The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway came into existence on 1 November 1875. It was formed when the Somerset and Dorset Railway ran into unmanageable financial difficulties and they leased the line for 999 years to the
Midland Railway and the
London and South Western Railway jointly. There were goods facilities at Highbridge Wharf, to the west of the line. The line was worked operationally by the . Initial results were encouraging, and the original objective of the railway, to give Glastonbury access to the maritime and railway transport links at Highbridge, was successfully achieved.
Development Highbridge Wharf became a hive of activity, and at this early date coastal shipping was still an important means of transporting goods. To reach South Coast destinations the ships had a difficult and hazardous passage round
Land's End, and there were hopes that the railway could become the core of a transport chain bringing manufactured goods, especially metal goods, from
South Wales to the Southern Counties, and taking agricultural produce back to feed the industrial population in South Wales, using shipping across the
Bristol Channel. The success of Highbridge Wharf for goods traffic encouraged ideas of expanding passenger traffic across the Bristol Channel, and on 3 May 1858 the Somerset Central Railway opened an extension from Highbridge to a new passenger
pier at
Burnham, expecting heavy passenger traffic. The pier was actually a slip, a broad ramp 900
feet (274 m) long, sloping down at 1 in 21 into the
tidal waters; and
steamers berthed alongside at the point where the adjacent part of the slip was at a suitable height. Rails were laid on the slip, and single wagons were worked down to the steamers using a wire rope; passengers, however, walked to a platform at Burnham station nearby. In both cases the arrangement was awkward and inconvenient, and the anticipated traffic growth never materialised, and the Burnham Pier, which had cost £20,000, was a financial failure. At the eastern end, a branch to the important city of
Wells was opened on 15 March 1859. This had originally been planned to be part of a main line extension towards
Frome, where the
Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway could be joined, giving the yearned-for access to the South Coast towns, but by now the Somerset Central thought that joining up with the Dorset Central Railway would be a more cost-effective option. Wells therefore was a branch line only, with the station at
Priory Road. The line was worked by the . This and all of the Dorset Central Railway's lines were standard gauge. Intermediate stations were at
Spetisbury, and
Sturminster Marshall.
Northwards aspiration Seeing that its northwards destiny could best be served by an alliance with the Somerset Central Railway, it obtained powers in the '''''' (
20 & 21 Vict. c. cxxxix) to extend to Cole and join that railway there, and it opened part of this route, from Templecombe to Cole on 3 February 1862, the same day that the Somerset company opened its section to Cole. There was one intermediate station, at
Wincanton. All of this northern section was worked by the Somerset company.
Templecombe Templecombe was a small community and its significance was the connection to
London over the
Salisbury and Yeovil Railway's line. The trains used the Salisbury and Yeovil Railway (S&YR) station on the main line. The difference in levels between the two lines and the availability of land induced the company to make the physical connection facing towards Salisbury and London, and the junction was to the east of the station. The provided a track from the point of junction back to their station, and trains arriving from Cole had to reverse from the junction to the station. It is unlikely at this early date that through running (without calling at Templecombe) was contemplated, and the spur probably did not connect directly into the main line.
Formation of the Somerset and Dorset Railway The Somerset Central Railway and the northern part of the Dorset Central Railway were worked as a single unit from the beginning, and on 1 September 1862 the two railways were amalgamated by an
act of Parliament, the '''''' (
25 & 26 Vict. c. ccxxv), under the title Somerset and Dorset Railway (S&DR). At this time therefore, the system consisted of: • the original main line and its eastward extension, running from Highbridge to Templecombe (the junction with the Salisbury & Yeovil Railway); • the Highbridge Wharf extension and the Burnham extension at the western end; • the separate portion from Blandford to
Wimborne Junction.
Closing the gap The new company opened the missing link from Blandford to Templecombe on 31 August 1863, and now the original dream of a link from the
English Channel to the
Bristol Channel materialised. The allowed through passenger trains to run over their line between Wimborne and Poole, reversing at Wimborne. The Somerset and Dorset company therefore operated trains from Burnham to Poole and on the branch to Wells. At this time Poole station was on the western side of
Holes Bay, at the location that ultimately became Hamworthy Goods. Intermediate stations between the point of junction at Templecombe and Blandford were Templecombe ( station), Henstridge, Stalbridge, Sturminster Newton, Shillingstone and Blandford. The original connection from Cole to the Salisbury and Yeovil Railway (S&YR) had faced towards London, and the new line diverged half a mile or so north of the line, passing under it by a bridge. The Templecombe station was provided between the new junction and the bridge. The opening of Sturminster Newton station prompted the renaming of the Sturminster Marshall station to Bailey Gate (after the adjacent
turnpike gate) to avoid confusion. At Blandford, a new station was built, situated more conveniently to the town, and the earlier station south of the
River Stour was closed.
