Blandford Forum railway station

Blandford Forum

Blandford Forum railway station in April 1963
Location
Place Blandford Forum
Area North Dorset
Grid reference ST888067
Operations
Original company Dorset Central Railway
Pre-grouping Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
Post-grouping
Platforms 2
History
31 August 1863 Opened (Blandford)
21 September 1953 Renamed (Blandford Forum)
7 March 1966 Closed for passengers
1969 closed for goods
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain
A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

Blandford Forum railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway which served the town of Blandford Forum. It lay between Charlton Marshall Halt and Stourpaine and Durweston stations, to the north-west of the line's terminus at the now-closed Bournemouth West station.[1]

History

Originally part of the Dorset Central Railway, the line to Blandford opened on 1 November 1860 to a station to the south of the River Stour.[2] The Dorset Central merged with the Somerset Central Railway in 1862, and a new extension connecting the two railways was built. The extension, and a newly-relocated Blandford Forum station to the north of the Stour, opened on 31 August 1863.[3]

The station remained open until 7 March 1966, when the entire line from Bath to Bournemouth closed to passengers. Goods traffic continued for a further three years, but the station was finally fully closed, and the track lifted, in 1969.[4]

The impending closure of the station was lamented by musical duo Flanders and Swann, when in 1964 it was one of several stations listed in their song Slow Train. The song was written in the wake of the first Beeching report, published in 1963, and was written as a tribute to the lines and stations that were closed.[5]

A working model of Blandford station, and its environs, is in the process of being built in 1/76th scale in the Blandford Museum, Bere's Yard, Market Place, in Blandford town centre.[6]

The site of the station now lies within a housing estate.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Route map" (PDF). New Somerset and Dorset Railway. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  2. ↑ Atthill, Robin; Nock, O.S. (1967). The Somerset & Dorset Railway. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4312-2.
  3. ↑ Atthill, Robin (1964). Old Mendip. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5171-0.
  4. ↑ "Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Blandford Forum" (PDF). Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  5. ↑ "The Musical Slow Train". BBC Cambridgeshire. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  6. ↑ "Railway Club". Blandford Town Museum. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "Blandford Forum". After Closure: The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2016.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blandford Forum railway station.

Coordinates: 50°51′35″N 2°09′38″W / 50.85970°N 2.16050°W / 50.85970; -2.16050

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Charlton Marshall
Line and station closed		   Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway
LSWR & Midland Railways		   Stourpaine and Durweston Halt
Line and station closed
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.