station serving the city of Southampton in Hampshire, southern England. It is on the Wessex Main Line, the South Western Main Line and the West Coastway Line...

 23 miles (37 km) north of Salisbury

Salisbury railway station

Salisbury is a railway station serving the city of Salisbury, Wiltshire. Located southwest of London Waterloo, the station is the crossing point of the West of England Main Line and the Wessex Main Line...

. First Great Western

First Great Western

First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....

 operate local services between Bristol and the South Coast which call at Dilton Marsh, the station is also operated by them.

History

The Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 opened “Dilton Marsh Halt” on 1 June 1937. The wooden platforms were 300 feet (91.4 m) long and were provided with small wooden shelters; the construction cost £1,134. Being a “halt” there were no staff to sell tickets, but a sign directed would-be passengers to the "7th house up the hill" where Mrs H. Roberts sold tickets from her home. She had sold tickets on a commission basis since 1947.

In 1969 the station was renamed as just “Dilton Marsh” platforms were reduced to the length of just one coach. British Rail

British Rail

British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

 tried to shut the station but was met by strong local opposition. The remaining platforms were now in very poor condition and so they were rebuilt in concrete, reopening after an eight-week closure on 1 May 1994.

Dilton Marsh Halt poem

The station was the subject of a well-loved poem "Dilton Marsh Halt" by the late British poet John Betjeman

John Betjeman

Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...

:

Was it worth keeping the Halt open,

We thought as we looked at the sky

Red through the spread of the cedar-tree,

With the evening train gone by?

Yes, we said, for in summer the anglers use it,

Two and sometimes three

Will bring their catches of rods and poles and perches

To Westbury, home for tea.

There isn't a porter. The platform is made of sleepers.

The guard of the last train puts out the light

And high over lorries and cattle the Halt unwinking

Waits through the Wiltshire night.

O housewife safe in the comprehensive churning

Of the Warminster launderette!

O husband down at the depot with car in car-park!

The Halt is waiting yet. '

And when all the horrible roads are finally done for,

And there's no more petrol left in the world to burn,

Here to the Halt from Salisbury and from Bristol

Steam trains will return.

Services

Although it is a request stop

Request stop

In public transport, a request stop or flag stop describes a stopping point at which trains or buses stop only on an as-need or request basis; that is, only if there are passengers to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, infrequently used stopping points can be served efficiently.Trains save...

, the station is quite well served. In the current timetable eight trains per day call on weekdays southbound (with an additional service on Saturdays) and eleven northbound. The base frequency is every two hours each way, increasing to hourly at peak times. Destinations on offer include Warminster, Southampton, , Bristol Temple Meads and .

On Sundays eight trains call in each direction - these are all through services on the Cardiff and Bristol to Portsmouth/Brighton route.