The Blandford Express

Not a lot of people know this but in the 1890s, there were plans to make Blandford Station into a railway junction. Connecting Bath with Poole and Bournemouth, the Somerset & Dorset Railway had already opened stations in Blandford and Shillingstone. The Wilts, Dorset & East Devon Railway was an ambitious plan to construct a new and additional route from Salisbury to Exeter via Blandford. The first section of 21 miles would leave the existing Salisbury to Yeovil line at Wilton and open new stations at Broadchalke, Sixpenny Handley and Pimperne before joining the Somerset & Dorset line in Blandford. The second section of 11 miles would run through Blandford St Mary, Winterborne Whitechurch & Bere Regis and then join the London & South Western, Poole to Dorchester line at Moreton Station. The final 50 mile section would be built via Shipton Gorge, Bridport, Charmouth, Lyme Regis, Seaton & Sidmouth and would then join the London & South Western Line at Topsh...

Late on Saturday 23 June 1906, Blandford was struck by a great storm. It followed a day of extreme heat and the oppressive atmosphere gave a warning of the tempest which was to come. Lasting a couple of hours, the violent storm caused chaos across the Blandford district killing cattle, stripping trees of all leaves and damaging property. That evening, railway signalman Charlie Whiting was on duty in the signal box at Blandford station. He was to suffer a lucky and narrow escape. The Western Gazette reported: ‘Forked sheet and ribbon lightning illuminated a pitch black sky in all directions with scarcely a second’s intermission. Rain tropical in its violence accompanied the tempest while in some places hailstones added to its intensity.’ Because of the unusual shape and size of the hailstones, where they fell not a single greenhouse survived. The 1906 storm was remarkable also for its temperatures , the range being between 55 (13) and 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 centigrade). A tree s...

  There were Shaftesbury, Blackmore Vale and Templecombe… and also Blandford Forum. All were railway locomotives from the age of steam with names from the West Country. Appropriately as a class, they were known as the ‘ West Countries’ . Because of their distinct and streamlined appearance they also became nicknamed the ‘ spam cans'. The ‘ West Countries’ were designed by Oliver Bulleid who was the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Southern Railway Company. The company ran trains in the south and west of England  from Cornwall to Kent before the railways were nationalised in 1947. Locomotive Blandford (34107) was built by British Railways (Southern Region) and was the 1,000 th to be constructed by the Brighton Works when completed in April 1950. In November 1952, it was renamed as Blandford Forum. Initially Blandford was allocated to Bournemouth motive power depot which resulted in its use on the Weymouth-London (Waterloo) line. Occasionally, it might pass through Blandford o...

Blandford’s passenger railway station closed in 1966 when the passenger train service between Bath and Bournemouth was withdrawn. However, the line remained open for another three years until goods traffic was also withdrawn. Originally, the line from the south stopped at Blandford St Mary. Then it was brought across the River Stour, and the newly constructed Blandford Railway Arches at the bottom of Damory Street, to a new more central station.  This new Blandford town station opened in September 1863. It was renamed Blandford Forum in 1953. Around a  decade after the last locomotive had left the town Blandford Railway Arches were destroyed by explosives on 25 th July 1979. (Illustrations: Blandford's Railway Arches)

Stourpaine & Durweston Railway Halt opened on the 9 th July 1928. Practically everyone in the two villages at the time had walked down to the Halt to watch the departure of the 8.06am to Bournemouth. Local newspaper the Western Gazette reported that the locals had adorned the Halt with flags. However, just seven passengers joined the train which included local clergyman, the Reverend C Cooke. Unfortunately, because the Halt stood on an open embankment it proved to be exceedingly cold for passengers waiting on the platform the following winter. So, the following April, the railway company built a ‘ substantially-built shelter for the convenience of passengers.’ Although the track through the Halt was single line, there was a passing point just to the north of the Halt. The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway or ‘ S&D’ connected Bristol and Bath with Bournemouth West, a station now long closed. The line was used for both freight and passengers and its stations included Sta...

  Blandford’s Great Train Robbery occurred back in March 1917 when large quantities of chocolate bars went missing from an automatic vending machine on Blandford railway station platform. For some time past, the machine had been robbed by washers and tin discs being used instead of pennies to extract chocolate bars. On one occasion as many as 60 washers were found in the machine. As a result seven Blandford boys were summonsed for stealing chocolate. They were Thomas & George Shave, Oliver & John Turner, Harry Blandford, William Neale and Edward Tanswell. Evidence was given by Police Sergeant Otter and railway booking clerk, Mr Wood. The Bench considered the case to be a serious one. Oliver & John Turner, George Shave, William Neale and Edward Tanswell were bound over to be of good behaviour for 12 months and each ordered to pay five shillings (25p) towards costs. Thomas Shave was ordered to receive three strokes of the birch and to pay seven shillings & sixpence co...