Templecombe complications Templecombe had suddenly become the most important interchange point on the system, and trains from Wimborne needed convenient access to a station. The company provided its own "Lower" station on the direct north–south line a little north of the line on the east of its own line. passengers had their own station, but the through traffic from Glastonbury and Highbridge to
London was important, and would not think well of the half mile walk between the two stations. To accommodate those passengers, the operated a shuttle train service between the two stations. This arrangement could hardly continue, but the topography of the village was challenging. The solution eventually adopted was to construct a new west-facing connection entering directly into the station. Because of the height difference it made its junction with the main line some distance to the north at a new junction. The east-facing connection to the line was severed, although the spur was retained as a siding connected at the Templecombe S&DR end. At some later date, it became obvious that the station to the east of its main line was almost useless, as nearly all trains called at the main (Upper) station to make connections. The Lower station was closed and a short platform,
Templecombe Lower Platform, was provided on the west side of the main line, adjacent to the main road. There were no facilities on it, and only the last train from Bournemouth and certain other very early or late trains used it.
Bournemouth reached at last In the first half of the 19th century,
Bournemouth was an insignificant
hamlet, and when a railway from London to Dorchester was being planned, no importance was attached to the coastal area. Later as the town grew many of its wealthier inhabitants blocked the coming of the railway as they felt it would spoil the exclusivity of the town by allowing access to tourists from all classes. Accordingly, the railway from
Southampton to
Dorchester cut inland to pass through the important
towns of
Ringwood and
Wimborne. There was a branch to the west of Holes Bay from Poole Junction (now Hamworthy) to a station called Poole, situated to the west of the bridge over the inlet. This was the "Poole" station that Somerset and Dorset trains reached over tracks, reversing at Wimborne. This was inconvenient for the town of Poole, and the interest built a railway to reach Poole itself from Broadstone, opening on 2 December 1872, and through a daughter company from Poole to Bournemouth on 15 June 1874. The Bournemouth station eventually became Bournemouth West. Somerset and Dorset trains transferred from the Hamworthy station to the new Poole station immediately, and extended to Bournemouth as soon as the extension was opened. They still had to reverse at Wimborne, as the Corfe Mullen connection did not materialise until 1885.
The Bath extension In earlier times the
port and industrial centre of Bristol had been the northerly magnet, but in the intervening years other railways had interposed themselves. But the Midland Railway's
Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line had reached Bath in 1869, so the decided to head for that destination. This had the advantage also of crossing the
Somerset Coalfield. The '''''' (
34 & 35 Vict. c. ccv) was obtained on 21 August 1871 which included running powers for the last half mile into Bath over the Midland's line, and the use of their Bath station at Queen Square. The terrain was quite different from the previous ground covered, and engineers had to build many tunnels and viaducts. The line was steep, with a ruling gradient of 1 in 50. The summit, in the Mendip Hills, was 811 feet above sea level. (247
m). within a month of the formal takeover of responsibilities, and must have brought home to the parent companies the urgency of their intervening to bring things into good order. Operation of the complex stretches of single line had been done by Absolute Block working, but without any form of physical train staff (supplemented by telegraphic train orders issued from an office at Glastonbury), so the set about replacing this by the Electric Train Tablet method of single-line control. Aside from that, the new management consolidated the links with mineral extraction interests near the line. At Wells, two other railways, originally independent, had approached the S&D station there (Priory Road). The East Somerset line from Witham led in from the east, and had a station opposite the S&D station. The Bristol and Exeter operated branch from to a station in Wells at
Tucker Street. The S&D station sat exactly between them and while these railways remained broad gauge, connecting them, a connection was difficult. Eventually they were absorbed by the GWR, and then converted to standard gauge, and on 1 January 1878 a through connection was made, so that goods traffic exchange was now possible, and GWR passenger trains could run throughout from Yatton to Witham, through the S&D station. They did not make calls there until 1 October 1934, and ceased to do so when the S&D Wells branch closed in 1951. to
Broadstone ‘cut-off’ of 1885 through
Ashington The main line transit from Bath to Bournemouth was still hampered by the necessity of reversing at Wimborne, and the joint companies built a new cut-off line from
Bailey Gate, through the station in
Corfe Mullen and the hamlet of
Ashington, to what became
Broadstone station. The new line ran alongside the Wimborne line for the first two miles to Corfe Mullen and the cut-off carried its first goods traffic on 14 December 1885, and was fully brought into use on 1 November 1886. It is not clear why the ten-month delay took place, but it may be connected with objections from the town of Wimborne at the obvious loss of train services. In 1889 and 1891 the Midland Railway and the bought out nearly all of the stock of the original S&D shareholders, so that they finally became joint owners of the line.
