Brunel's Great Western Railway
The railway between Stroud, Kemble and Swindon runs along the Golden Valley past Chalford. A steady climb from Brimscombe to the Sapperton tunnel takes it through a deep cutting as it passes Westley Farm. This makes the trains virtually inaudible and invisible except for a distant glimpse from Hornstone. The line was opened by its chief engineer, Isembard Kindom Brunel in 1845. Chalford Station was opened in 1897 and closed in the Beeching cuts of the 1960's.		A steam train passing through Chalford
Jackdaw Bridge was built by Brunel's local engineer Charles Richardson to lower stone from Jackdaw quarry to the barges parked in the canal below.	Chalford Station (1897- 1965). Here Irish cattle were unloaded and driven up Cowcombe Hill to Westley Farm before being sold on to other farmers (1900 - 1960)	Brunel wanted to bypass Chalford with a tunnel.  Unstable Fullers Earth made  this impractical and a viaduct was     constructed instead.
A narrow tunnel near Kemble is a hazard to road traffic	Tricky engineering was involved as the train emerges from a deep cutting past Westley Farm to a viaduct by Frampton Mansell.	Kemble Station with its flower beds  of Petunias and Busy Lizzies is an   incongruous time warp in today's    sanitised post industrial world.