  The Radstock, Shaftesbury & Poole Railway was a proposal to build an ‘ expeditious and cheap inland communication’ between Bath & Bristol and Poole Harbour. Its route would also have connected the Somerset coalfields to the county of Dorset – a distance of some 80 miles. The planned route would be via Frome, Warminster, Salisbury, Shaftesbury, Blandford & Dorchester. It was claimed the new line would reduce the price of coal sold in Blackmoor Vale by a half. A first meeting of the ‘ Gentlemen concerned’ was held at the Old Down Inn between Bath and Wells on the 9 th November 1825. Chaired by Hon. Captain William Waldegrave RN some sixty such respected gentlemen were present. Using steam locomotives, it was announced that goods would be carried ‘ at no less than 6mph by day or night’ and it might also be possible to carry passengers at 8mph. It was estimated the construction costs would be £250,000 to be raised by the issue of 2,500 shares of £100 each. On completio...

  Blandford station was once a significant employer. By 1901 it had a workforce of around 50 which included porters, clerks, permanent-way men, signalmen and a large general labouring gang. Within a decade the number had roughly doubled. Among the eight porters was foreman porter John Hockey. His great grandson, Vernon Rattenbury reckons nine of John’s ten children were born at Blandford Station. The 1891 census lists John and his family living in Station Yard, Edward Street. Most of the station’s staff lived to the north of the station. Shunting duties within the station yar d were carried out with the help of two railway horses. The Somerset & Dorset Line was nicknamed the ‘ Swift & Delightful’ but more often the ‘ Slow & Dirty !’ Had the proposed Wilts, Dorset & East Devon Railway been built connecting Salisbury with Exeter, via Blandford & Dorchester, then ‘ Blandford Railway Junction’ would have been even busier. Today, it is difficult to realise what...

Nicknamed the ‘ Powder Puff Line’ , Blandford Camp railway probably had the shortest and most controversial working life of any railway in Britain. Blandford Camp railway was a small branch line built towards the end of World War I which connected the town with Blandford Camp designed to carry both supplies and personnel. It left the Somerset & Dorset line just to the south of Blandford Station passed along the borders of Langton Long, crossed the Blandford-Wimborne road and climbed up to the military camp. At the Camp end of the line there was a 200 yards long halt style platform. This remained in place until the 1960s. Although today Blandford Camp is an army establishment, its first permanent occupants were the Royal Naval Division to be followed by the Royal Air Force in 1918. The RAF had been formed in April 1918 and its Blandford base of 15,000 military personnel became a major entry point for new recruits. It was also the location of the Royal Air Force’s Headquarter’s Gen...

If you were looking to get away at Easter in 1929, there were plenty of cheap railway excursion tickets on offer from Blandford Station. For six shillings (30p) you could buy a cheap day return to Lyme Regis or Seaton while for just two shillings (10p) you could spend a day in Bournemouth or go to the Steeplechase Meeting at Wincanton. On Easter Monday, you could travel to Yeovil and watch the home team take on Bath City in football’s Southern League at the Huish Park. (Yeovil won 3-1) Following Saturday, the Southern Railway Company was running a football special to London to watch Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic play Crystal Palace at Selhurst in a Third Division (South) match. Claiming, ‘ it’s quicker by rail’ , and leaving Bournemouth Central at 10.00am, the return fare to Selhurst was six shillings & sixpence (32p). The football special was advertised to have both corridors and a restaurant car. For those wanting to spend more time in the capital, there was a late retu...

Blandford railway station opened in 1863 when a line that previously had ended at Blandford St Mary was brought into the town. After just over 100 years of service Blandford station was closed to passengers in March 1966 and soon after for goods traffic. Blandford station is remembered by songwriters, Flanders & Swann in their eulogy to the many quaintly named stations closed by the notorious Dr Beeching’s axe. Slow Train 'No more will I go to Blandford Forum and Mortehoe, On the slow train to Midsomer  Norton and Mumby Row. No churns, no porters, no cat on a seat At Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Chester-le-Street. We won't be meeting again on the slow train.' Blandford Station was one of the largest stations on the Somerset & Dorset line and was brick built with canopies on both platforms. These platforms were connected by a subway. There was also a goods yard, a corn store, landing docks and a seven ton crane. First station to the north of the town on a single track wa...