Avoncliff railway station

Avoncliff
Location
Place	Avoncliff
Local authority	Wiltshire
Coordinates	51.3395°N 2.2821°W / 51.3395; -2.2821
Grid reference	ST804600
Operations
Station code	AVF
Managed by	First Great Western
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2002/03	7,928
2004/05	8,428
2005/06	10,624
2006/07	13,888
2007/08	15,256
2008/09	15,774
2009/10	16,240
2010/11	19,650
2011/12	18,284
History
Original company	Great Western Railway
9 July 1906	Station opens as Avoncliff Halt
5 May 1969	Station renamed Avoncliff
National Rail – UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Avoncliff from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Avoncliff railway station serves the hamlet of Avoncliff in Wiltshire, England. It also serves the nearby villages of Westwood and Winsley, and Turleigh hamlet. It is situated next to the Kennet and Avon Canal and located almost adjacent to the Avoncliff Aqueduct so it is popular for walkers and cyclists who wish to travel along the canal path or the many picturesque walks around the station.

This station is a request stop, meaning alighting passengers need to contact the conductor, and boarding passengers need to signal to the driver from the platform for the train to stop. The station has two platforms, each with a waiting shelter and original lamp-posts, and is served by First Great Western. Residents have voluntarily decorated the station with many pots of flowers and, to mark its 100 year anniversary on the 9 July 2006, decorated the station with bunting and dressed in Victorian clothing for the celebrations.

History

Opened by the Great Western Railway opened as Avoncliff Halt on 9 July 1906, it remained part of that company during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the Western Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The suffix 'Halt' was dropped from 5 May 1969.

When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways until the privatisation of British Railways.

Services

A half-hourly peak and hourly off-peak service is currently provided northbound to Bath and Bristol and southbound to Bradford on Avon, Trowbridge, Westbury and then further to Weymouth and Southampton.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Freshford		First Great Western Bristol-/Portsmouth/Brighton		Bradford-on-Avon
Freshford		First Great Western Bristol-Weymouth		Bradford-on-Avon

Gallery

• 

  Preserved GWR seat and old station sign

• 

  Entrance to station seen from Kennet and Avon Canal

References

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199. 
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687. 
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137. 
• Station on navigable O.S. map