The company was authorized on 5 June 1856 to build a broad gauge line from Wiltham Junction to Wells. It opened to Shepton Mallet on 9 November 1858 and to Wells on 1 March 1862. The GWR obtained authority to convert the gauge on 21 July 1873, taking over the line the next year under and Act dated 30 June 1874. Passenger traffic ceased between Wiltham and Yatton on 9 September 1963, but the Wiltham end remains open for stone traffic from Merehead, and Cranmore is a steam preservation scheme centre under the company's old name, its stock, including locomotives, owned by the painter David Shepherd