Washford railway station

D1661 'North Star' at Washford, 2013]] The station was opened on 16 July 1874 by the Minehead Railway. The railway was operated by the Bristol and Exeter Railway which was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway in 1876. The Minehead Railway was itself absorbed into the GWR in 1897 which, in turn, was nationalised into British Railways in 1948. The signal box was closed in 1952, goods traffic ceased in 1964, and the station was unstaffed from 1966. The line was eventually closed on 4 January 1971, but was reopened by the West Somerset Railway on 28 August 1976.

Washford is the second highest station on the line and is situated in a gap between the coastal cliffs and the Brendon Hills. It is accessed by two very steep inclines for steam trains – climbing up from trains face a 1 mi section at 1 in 65 (1.5%), the steepest on the line. The station has a single platform on the south side of the line, although there is an extensive yard on the opposite side of the line from the platform, where the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust was based (see below) and is now a carriage works operated by the West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust.