RailWest Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 RA Cooke lists the station and siding at Polsham as being opened on 16th April 1891. I think we can safely assume the date to be incorrect for the station itself, as most other sources quote 1861, but would that date be correct for the siding? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bécasse Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 16 April 1861 was a Tuesday and 16 April 1891 was a Thursday, both of which seem a bit odd for a station/siding opening. In both years, Easter fell at the end of March so that wouldn't have had any effect. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailWest Posted July 4, 2017 Author Share Posted July 4, 2017 Noted. At the moment I would be happy just to confirm the year please. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bécasse Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Noted. At the moment I would be happy just to confirm the year please. What I was hinting at is that I think that there is a good chance that neither year is correct, but possibly 16 April is. The "problem" may well stem from an indistinct handwritten date. If I knew which day of the week was most likely for an "opening" on the S&D, then it wouldn't take me long to provide a list of years in which 16 April fell on that day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailWest Posted July 5, 2017 Author Share Posted July 5, 2017 I'm told that Clinker quotes Dec 1861 for the opening of the station. Since posting my original query, I have unearthed a reference to a PRO file MT6/547/7 re "new siding at Polsham". The file reference is dated 3-April-1891, tho' I'm not sure to what that date refers. Not a file I have seen, but the title and date seems to support an 1891 date. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bécasse Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 I believe that C.R.Clinker did much of his research in the 1930s when he was a GWR employee. It is quite likely that original papers from the 1860s (when the line was worked by the B&E) were still "archived" somewhere in the GWR empire at that period and would have been accessible to someone like Clinker. Mondays in December 1861 were 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th, but, given that timetables usually applied for calendar months at that period, Sunday 1st or Monday 2nd seem the most likely dates. The 3rd of April 1891 was a Friday, the Friday of Easter week in fact, and, IF the file refers to a traffic notice concerning the opening of the siding, that would suggest an opening date of 6th April 1891. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Blandford1969 Posted July 5, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 5, 2017 What do the minutes of the Joint Committee say, surely they must say when it opened? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RailWest Posted July 6, 2017 Author Share Posted July 6, 2017 What do the minutes of the Joint Committee say, surely they must say when it opened? There is an S&DJR Officers Minute No 3845 from 23-April-1890 which mentions a request for a siding and that it would be investigated, but nothing in the Index thereafter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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