THE RAILWAY age was well into its stride in Victorian Britain and every town and village yearned for a railway station.

In 1844 the Bristol and Gloucester Railway Company forged their new line through the Severn Vale with a number of local stations opening en route. The line and its stations opened on July 6 1844 except for Coaley Junction and Haresfield.

The pioneering Dursley and Midland Junction Railway opened a branch line from Dursley and Cam to meet the main line and along with Coaley Junction, all opened on September 18 1856. Haresfield station opened in 1854.

These small independent railway companies were enterprising but in reality made no profit and inevitably all were absorbed by the grander Midland Railway in 1861.

Various changes took place across the years. The railways were grouped into four main companies in 1923 and the line taken over by the LMSR. On January 1 1948 the railways were nationalised and the route eventually came under the Western region of British Railways.

In the heyday of rail travel, these stations handled not only local trains to Gloucester and Bristol but excursion trains to places such as Weston, Barry and Bournemouth (via Bath and the Somerst and Dorset Line). Also goods facilities were provided, especially where branch lines connected.

On peak summer Saturdays of July and August during the 1950s it was simply not possible to fit the local trains into the timetable and so an express tram would make a stop in lieu of this in order to prevent congestion and trains queuing up.

Car ownership increased during the late 1950s and 1960s and local rail travel fell into decline! Frocester station closed in December 1961 and the Beeching Report was published in March 1963. The writing was on the wall for the local stations and the axe fell on Yate, Wickwar, Charfield, Berkeley Road, Coaley, Stonehouse Midland and Haresfield on Monday, January 4 1965. The last day of services on Saturday, January 2 1965.

However a successful campaign was launched in 1992 to re-open a station to serve Cam and Dursley and this opened in May, 1994, under the same name. The station has proved popular since.