Bridgwater joins the S&D The original Somerset Central Railway company had considered the important town of
Bridgwater as its western terminus, but had decided that the difficulties of constructing a route were too great. However the Bridgwater Railway Company made the connection from Edington Road, renamed Edington Junction, to Bridgwater, opening the seven mile line on 21 July 1890; there was one intermediate station at Cossington and a Halt at Bawdrip. From that time, there was a viable passenger transit from Bridgwater to London via Templecombe, in competition with the GWR route via Bristol. The nominally independent Bridgwater Railway had a working arrangement with the and the line was operated from the outset by the S&D. After the
1 January 1923 Grouping ownership of the line passed to the
Southern Railway.
Working of single line From the late 1870s a number of the single line sections were made
double track, to improve handling of the heavy train service, and by 1905 about two-thirds of the main line mileage was double track, and trains could now run throughout from Bath to Bournemouth with reasonable convenience, excepting only the awkward arrangement at Templecombe. Southbound trains calling there (to make connection into the Exeter main line) had to be hauled back to the S&D junction by a spare engine, then to continue their southward journey; the corresponding evolution in reverse was necessary for northbound trains. This complexity persisted until the final closure of the S&D line. However the remaining single line sections proved a serious delaying factor for the traffic. Safety on single line sections was secured by every train carrying a
token for each single line; instruments at the
signal boxes were electrically
interlocked to ensure that only one token could be out of the instruments for any one section at a time. The tokens had to be handed to the driver of every train by the signalman, and in the case of express trains, this meant slowing to walking pace to secure the handover. Alfred Whitaker, the S&D locomotive engineer, developed a mechanical apparatus; part of this fitted to the locomotive cabside consisted of jaws which caught a loop on a pouch containing the token; the pouch was held at the lineside in a special delivery holder. The token to be given up by the train was correspondingly caught by a catcher fixed at the lineside. This system enabled token exchanges to take place at 40 mph, and considerably accelerated the handling of through trains at single line crossing places. The main line was single from Bath Junction to Midford (inclusive), from Templecombe Junction to Blandford with crossing places at Stalbridge, Sturminster Newton, Shillingstone and Stourpaine, and from Corfe Mullen to both Wimborne Junction and Broadstone Junction.
