The Blandford Express

Gathering of moss in Dorset on a commercial basis is now a lost trade. This used to take place on Okeford and Belchalwell Hills in North Dorset. Some mossers would use rakes while others would gather the moss using their bare hands. Orders would arrive from Covent Garden merchants in London . Bags of moss were labelled and despatched from Shillingstone by train to London - Waterloo via the junction at Templecombe. Bad weather did not deter the gatherers and snow was removed to access the moss. Shillingstone moss was valued by Covent Garden traders for its ability to hold moisture around plants. It was used for packing and decoration purposes.  In June 1906, three men and two women from Woodcutts, Salisbury were apprehended by police constable Bleathman for gathering ‘two or three bags’ of moss, valued at five shillings (25p). This was taken from land at Melbury Abbas belonging to Sir Richard Glyn. Each was fined five shillings with costs of thirteen shillings and four pence (circa ...

Bridport Station opened on 12th November 1857 and a large crowd gathered in fine weather to view the first train’s departure for Maiden Newton due to leave at 8.15am. Many took the opportunity to travel on this train as Yeovil Fair was taking place on the same day. Unfortunately departure was delayed so the connection at Maiden Newton was missed. The Bridport station master was unable to issue all the tickets in time because of the numbers desirous of travelling. Next train connection to Yeovil did not arrive there until mid-day. To celebrate the opening, a Grand Dinner was held at the Bull Inn in Bridport on the following Tuesday commencing ‘punctually’ at 5 o’clock. Tickets were priced at ten shillings and six pence (52.5p) to include wine. Mr Knight of the Bull  Inn arranged a two horse omnibus for the convenience of passengers arriving and departing. A general holiday was declared in Bridport and most shops closed to enable the shop assistants to enjoy the celebrations. A first...

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...

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 remain...

North Dorset Railway is a heritage project which is, step by step, bringing Shillingstone station back to life. Here are some newspaper cuttings from the station’s past. Some show that then, safety was not always a prime consideration. The station was closed as a result of Beeching cuts back in the 1960s. Accident on Line.  On Wednesday morning when the Somerset & Dorset train leaving Poole at 8.10 was within half a mile off Shillingstone, and going at the rate of 30mph, the driver noticed a bull jump the fence from a field and stumble into the line when the train was only a dozen yards off and before it could get out of the way the right-hand life-guard and buffer of the engine caught it and literally cut it in pieces.’ (Weymouth Telegram: 22 nd May 1874) Railway Supper. On Friday, the employees of the Traffic & Permanent Way at Shillingstone Station held their annual supper in the school room (kindly lent by Reverend EA Dayman). Upwards of 30 partook of an excellent repa...

Despite being only ten  years old, Charlie King of Orchard Street, Blandford was much travelled. With his passion for trains, he had visited  many destinations by rail including Plymouth, Bournemouth, Dover, Templecombe, London, Bath and Weymouth.  Only problem was that he made these journeys on his own and without a ticket. In total, it was reckoned Charlie made as many as sixteen such rail trips without paying his fare. When asked for his rail ticket he would admit he had none and would explain that his mother had given it to the train guard at Blandford. Whichever was his destination he would say he was travelling to meet his uncle. He claimed he was encouraged by other children at his school to go on his railway adventures. Because of his exploits, Charlie King became particularly well known to Sergeant Underwood of the Blandford Police. Matters came to a head when in December 1877 he had to appear before Blandford Magistrates, the Viscount Portman and James John Farq...

