Lost Railways of Dorset

This illustrated and carefully researched book takes you back to the golden age of railways in Dorset - to a time of thriving rural railways, bustling local stations and steam trains pulling liveried coaches across the countryside.

Author Leslie Oppitz brings the story of Dorset's railways vividly to life - the reasons for their construction and for their subsequent closure.

Modern photographs accompany those from earlier times. These, together with specially drawn maps, will help those who wish to explore the old lines and stations that have survived.

One of Dorset's first lines, from Southampton to Dorchester, was opened in 1847. It was known as 'Castleman's Corkscrew' after the Wimborne solicitor Charles Castleman who promoted it. Other lines followed steadily, linking towns, ports, villages and resorts. They passed through stunning English countryside and provided an essential service to rural communities. Some of these country lines live on, but most did not survive the competition from the roads and the Beeching closures of the 1960s.

Included here are accounts of the Somerset & Dorset Railway, spanning from the Bristol Channel to Poole and the first continuous rail route to connect two coasts; an incident at Weymouth station in which the hurtling locomotive Victoria jumped the buffers and narrowly missed demolishing the Somerset Hotel; the Dorchester line, with its memories of both Thomas Hardy and the Second World War; and a journey to the Swanage Railway, now restored to its former glory.

Originally published under the title Dorset Railways Remembered, this book appears here in a revised, updated and expanded new format.

CONTENTS

• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Acknowledgements
• 1. A Route to the West
  Salisbury/Templecombe/Yeovil/Exeter
• 2. 'Castleman's Corkscrew'
  Southampton/Brockenhurst/Ringwood/ Broadstone/Hamworthy/Wareham
• 3. An Early Line to Christchurch
  Ringwood/Hurn/Christchurch
• 4. Lines Reach Bournemouth
  Christchurch/Bournemouth/Poole
• 5. Westwards to Dorchester
  Poole/Wareham/Bovington Camp/Dorchester
• 6. A Line from Wiltshire
  Salisbury/Fordingbridge/West Moors
• 7. The Somerset & Dorset Railway
  Bournemouth to Evercreech Junction
• 8. A Branch Line to Swanage
  Wareham/Corfe Castle/Swanage
• 9. Lines around Weymouth
  Weymouth Quay Branch Weymouth/Portland/Easton Upwey Junction/Portesham/Abbotsbury
• 10. A GWR Line from Bath to Weymouth
  Yeovil/Dorchester/Weymouth
• 11. To Bridport and West Bay
  Maiden Newton/Bridport/West Bay
• 12. A Branch Line to Lyme Regis
  Axminster/Combpyne/Lyme Regis
• Conclusion
  
• Heritage Railway Lines in Dorset
• Opening & Final Closure Dates
• Bibliography
• Index