Locomotives and rolling stock Locomotive and rolling stock on the Somerset and Dorset was largely defined by those running the line, the five main phases were: • Somerset and Dorset, 1863–1875 • –
Midland Railway and , 1875 – 1923 • Post grouping – LMS and
Southern Railway (SR), 1923–1948 • Nationalisation –
British Rail Southern Region, 1948–1958 • Nationalisation –
British Rail Western Region (north of Templecombe) and Southern region (south of Templecombe), 1958–1966 The early locomotive fleet was bought in from suppliers, and as the company was always in financial difficulties, the stock was never to the highest specification. The company had its own Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon works at
Highbridge. This closed in 1930 and the locomotives were transferred to the control of the LMS. Things improved considerably when the joint ownership started, and the Midland Railway provided more powerful and reliable traction. Even so, the Midland Railway's policy of building small engines was spectacularly unsuitable for the heavy gradients and heavy loads of the S&D. For many years, right up to 1959, a Midland design of 4-4-0 Class 2P was the mainstay of the express passenger traffic, with variations of 3F 0-6-0 freight tender engine and 0-6-0T tank engines. A revolutionary change took place when the Midland built a small fleet of 2-8-0 tender engines to handle the heaviest freight trains—the unique
S&DJR 7F 2-8-0 series—with Walschaerts valve gear and the greatest tractive effort ever delivered by a Derby locomotive, with the exception of the "Lickey Banker" 0-10-0. After nationalisation in 1948 the Southern Region
Battle of Britain and West Country 4-6-2 locomotives were a common sight. The heavier
Merchant Navy 4-6-2 was not used on the line. In the final few years, GWR Collett 0-6-0 tender locomotives in the 22XX class handled all of the Highbridge branch work, and LMS standard Jinty types dealt with the shunting duties. The LMS 4F 0-6-0 tender locomotives worked some trains down from Bath—they were commonplace on the Bath to Bristol services—and the Western Region drafted in green liveried
Standard Class 5 4-6-0s in the 73XXX series, with
BR Standard Class 4 4-6-0 75XXX 4-6-0 locomotives working from the Bournemouth end. The 7F 2-8-0s were pressed into passenger service in summer. Some standard tanks classes operated on the line, the most powerful being the
Standard Class 4 2-6-4T in the 80XXX series; these had one disadvantage, in that the water tanks extended along the cabside and this prevented the fitting of the Whitaker tablet exchange mechanism there. In the early 1960s (1960 to 1963, to be exact) a small fleet of
Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 locomotives were transferred to the line for the duration of the summer timetable period (roughly June to September) to work on the heaviest passenger trains. They included (in 1962) No. 92220 "
Evening Star", the last steam engine to be built by British Railways. These locomotives proved ideal for the S&D, delivering considerable power, good steaming, and high adhesion. These heavy freight locomotives had relatively small wheels, and were not designed to run with passenger trains, but with the
Pines Express they were easily able to reach, and perhaps exceed, the 70 mph line speed limit on the better, downhill parts of the route. After a review of the velocities of the reciprocating masses and coupling rods, a 60 mph maximum speed was urgently imposed. The 9Fs eliminated large portions of the
double heading that was a distinctive part of operations on the S&D in summer, albeit one that also incurred considerable expense and operational difficulties. As freight locomotives, they were not fitted with carriage steam heating equipment. This precluded their use on passenger trains outside the summer months, and despite their exceptional performance the type was only ever a seasonal visitor to the S&D. The 9Fs were also too long for the
turntables at Evercreech Junction and Templecombe, and so were restricted to working through between Bath and Bournemouth. Although this was not an issue when they ran summer passenger trains, it meant they could not be employed on heavy freight services (most of which ran between Bath and either Templecombe or Evercreech) in the rest of the year. These factors meant it was not deemed feasible to extend or expand the use of the 9Fs.
Diesel multiple units were trialled on the route about 1959 when
dieselisation of branch lines was in full swing elsewhere, but their relatively low power made them impractical for the steeply graded route.
Service in 1938 The S&D's domestic train service was not fast, and except on summer Saturdays, there were a handful of stopping services, several of them running from Bath to Templecombe and from Templecombe to Bournemouth separately, and even the through stopping trains waited for some time at Templecombe. Some trains ran from Highbridge to Templecombe, and a few of the trains started from Bristol, reversing at Bath. (All these comments apply "and vice versa" wherever appropriate.) The 1938 Bradshaw gives a good snapshot of the train service: Stopping trains took the best part of four hours for the Bath to Bournemouth journey. In July 1938 stopping trains left Bath Queen Square at • 06:50 (
Bristol Temple Meads to Bournemouth) • 08:30 (to Templecombe) • 09:20 (Bristol Temple Meads to Bournemouth fast, 2 hours 35 minutes Bath to Bournemouth) • 10:20 ( via Bristol Temple Meads to Bournemouth semi-fast, 2 hours 35 minutes Bath to Bournemouth) • 13:10 (to Templecombe) • 14:50 (to Templecombe; 15:00 on Saturdays) • 17:05 (to Templecombe) • 18:35 (to Bournemouth) • 21:00 (to Evercreech Junction, continuing to Wincanton on Wednesdays and Templecombe on Saturdays) • 23:00 to Midsomer Norton The last train of the day from Bournemouth to Templecombe terminated there at the lower platform instead of reversing into the Upper station. A summer Sunday evening train started from the Lower Platform and ran to Bournemouth Central, but there were only one or two trains on Sundays. The connections at Templecombe were poor, and this probably reflects timetable improvements over the years on the
Waterloo –
Salisbury –
Exeter line that were not supported by S&D connectional arrangements. The early possibility of making a fast Bridgwater to Waterloo journey via Templecombe had vanished by 1938. Summer Saturdays increased this traffic immensely over the domestic business; holidaymakers returning home wanted to leave Bournemouth in the morning, but the southbound arrivals travelled later in the day (having left northern towns in the morning). There were thirteen long-distance trains handled over the S&D, all but one of them with Bournemouth as their southern terminal. The exception ran to Sidmouth and Exmouth, leaving the S&D at Templecombe; in later years it ran from Cleethorpes, forming an interesting coast-to-coast service. The holiday trains otherwise avoided Templecombe, and many ran non-stop from Bath to Poole taking two and a half hours from Bath to Bournemouth. The northern terminals were mainly on the former Midland Railway system, with Bradford in the lead, although the
Pines Express ran to and from Manchester. Two southbound trains and one northbound train started on Friday night and ran through the small hours.