West Dorset village of Toller Porcorum was in ‘a state of great excitement’ one Sunday night in October 1902 when, according to the Bridport News,  its little wooden station was destroyed by fire. Opened in March 1862, Toller Station could be found on the railway branch line which connected Maiden Newton with Bridport. It appears that the station-master, Mr Bradley was in his office and had an accident with a lamp. There was an explosion and the place was soon ablaze. Overlooking the station was the Vicarage where the Reverend D Clarke detected a strong smell of burning wood and resin. Seeing a cloud of smoke, the clergyman hurriedly dressed and ran outside to see what assistance he could give. He saw that the station-master had his arms severely burnt and his fingers badly cut. Reverend Clarke hurried onto the platform and threw what water there was at hand over the fire. Unfortunately by this time the whole place was ablaze. At one moment both the Vicarage and the Old Swan Inn, w...

Today, most rail  travellers cannot buy a cup of tea or even a packet of crisps on a train. Yet in days gone by, in the era of the  Bournemouth Belle, things were quite different. With full onboard dining facilities, this named train from July 1931 was made up of De Luxe  Pullman car, chocolate and cream coloured    rolling stock. Each car was given a name such as Topaz, Ruby or Philomel. Smartly dressed stewards would show passengers to their seats. In the 1930s even an Inspector was employed to taste the quality of the travellers fare. Tasty afternoon teas were a speciality which could be ordered for just three shillings (15p) in the early 1960s. ‘How nice to live at Bournemouth And come up on the Belle. So chic with pale pink lamp shades A golden name as well.’ (G.B. Berry.) The Bournemouth Belle ran daily from London-Waterloo to Bournemouth and then back to the capital. Initially it was non-stop to its destination but then a Southampton stop was incorporated...

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...

  According to railway locomotive driver Andrew Thomas (above) there was a major accident near miss on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (‘S & D’ ) that could have changed the course of European history. It occurred at Wellow station, some six miles south of Bath, and involved the future twice French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau. It is believed this incident occurred in 1884 when the Frenchman is known to have visited England. Clemenceau is generally regarded as the statesman who prevented the collapse of the French military forces towards the end of World War I. Such was his tenacity, that he gained the nicknames ‘Le Tigre’ (Tiger) and ‘Le Pere la Victoire’ (Father of Victor y). The French politician was a guest of Lord Wolverton who had been the Liberal MP for Shaftesbury before succeeding his father in the House of Lords. Wolverton lived at Iwerne Minster and had already entertained Prime Minister William Gladstone on his estate. Lord Wolverton decide...

One of Dorset’s first railways was built on the Isle of Portland. Opening in 1826, it was not designed to carry passengers but to carry Portland stone. It was a response to a growing demand for the stone and to improve transportation between the quarries and the shipment point at Castletown Pier. Here stone was loaded onto ships. The railway cost £5,000 to build which was financed by the issue by the Portland Railway Company of a hundred fifty pound shares. Income was generated by the quarry operators who used it. The company had been formed two years earlier by local residents and people involved in the stone trade. The railway had no power other than gravity. The weight of the loaded wagon descending pulled by cable the empty wagon back up the slope. Bizarrely, the track had just three rails on stone sleepers with the middle rail shared by both wagons. However, at the mid-point there were separate tracks to enable the two wagons to cross over. At the top of the slope there was a brak...

  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...

Chetnole Halt, 20 miles north of Weymouth on the Heart of Wessex Line, is Dorset’s smallest station - around 1,000 passengers use it annually. It’s also a train request halt so passengers on the station platform have to signal to the driver to stop. Opened in September 1933, it was originally constructed of wood as in the above photograph. In the early 1960s, the Government tasked Dr Richard Beeching with reducing the cost of running the country’s railways. Dorset stations such as Wimborne, Lyme Regis and Blandford closed. How did Chetnole, a village with a population of just over 300 people, keep its station? Maybe it was an administrative oversight by the British Railways Board bureaucrats at 222 Marylebone Road in London?

