Harman's Cross railway station is a railway station located in the village of

Harman's Cross Harman's Cross is a small village on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A351 road between Swanage and Corfe Castle. The village is within the civil parish of Worth Matravers, which is itself within the South Dorset c ...

, on the

Isle of Purbeck The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome, Dorset, River Frome and Poo ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. It is an intermediate station on the

Swanage Railway The Swanage Railway is a railway branch line from near Wareham, Dorset to Swanage, Dorset, England, opened in 1885 and now operated as a heritage railway. The independent company which built it was amalgamated with the larger London and Sout ...

, a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. 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) ...

that currently operates from

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester. In the Unit ...

to Norden (and occasionally to Wareham ).

History

The Swanage Railway follows the route of the former

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, Exete ...

line from Wareham to Swanage, a line that opened in 1885 and was finally closed by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

in 1972. From the time of closure, a strong campaign to reopen the railway as a

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

operated

developed, and the Swanage Railway began operating a steam service at the Swanage end of the line in 1982. The original line did not have a station at Harman's Cross, and the current station was opened in March 1989 by the Swanage Railway as a temporary terminus for the line. Following the extension of the line to Corfe Castle and Norden in 1995, a new signal box and passing loop were constructed in 1997, and this has made Harman's Cross the main crossing point for trains between Swanage and Norden.

Services

Services run every day from the beginning of April to late October, with weekend only operation November to March. The level of service varies from 6 to 17 trains a day in each direction, depending the season and the day of the week. Southbound, trains operate to stations at Herston (trains stop only on request), and

(11 mins). Northbound, trains operate to stations at

Corfe Castle Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the Corfe Castle (village), village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and ...

(10 mins) and

Norden Norden is a Scandinavian and German word, directly translated as "the North". It may refer to: Places England * Norden, Basingstoke, a ward of Basingstoke and Deane * Norden, Dorset, a hamlet near Corfe Castle * Norden, Greater Manchester, a vill ...

(13 mins) with certain services continuing on to Wareham.

References

External links

Video footage of the station
{{Dorset railway stations Isle of Purbeck Heritage railway stations in Dorset Railway stations built for UK heritage railways Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1989 1989 establishments in England