Great Powerstock Station Robbery

Powerstock Station’s great train robbery took place on April 14th 1858 at a time when the station master was away at Sunday morning church. Powerstock Station was on the railway branch line which connected Bridport with Maiden Newton and it served both the villages of Powerstock and Nettlecombe. The station consisted of a single platform, a siding and a bungalow style building. This meant that it could be used as a dwelling if the station became unviable. The station had opened in 1857 and until around 1862 was known as Poorstock.

The Bridport News of Saturday 24 April 1858 reported that the plunderers effected their entrance by breaking a window. Fortunately there was little cash to be found in Powerstock Station at the time and the burglars escaped only with coppers to the amount of one shilling (5p) or just one shilling and sixpence (7.5p). No clue was found as to the identity of the depredators so the case of the Great Powerstock Station Robbery still remains unsolved.

On Boxing Day the previous year ‘some miscreants attempted to get the train thrown off the line at Great Toller’ by placing rails across the track. Fortunately the attempt was frustrated by workmen returning home from work. They discovered and removed the rails just a few minutes before the arrival of the last down train from Maiden Newton. A reward of £10 was offered for the arrest and conviction of the guilty parties.

Powerstock Station was sold by British Railwsys in 1968 and converted into a private dwelling. In May 1975, the Bridport Branch Line permanently closed.

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