WE remain at Chippenham railway station in our Then and Now series and take a look on how it has changed over the past 50 years.

The station building was built by Rowland Brotherhood for Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1856 - 1858, built with stone excavated during construction of Box tunnel.

The original Italianate- style Brunel designed station had a low pitch roof forming a platform canopy on all four sides. The main building, now Grade two listed, is on what was the down platform.

Over the last few years the Station has been improved. In 1990 a new car park built linked by the footbridge. and in 2004 the Station was awarded the Rail business Station Excellence of the year. In 2005 it won a certificate of merit by the Chippenham Civic Society for its renovation of the frontage.

Now the station footbridge is to undergo much needed refurbishment work which should be completed towards the middle of June. Next to the station building is the Brunel site office used by the great railway engineer during construction of the Great Western Railway Our archive picture taken in the late 1950s shows the station frontage.

Today the station, with some of its original chimneys gone, the revamped station frontage area is worthy of one of the towns civic awards.