The Codford Camp Railway

The transformation of Salisbury Plain from sheep downland to military training grounds, between 1897 and 1914, coincided with the heyday of railway travel. It was inevitable, therefore, that the railway companies and military authorities should seek to extend the railway network to serve the new camps.   Work at Codford began before August 1914 with improvements at the existing station, which included new sidings, a military platform, and a loop line to a new signal box at Sherrington. By October work was in progress on a branch line to carry supplies, personnel and (later) hospital patients from the station to the various camps to the north and north-east of Codford. When complete the line extended to about four kilometres. At Chitterne Road, north of the New Road junction, the line divided, with one spur heading north to camps 9, 10 and 11and another south back to camps 5, 6 and 7 near St Mary's church. The tracks appear to have been lifted after 1918, possibly in 1923, when the loop line at Codford station was removed.