The Devizes Branch Line was a railway line from Holt Junction to Patney in Wiltshire, and named after Devizes, the largest town on the line. It was built by the Wiltshire, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, and was later bought up by the Great Western Railway. At one point the Devizes line provided a direct link from London to the West Country.
The Devizes Branch line and all of its stations closed in 1966 under British Rail's modernisation plans. The closure of the line can be accounted for by the awkward geography of the Devizes line and the falling amount of traffic since the building of a rival railway line from Chirton to Westbury which by-passed the steep gradients of the Devizes branch line.
Apart from a few remaining bridges and tunnels there is little evidence of the railway on the landscape today and after the closure of the line, all stations and halts were dismantled.
More information on the Devizes branch line can be found here.
Picture by kind permission of Mr. Nick Kingman.
Pans Lane Halt station opened on 4th March 1929 for the residents of south Devizes but more importantly for the nearby Isolation Hospital. This was during a time when GWR were increasing the number of halt's in the South West.
You are looking for a magnetic nano cache so bring your own pencil. A certain amount of stealth will be required and it is also on a minor road so please be careful with children & doggy geocachers.
Some roadside parking is available on Pans Lane at N 51° 20.800 W 1° 59.383 or on Green Lane at N 51° 20.549 W 1° 59.266.
I’m afraid that this cache may not be accessible by wheelchair.
For more ‘Devizes Branch Railway’ caches please look here.
Good luck to you all.
*** FTF - The Chens ***