It used to be possible to travel from Lyme Regis to London (Waterloo) directly by train. True, it would probably have meant sitting in a single Lyme Regis carriage which had to be attached to a London bound train at Axminster. The six and a half-mile branch line between Lyme Regis and Axminster opened in 1903 and there had even been plans for an onwards rail line to be built to Bridport. Lyme Regis station was in the north of the town as the descent down towards the sea was too step for a conventional railway. It was a difficult, steeply graded and sharply curved route with a concrete viaduct being built at Cannington. Problems in construction delayed the opening of the line requiring the railway company to put in place a horse bus connection between Lyme Regis and Axminster. On the opening day, a special train left Lyme Regis carrying not only dignitaries but also 200 local children. Mr C D Ley, a railway booking clerk from Poole, was appointed  as Lyme Regis’ first station master...

Weymouth was once referred to as ‘Swindon-on-Sea’. For it was a favourite holiday destination for workers at the giant Great Western Railway’s Swindon Works. The Works was completed in 1843 and at its peak employed some 14,000 people. Arrival of the railway at Weymouth in 1857 would breathe fresh life into the town as a holiday resort. It also saw the town’s population double by 1914. Known as ‘Swindon Week’, the railway maintenance complex would close in July and thousands would cram the platforms of Swindon station in their Sunday best. Many local businesses would also  temporarily close as Swindon became a ghost town. Every year, some five or six thousand workers would travel to the Dorset seaside resort. There were other possible destinations in  the Great Western Railway’s network including to London. The event would become affectionately known as the ‘trip’. For the better off and more adventurous there was the prospect of crossing the English Channel from Weymouth to Ch...

Opened in November 1857, the stations on this line were: Bridport West Bay . Opened 31-3-1884: closed to passengers 22-9-1930: closed to freight 3-12-1962. Bridport (East Street ). Opened 31-3-1884: closed to passengers 22-9-1930. Passenger station only. Bridport (from 1887-1902 was known as Bradpole Road ). Opened 12-11-1857: closed to freight 5-4-1965: closed to passengers 5-5-1975. Powerstock . Opened 12-11-1857: closed to freight 13-3-1961: closed to passengers 5-5-1975. Toller . Opened 13-3-1862: closed to freight 4-4-1960: closed to passengers 5-5-75. Maiden Newton. Opened 20-1-1857: closed to freight 5-4-1965.  (Featured: Bridport Station in August 1954..)

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...

  Among Somerset & Dorset railway stations in Dorset was Broadstone, the county's most named station - at six times! Other stations were: Parkstone – opened June 1874: closed to freight September 1965. Poole – opened December 1872: closed to freight July 1966. Creekmore Halt – opened June 1933: closed March 1966. New Poole Junction (then Poole Junction, then Poole Junction & Broadstone, then Broadstone & New Poole Junction, then Broadstone Junction and finally Broadstone from July 1929.) – opened December 1872: closed to passengers March 1966/closed to freight September 1965. Corfe Mullen Halt – opened July 1928: closed September 1956. Sturminster Marshall ( Bailey Gate from November 1863) – opened November 1860: closed to passengers March 1966/closed to freight April 1965. Spetisbury – opened November 1860: closed September 1956. Charlton Marshall – opened July 1928: closed September 1956. Blandford St Mary (temporary station until September 1...

  Featured is Coryates Halt which could be found on the Abbotsbury branch line. It opened in May 1906 but closed in December 1952. Other now almost forgotten Dorset railway stations include: Abbotsbury opened in November 1885: closed in December 1952. Broadstone opened in December 1872: closed for passengers in March 1966. Bridport East Street opened in March 1884: closed in September 1930. Bridport West Bay opened in March 1884: closed for passengers in September 1930. Blandford (Blandford Forum from September 1953) opened in November 1860: closed for passengers from March 1966. Charlton Marshall opened in July 1928: closed in September 1956. Creekmoor Halt opened in June 1933: closed in March 1966. Lyme Regis opened in August 1903: closed for passengers in November 1965. Portland opened in October 1865: closed for passengers in March 1952. Powerstock opened in November 1857: closed for passengers May 1975. Sandsfoot Castle (on Portland branch line) ...