a court order to close the line and the last train ran on 18 May 1940. Shortly after this the Great Western Railway (GWR) purchased the line (but not the land) to use to store wagons loaded with coal that could not be delivered due to the war. The GWR inspected the line on 16 June 1940 but had difficulty in getting one of the Terrier class locomotives to work. They concluded that the bridge across the River Yeo could support a train of six wagons. Some wagons were stored in various sidings at the Weston-super-Mare end of the line but were moved back across the river in case of bombing. The WC&PR rolling stock was all taken to Swindon Works in August 1940 but was scrapped except for two Terriers which were overhauled and retained by the GWR. Lifting the line started on 3 October 1942 from the Weston-super-Mare end using one of the Terriers. By the end of October the track had been lifted as far as Ebdon Lane. Between February and June 1943 the track was lifted between Portishead and the River Yeo but the remainder had to be removed by road. 16,000 tons of material was recovered. The company which owned the land no longer existed so it could not be sold off. The town councils at Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon wanted it for roads and houses so paid the £3,750 value of the land to the Bank of England. Description The railway ran through sparsely-populated and level countryside. It was long with the steepest gradient being 1:68 for about on the northern side of Clevedon. The only notable engineering work was the bridge across the River Yeo near Wick St Lawrence which was long with cast iron piers supporting steel lattice girders. The railway was single track. A passing loop was provided at Wick St Lawrence in 1898 on the Clevedon side of the station but this fell out of use after 1914. Trains could pass at Clevedon from 1909 when the loop was provided with signals, however the station only had a single platform. When trains needed to pass the one going to Weston-super-Mare had to reverse out of the station and then pull forward into the loop to allow the second train to enter the platform. Stations There were 19 stations or halts, most of which only had a small shelter and no platform