Ladydown Railway Aqueduct
Staverton and Trowbridge, Wiltshire KAC63.52
KandAC mile 63
The railway tracks north from Ladydown railway Aqueduct; straight on for Chippenham and the London line, via Melksham; the regular line goes left towards Bath, via Bradford-on-Avon.
WEY. / 104-54
Ladydown Railway Aqueduct carries a railway line under the canal. It was built in the 1840s. Untangling the history of the line is not so simple for a novice! It seems first to have been the Trowbridge to Chippenham and Bradford Railway, part of the Wiltshire, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, backed by the Great Western Railway, GWR; a broad gauge line. It opened between Thingley Junction, near Chippenham, through to Westbury, 1848. The line ran through Melksham, Holt, Trowbridge. The GWR took over, and opened the section through Warminster to Salisbury, 1856, and it reached Weymouth in 1857. Like other lines it was converted to standard gauge by 1874. The line now carries trains from Salisbury to Bath; the station eastward of here is Trowbridge, westward is Bradford-on-Avon; there are through trains from London to Carmarthen, and even one that leaves London travels into south Wales and up the border to Liverpool! The London end connects with the Channel Tunnel services at Waterloo; trains have been known have announcements not just in English and Welsh, but in French as well. The line through Melksham, to the northward, still exists and carries a few trains occasionally. The junction of bath and Melksham routes can be seen just north of the aqueduct.
Ladydown Railway Aqueduct from the towpath; this is what you'd see from a boat, as with many canal features you don't see much from a boat, you have to lean over the edge to see the aqueduct.
A train running under Ladydown Railway Aqueduct towards Trowbridge, south side; it is difficult to get a clear view of the railway aqueduct (unless you trespass upon the railway).
Ladydown Railway Aqueduct south side.

Kennet and Avon Scrapbook 2000