Frome Station roof
Station Approach, off Walbridge, Frome, Somerset
associated engineer
Not known
date opened 7th October 1850
era Victorian |
category Building |
reference ST783476
ICE reference number HEW 1630
photo Adam Manolson
Frome's railway station, with its notable timber roof, is modest but it has a distinction shared with the much larger Newcastle Central. They are the two oldest through-train stations still in operation in Britain. They opened within weeks of each other in 1850.
Frome Station was built for the Wiltshire, Somerset & Weymouth Railway, although the line had already been taken over by the Great Western Railway by the time the station opened. It is 120ft long and its timber roof spans 48ft across the single track and two platforms, one of which is unused.
The hipped roof is made of 12 composite trusses, set on square timber columns. The trusses support timber purlins, which carry the corrugated iron roof. A louvred and glazed clerestory window runs the full length of the ridge. Alternate trusses have a wrought iron king tie and a spider, or junction, to which the horizontal ties from adjoining trusses are attached.
As a quiet, mostly unmanned, station on the Bristol to Weymouth line, and bypassed by London trains, Frome Station has few modern features to distract from its original design.
Research: AM
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