Shillingstone railway station was a station on the
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (now in south-east Dorset but then in Hampshire), with a branch from Evercreec ...
(S&DJR), serving the village of
Shillingstone
Shillingstone is a village and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale area of north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour between Sturminster Newton and Blandford Forum. In the 2011 Census the civil parish had 479 households and a populat ...
in the English county of
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
. Shillingstone is the last surviving example of a station built by the
Dorset Central Railway (one of the forerunners of the S&DJR).
The station closed in 1966, when services were withdrawn from the S&DJR route. Since 2001, enthusiasts have been working to re-open the station as a
heritage railway
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
attraction.
[ The main building has now been renovated, and opened to the public as a museum, shop and refreshment room in 2008.][
]
History
The station was opened on 31 August 1863 by the Somerset and Dorset Railway
The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (now in south-east Dorset but then in Hampshire), with a branch from Evercreec ...
, although planned and designed by one of its two predecessors, the Dorset Central Railway. Initial train services were provided by the London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...
(LSWR). In 1875, the Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...
and the LSWR together took over a joint lease of the line, forming the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (now in south-east Dorset but then in Hampshire), with a branch from Evercreec ...
.
At the 'Grouping
Grouping may refer to:
* Muenchian grouping
* Principles of grouping
* Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system
* Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm
See also ...
' of 1923, the Somerset & Dorset Railway Company was dissolved, the lease terminated, and the line and stations became the joint property of the Southern Railway and the London Midland and Scottish Railway
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
companies.[
Shillingstone station became part of the ]Southern Region of British Railways
The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the sout ...
when the railways were nationalised in 1948. The regional boundaries later changed several times and the station was subsequently transferred to the Western Region, the final (January 1963) boundary being somewhere between Shillingstone and Blandford.[
After a prolonged run-down of services, including the closure of freight and goods services on 5 April 1965, the station was closed, along with the remaining former S&DJR lines, on 7 March 1966, as a result of the ]Beeching Axe
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...
. The station was fully staffed until closure. Track-lifting commenced in 1967, Shillingstone being tackled between March and May. The signal box and platform shelters were demolished at this time, and the last train through the station was the demolition train, hauled by a small diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
shunter
A switcher, shunter, yard pilot, switch engine, yard goat, or shifter is a small Rail transport, railroad locomotive used for manoeuvring railroad cars inside a rail yard in a process known as Shunt (railway operations), ''switching'' (US) or ...
.[
]Dorset County Council
Dorset County Council (DCC) was the county council for the county of Dorset in England. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected council ...
purchased the trackbed for a proposed Shillingstone by-pass
Bypass may refer to:
* Bypass (road), a road that avoids a built-up area (not to be confused with passing lane)
* Flood bypass of a river
Science and technology Medicine
* Bypass surgery, a class of surgeries including for example:
** Heart byp ...
. Various furniture manufacturing companies were sited in the station yard, over the years, occupying industrial buildings constructed in the late 1970s, some of them making partial use of the station building. By December 2002, the by-pass plan had been shelved and the station was unoccupied. Dorset County Council decided to dispose of the redundant station, and, after protracted negotiations, the North Dorset Railway Trust took over the lease in July 2005, with a view to re-open the station as a heritage railway
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
attraction. Restoration work commenced in 2003 and has continued steadily since then (see "Shillingstone Railway Project").[
A length of trackbed around Shillingstone has been opened as a section of the North Dorset Trailway, providing an easy-access route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. At Shillingstone station the trailway is routed up and along the down platform, providing a clear view of the restored buildings.]
Configuration
The station is located on the outskirts of the village, to the north-east. It has two platforms, with brick buildings on the 'up' (north-bound) platform and (originally) a simple wooden waiting shelter on the much longer 'down' platform. The main station building has a substantial wooden awning over the platform. During its original working life, lighting was provided by oil lamps, there being no electricity supply.[ (A supply has since been installed.)
The station was important as one of the passing places on the single-line between and Blandford.][
] The passing loop, new down platform and signal box were opened in 1878; in later years the loop was long, as measured between the facing points at each end, compared with at Stalbridge. There was a small goods yard to the north of the station, on the up side, with a cattle dock, a small goods shed
A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
, and a 5-ton crane.[ There was a siding at the north end of the passing loop on the down side, and another just to the south of the station (also on the down side and installed in 1901) which could accommodate a 14 coach train.][ The yard, the sidings and the passing loop were controlled from a ]signal box
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
at the north end of the up platform.
Shillingstone Railway Project
The 21st century has seen the station taken on by the Shillingstone Railway Project (North Dorset Railway Trust or NDRT). The medium-term aim is to restore the current lease area ( to from Bath Junction) which equates to of single track
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
mainline with loop through the platforms.
Services
To re-build Shillingstone Station and surroundings to as it appeared in 1950-1960 and to help to educate for future generations.
Founded
Around the late 1990s the North Dorset Railway Trust (which supports The Shillingstone Station Project) was formed by Michael Paulley and this is when the hard work, negotiation, letter writing and publicity begin in earnest.
References
Further reading
*
* ISBN (no ISBN)
External links
Shillingstone Station Project Official Website
– early photographs of restoration, 1993–2004
- Shillingstone restoration progress on fotopic.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shillingstone Railway Station
Disused railway stations in Dorset
Former Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway stations
Beeching closures in England
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1863
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1966