Railway Comes to the Golden Valley

The railway finally arrived in Stroud in 1845 with the opening of a section from Kemble to Gloucester section of the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway, which itself was later part of the Great Western Railway.

No doubt the arrival of the railway - as it did across the country - would have had a significant effect on the local industries. In particular, railways quickly superseded canals as the primary transportation method for almost all raw materials and finished products. In practice, many canals continued to operate commercially for another 100 years but the decline was set in motion.

Below is a link to a document prepared to assess the heritage significance of Stroud Station which contains a summary of the station's history.