In our series around Chippenham we move from Station Hill to the railway station.

But from our archive picture taken in 1898 we can see the railway station has changed so much. The old picture shows a train entering the station with a crowd waiting to board. The Weymouth bay with timber platform is on the left.

The original Italiante-style station was designed by Brunel and built in Bath stone. It had a low pitched roof forming a platform canopy on all four sides. The main buildings, now Grade Two listed, are on what was the down platform.

On the railway down refers to travelling away from London and up is travelling towards London. Brunel had intended opening the 26 miles from Wootton Bassett Road to Bath in early 1841, but despite paying bonuses to contractors and workmen and work continuing 24 hours a day the section from the town to Bath was delayed until June 30 1841.

There was no public ceremony at the opening but a train carrying Great Western Railway directors left Paddington at 8am, stopping at Chippenham and arriving at Bristol at noon.

The opening of lines to Salisbury and Weymouth in 1856 required the station to be enlarged to cope with the increased traffic.

A down bay and island platform was built and a main train shed added to the station to mark its enchanced status. Comparing it to today we can see the original down line has disappeared along with the train shed. That was removed on 1905. Trains now use the island platform.