Branch lines Six trains a day ran on the Highbridge line from Burnham-on-Sea to Evercreech Junction taking about 70 minutes for the 24 miles – two morning trains continued to Templecombe. A seventh train ran as the last of the day from Burnham-on-Sea to Wells, and the first train of the day in the reverse direction also ran from Wells to Burnham-on-Sea. In addition there were eleven daily trains in summer between Highbridge and Burnham-on-Sea only. The Wells to Glastonbury line saw six trains each way daily, and the Bridgwater branch had eight trains each way (plus one Wednesdays only down train) daily. These more or less connected with trains for Evercreech at Edington Junction.
Closures The line began to decline in use from the 1950s onwards. In 1951, the branch from Glastonbury to Wells was closed. In December 1952, passenger services were withdrawn on the branch from Edington Junction to Bridgwater (Edington Junction being renamed 'Edington Burtle'); followed by closure of the branch on 1 October 1954. The short section of branch-line from Highbridge to Burnham-on-Sea closed to regular services in 1951, though through specials continued to use the line until September 1962. Highbridge was the new branch terminus and was renamed several times, becoming:
Highbridge & Burnham-on-Sea. A further small closure affecting the S&D in 1965 of the
Bournemouth West terminus station saw S&D trains in the last months starting from and ending at
Bournemouth Central. Despite the Labour government elected in 1964 promising no further major railway cutbacks, an active campaign to save the line was lost when on 6 September 1965, the closure consent covering most of the S&D and the line to Bristol via Mangotsfield was issued. Tom Fraser was the Minister of Transport at the time. That consent was followed by another for Broadstone station and Creekmoor Halt as these stops had also been served by another passenger service, though that had already been withdrawn. Closure scheduled for 3 January 1966 was deferred when one of the road operators withdrew his application for a licence to provide some of the alternative road services, and an emergency service was introduced on that date instead. This reduced the number of trains departing Bath to four a day (06:45, 08:15, 16:25 and 18:10), and two a day (06:55 and 16:00) from Highbridge. There were no through trains other than the 18:46 from Bournemouth Central on Saturdays, with journeys being broken at Templecombe and no suitable connections provided. There were no services on Sundays. Finally, on 7 March 1966 the whole S&D line from Bath to Bournemouth – and also the Evercreech Junction to Highbridge line – was closed under the
Beeching Axe and dismantled. Three short sections survived: • Blandford Station remained open for freight only, accessed by a branch from
Broadstone until 1969. • A section from the GWR main line at Highbridge to Bason Bridge remained opened to allow milk trains to access the
United Dairies creamery. In the months before closure, goods trains loaded with
fly ash tipped at the construction site of the
M5 motorway to enable it to progress across the
Somerset Levels. Progress on construction of the motorway finally closed the spur on 3 October 1972. • After the decision to close the S&DJR in 1966, a connection was made to the west of with the GWR main line. This allowed trains on the former GWR
Bristol and North Somerset Railway to traverse a short spur through Radstock North to
Lower Writhlington Colliery,
Braysdown Colliery and
Writhlington Colliery, to transport coal to
Portishead power station. After the last coal from the Somerset Coalfield was extracted from Writhlington Colliery on 28 September 1973, the spur was dismantled == Accidents ==