The Cirencester Branch Line was a five mile long single track branch railway line that ran from Kemble railway station

Kemble railway station

Kemble railway station is a railway station that serves the village of Kemble in Gloucestershire. The station is located on the Swindon to Gloucester "Golden Valley" line. Despite its rural location, Kemble station has a high number of passengers, due mainly to the proximity of...

 on the Great Western

Great Western

Great Western can refer to:* The Great Western Railway, a United Kingdom railway company nationalised in 1948 and that has since lent its name to:** Great Western Main Line, a principal passenger and freight rail route...

 Golden Valley Line

Golden Valley Line

The Golden Valley Line is a railway line from Swindon to Cheltenham in the UK.The line was originally built as the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway in the 1840s...

 to via two intermediate stations, , and and contained the highest rail crossing point on the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

.

History

In 1841 the branch was opened to provide a link via Kemble to the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 network at Swindon

Swindon

Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...

. Cirencester got a second station when the Midland and South Western Junction Railway

Midland and South Western Junction Railway

The Midland and South Western Junction Railway was, until the 1923 Grouping, an independent railway built to form a north-south link between the Midland and London and South Western Railways allowing the Midland and other companies' trains to reach the port of Southampton.-Formation:The M&SWJR...

 opened a station at Watermoor

Cirencester Watermoor railway station

Cirencester Watermoor railway station was on the Midland and South Western Junction Railway at Cirencester in Gloucestershire. The station opened on 18 December 1883 as the terminus of the Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway line from Swindon Town. That line then amalgamated with the Swindon,...

in 1883. The line's terminal, Cirencester station was renamed Cirencester Town in July 1924. A new halt was opened at Chesterton Lane in 1959 and a second, , was opened on 4 January 1960. The line was closed in 1964.