to Yeovil. The West Somerset Railway was authorised in 1857 to make a line from the B&ER west of Taunton to Watchet, where there was a small harbour. There were serious difficulties in raising the necessary capital (£140,000) and the line finally opened on 31 March 1862 for passengers; goods traffic was handled from August 1862. The line was leased to the B&ER in perpetuity. The West Somerset Railway was extended to Minehead by the Minehead Railway, opening as a broad gauge single line on 16 July 1874.It was worked by the B&ER. On 17 June 1852 the Somerset Central Railway was authorised; it was friendly to the B&ER, which had subscribed considerable capital to it. It was to build from Highbridge Wharf, crossing the B&ER main line there, and running to Glastonbury, mostly along the route of the Glastonbury Canal. It was a broad gauge single line long; when it opened on 28 August 1854 it was leased to the B&ER for a seven-year term. While the lease was in force, it was extended to Burnham-on-Sea at the north-west end (on 3 May 1858) and to Wells at the south-east end (on 15 March 1859), making in total. In 1856 power had been obtained to extend to Bruton, on the GWR; the Dorset Central Railway, a narrow gauge line, also obtained powers to join the Somerset Central near Bruton. On 3 February 1862 the lines were completed and the Somerset Central began operating the entire line, on the narrow gauge. In August 1862 the two lines joined together to form the Somerset and Dorset Railway. The junction with the GWR was never built, and the entire line had abandoned any allegiance to the B&ER. The Chard and Taunton Railway obtained authorisation in 1861 but was unable to raise the capital needed; the B&ER took over the powers and opened the single line branch to passengers on 11 September 1866, and to goods in March 1867. The Chard station was joint with the LSWR, who had a branch from their main line at Chard Junction. The Portishead branch was built by the Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway Company, and opened on 18 April 1867. The B&ER worked it but it was maintained by the building company. It was a broad gauge single line. The Somerset and Dorset Railway proposed a line from Yatton to Wells in opposing a B&ER