Gloucester to Swindon & Branches Part 2: Stroud to Swindon by Neil Parkhouse

This is the second and concluding part of our journey from Gloucester Central to Swindon, which opened as a broad gauge line from Swindon to Cirencester in May 1841 and then from Kemble to Standish in June 1845, from where it joined with the Bristol & Gloucester Railway to reach Gloucester. Having reached Stroud in Part 1, we first complete our study of that station before heading off up the valley towards Brimscombe and Chalford. These were two very different stations, opened over fifty years apart, one designed by Brunel and the other to an 1890s standard GWR design, both of which were closed on the same day in 1964 when local passenger services were withdrawn. Much of this service was provided by the auto trains running to and from Gloucester, which served the valley for sixty years until bus and private car ownership brought about their demise. However, BR having given notice originally in 1962 about ending the service, its last years of operation were well photographed and a!