Recalling Box Mill Lane Halt Jane Hussey and John Froud December 2024
Jane Hussey Wrote: I didn't realise that the Box Mill Halt was only used for 35 years. It is not listed in some editions of “Jowett’s Railway Atlas”, unlike many other halts. Nor are the Halt or Box Station covered on the Disused Stations site (although this website is still a work-in-progress).
However, it is listed in the “Railway Clearing House Official Handbook of Railway Stations” (RCH) where it is listed as a "Platform" for Passengers and Parcels. The main Box Station was classified as taking” Goods, Passengers and Parcels, Furniture, Vans, Carriages, Motor Cars, Portable Engines and Machines on Wheels, Live Stock, Horse Boxes and Prize Cattle Vans together with Carriages and Motor Cars by Passenger Trains”. The main station had 6-Ton Crane Power equipment. Also listed in this tome are Bath & Portland Firms Ltd and Pictor's Wharf (both Box and Corsham) but no qualifying station accommodation against them.
I would be interested to know how the stone was transferred from the Wharves onto the trains. Did the crane lift it onto the goods wagons? Were there special goods wagons? It must have been a very expensive way of transporting the stone.
However, it is listed in the “Railway Clearing House Official Handbook of Railway Stations” (RCH) where it is listed as a "Platform" for Passengers and Parcels. The main Box Station was classified as taking” Goods, Passengers and Parcels, Furniture, Vans, Carriages, Motor Cars, Portable Engines and Machines on Wheels, Live Stock, Horse Boxes and Prize Cattle Vans together with Carriages and Motor Cars by Passenger Trains”. The main station had 6-Ton Crane Power equipment. Also listed in this tome are Bath & Portland Firms Ltd and Pictor's Wharf (both Box and Corsham) but no qualifying station accommodation against them.
I would be interested to know how the stone was transferred from the Wharves onto the trains. Did the crane lift it onto the goods wagons? Were there special goods wagons? It must have been a very expensive way of transporting the stone.
Drawing courtesy Winston Lee and John Froud
John Froud’s Response December 2024
I cannot understand why Mill Lane Halt should not be included in “Jowett’s Railway Atlas” but I’ll have a further look if I can acquire a copy.
The entries in the RCH Handbook are interesting and provide a good indication of the more extensive facilities provided at the main station. The drawing above (circa 1945) shows 3 cranes. The one to the east alongside the Goods Shed, to the south of the main line, had 1-ton capacity, presumably for general merchandise. Two are shown on the stoneyard wharf, north of the main station building/ siding and indicated with dashed circles. Each of these had 6-ton capacity. An earlier plan (circa 1880) shows a further 3 cranes on the stone wharf, to the east roughly in line with end of the up platform (capacities not shown). Before it became Bath & Portland, the wharf was sub-divided into 6 roughly equal sections occupied by: Stone Bros, R J Marsh (2), Randell Saunders & Co., Corsham Bath Stone Co. and Mr Sumsion.
I cannot understand why Mill Lane Halt should not be included in “Jowett’s Railway Atlas” but I’ll have a further look if I can acquire a copy.
The entries in the RCH Handbook are interesting and provide a good indication of the more extensive facilities provided at the main station. The drawing above (circa 1945) shows 3 cranes. The one to the east alongside the Goods Shed, to the south of the main line, had 1-ton capacity, presumably for general merchandise. Two are shown on the stoneyard wharf, north of the main station building/ siding and indicated with dashed circles. Each of these had 6-ton capacity. An earlier plan (circa 1880) shows a further 3 cranes on the stone wharf, to the east roughly in line with end of the up platform (capacities not shown). Before it became Bath & Portland, the wharf was sub-divided into 6 roughly equal sections occupied by: Stone Bros, R J Marsh (2), Randell Saunders & Co., Corsham Bath Stone Co. and Mr Sumsion.
Box Railway Stoneyards pre-1900 (copyright marked as A Bancroft)
The view above provides a glimpse of a travelling crane (rail mounted and apparently on the wharf) although it doesn’t appear to have much room to move, being surrounded by stone blocks! The photograph also shows dumb buffered wagon no. 164, which is typical of the low sided wagons used to transport Bath stone.
What I am not entirely clear on is how raw stone was transported to Box Station for subsequent work by the masons. I think most likely that it was conveyed by horse-drawn wagons and then transhipped away by rail, this being the most efficient means available. In many ways the arrival of the railway, literally running right through the stone strata, was the reason for the stone industry to expand so quickly at Box and Corsham.
What I am not entirely clear on is how raw stone was transported to Box Station for subsequent work by the masons. I think most likely that it was conveyed by horse-drawn wagons and then transhipped away by rail, this being the most efficient means available. In many ways the arrival of the railway, literally running right through the stone strata, was the reason for the stone industry to expand so quickly at Box and Corsham.
Box Tunnel (courtesy Rose Ledbury and John Currant via Gordon Hall)
As for Pictor’s Wharf, the tramway from Clift Quarry, Box Hill provided direct communication to the Wharf and I think travelling cranes were also employed there to load both raw and worked stone onto railway wagons. The photograph above shows the siding from Pictor’s Wharf running under the A4 bridge to connect with the main line, with similar wagons to those referred above. In one photograph I have seen the wagons stacked on top of others, so space was clearly at a premium!