At the turn of the 20th Century, the LSWR began in earnest to make improvements to its profitable main line to the south west, commencing in 1901 with the rebuilding of Salisbury station. Next on the agenda was removing the bottleneck at Yeovil Junction, which led to powers being obtained in 1906 for a major reconstruction scheme. This commenced in the following year, at a cost of £47,400 (about £3,737,000 at 2008 prices), and aimed to provide a layout with eased speed limits and the facility for expresses to overtake stopping services. The LSWR sidings south of the station were removed, to permit the construction of a brand new island on a new alignment and the total abolition of the existing surfaces. A second island (‘’up’’ side) was erected on a site a little to the north of its predecessor, and earthworks were undertaken to widen the railway embankment at its northern end. The latter resulted in the laying of an enlarged goods yard on the ‘’up’’ side, comprising eight lengthy eastward-facing sidings, in addition to a pair of shorter sidings serving a dock platform and cattle pens. The earlier goods shed was incorporated into the new layout. On the southern side of the site, the turntable and water tower remained in situ, and connections with the Clifton Maybank branch were retained. ‘’Up’’ and ‘’down’’ island platforms measured 650-feet and 550-feet in length respectively, and both surfaces were host to attractive single-storey red-brick offices, the latter protected by copious canopies. The offices and canopies were of a standardised design, and virtually identical examples had earlier appeared during the Salisbury station reconstruction works of 1901-1902. Both platform canopies extended to a length of 285-feet, and were supported upon a cast-iron framework with two lines of struts. The islands were linked by a sizeable footbridge, over 100-feet in length, of lattice construction and fully enclosed. This was positioned at the western end of the layout, and was accompanied by a barrow crossing running between the islands. A new signal box, wholly brick-built and with a slated hipped roof, came into use in the fork between the diverging Salisbury and the Yeovil Town lines. At the western end of the layout, the existing signal box of about 1875 origin was retained. This was built to a standard LSWR design of clapboard construction with a hipped slated roof, and could be found at virtually all stations between Yeovil and Exeter. The GWR also retained a signal box at Clifton Maybank Junction, where their goods branch left the Pen Mill to Weymouth line. Finally, the Station Master was provided with an attractive detached house, of red brick construction, positioned at the top of the station approach road, on the ‘’up’’ side of the layout. All works were deemed complete in 1909.

On the advent of the Southern Railway in 1923, both Salisbury and Yeovil Junction were still considered modern station rebuilds and, as a result, infrastructure alterations were limited. Indeed, the SR’s trademark Swan Neck lamp posts appeared on the platforms, but Yeovil Junction remained very much an LSWR affair. The GWR withdrew from the site in July 1937, when traffic ceased to be carried over the Clifton Maybank branch on 17th of that month. The 21-lever signal box at Clifton Maybank Junction remained in use until 1st November of the same year; the transfer shed at the Junction station retained a rail connection until 1952, and the branch became an elongated siding. In the past, the GWR had ambitions to provide this branch with an additional Weymouth-facing connection, creating a triangular junction, but works got no further than forming an embankment south of the LSWR station. Goods traffic continued to be transferred between SR and GWR systems, but this now took place at Yeovil Hendford. During World War II, new connections were made between SR and GWR metals in the area. Crossovers were installed to link the SR’s Yeovil Town branch with the GWR’s Pen Mill to Weymouth line, creating a triangular junction in-between the two stations. This became ‘’Yeovil South Junction’’, and came into use – complete with a new austere brick-built rectangular signal box – on 13th October 1943. This was a strategic wartime measure to permit running of Paddington to Exeter expresses by means of the SR’s route via Yeovil Junction, in the event that the Berks & Hants line west of Castle Cary was bombed. Finally, in 1945, the 50-foot 1-inch turntable at Yeovil Junction was replaced by a larger Cowans Sheldon product in 1945. The latter was of 70-foot diameter and had been designed to accommodate the large Bulleid Pacifics which were then being introduced.

We now pass into the British Railways era, and so embark on a sad story of decline for this once busy station. Lines west of Salisbury came under Paddington’s wing on 15th September 1962, and it was not long before a programme of severe degrading was implemented, in favour of the Western Region’s own main line to the south west via Castle Cary. In 1964, closure of Yeovil Junction was proposed, and passenger traffic was to be concentrated at Sherborne, 4½ route miles to the east. Considerable local opposition killed this idea stone dead, but rationalisation of the layout remained on the agenda. General goods traffic at Yeovil Junction ceased on 5th April 1965, it being transferred to the WR’s Yeovil Hendford. Singling of the route from Salisbury commenced in April 1967, beginning with that section between Wilton and Templecombe. In May of the same year, singling between Templecombe and Chard Junction commenced. Yeovil Junction ‘’West’’ box was abolished on 30th April 1967, and the ‘’down’’ island platform decommissioned. Connections north of the station were also heavily rationalised: the direct spur to Yeovil Town from the Junction station was severed on 1st March 1967, and the ex-LSWR Yeovil Town branch between Yeovil Junction and Yeovil South Junction was singled on 26th May 1968. Yeovil Junction ‘’East’’ box was retained and from 4th January 1970, controlled the single line eastwards through Sherborne. Now, it was not possible to pass trains in the station, and the ‘’down’’ platform had gone into the possession of the permanent way department. Remarkably, the turntable was retained, in addition to the ‘’down’’ platform offices and canopy, although a notable casualty was the water tower.

1967 track rationalisation left Yeovil Junction with just one operating through platform face, and it was no longer possible for trains to pass each other in the station. ‘’Down’’ trains would be held outside the station until ‘’up’’ services passed, which made maintaining the advertised timetable difficult. So restrictive was this operating practice that track layout alterations were enacted in 1975. Since the 1907 to 1909 rebuilding of the station, the northern face of the ‘’up’’ island platform line never had a direct connection with the ‘’up’’ line at its western end – thus, it was essentially a bay line used by the Yeovil Town shuttle. This was subsequently converted to a through platform loop to allow trains to pass each within the station, and works were deemed complete on 26th March 1975. A minor track layout upgrade was later followed by further structural cutbacks: during 1983, the canopy of the defunct ‘’down’’ island was dismantled, but the red brick offices retained. The Civil Mechanical & Electrical Engineers department finally vacated the ''down'' side in 1993 and the threat loomed of the turntable being removed. Consequently, in that year, a meeting was held by a group interested in preserving the ''down'' side for posterity: this stretched from as far east as the remaining track of the GWR's Clifton Maybank branch, to as far west as the turntable. The ''South West Main Line Steam Group'' took out a 99 year lease on the whole site (excluding the transfer shed), which secured the long-term future of the buildings. The ''Yeovil Railway Centre'', as it became known, went from strength to strength and on 2nd October 1999, a new double-track engine shed was opened, providing much needed covered accommodation. A major acquisition was that of the transfer shed: this was taken out on lease on 1st July 2002, when its departmental function ceased.

Many thanks to Paul Gould for providing the information on the Yeovil Railway Centre.