Passenger Operation
At the top of the incline the line ran along the Brendon ridge in both directions, eastward to Raleigh's Cross and the Colton mines and westward to a heathland terminus named after the nearby village of Gupworthy. Considerable numbers of miners lived in these remote areas with their families, and for some time the Company had permitted the miners and their families to travel unofficially on the line free of charge and at their own risk.
It was decided to operate a formal passenger service between Comberow and Watchet, and this started on 4 September 1865. In the full year 1866 13,000 passengers were carried; by 1872 this had risen to 19,000. Four passenger trains ran each way daily at first, but this was later reduced to two, and then to one. Proper stations were provided at Watchet, Washford, Roadwater and Comberow. Brendon Hill, at the top of the incline, and also sometimes referred to as Raleigh's Cross, was also considered to be a station, but seems not to have formal sattion facilities.
Passengers were conveyed free and at their own risk up the incline on trucks: Sellick shows a photograph of a flat wagon on the incline, with six passengers seated on makeshift boxes. Mitchell and Smith point out that the Ordnance Survey map shows "Station" at Gupworthy: the Company's building there evidently seemed to be a station to the surveyors.
The passenger service continued until 7 November 1898; a brief resumption took place from 1907 (but not west of Brendon Hill) until final closure to passengers in 1910.
The line operated successfully and settlements of people attracted to the area by the prospect of employment in the mines grew around the Brendon ridge. However changes in the availability of imported ore made the mines a less attractive proposition and by 1880 the mines were closed and mineral traffic on the railway ceased. A residual passenger service carried on until 1898 when the line closed for a while.
The 1895 Bradshaw shows two return trips every day, at 09:15 and 15:10 from Watchet, calling at Washford, Roadwater and Comberow, taking 30 minutes; return trains were at 10:45 and 16:15, also taking 30 minutes.
Read more about this topic: West Somerset Mineral Railway
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