Wimborne railway station
Encyclopedia
Wimborne was a railway station in Wimborne Minster
in the county of Dorset
in England
. Open from 1 June 1847 to 2 May 1977, it was sited just north of the River Stour
in what is still Station Road. Built for the Southampton and Dorchester Railway
, the station was operated from the start by the London and South Western Railway
, which took over ownership in 1848. It was then operated by the Southern Railway
(1923-47) and from 1948 by the Southern Region of British Rail
ways which traded as British Rail from 1965.
it was the point of interchange
for several other railways. The first and most important was the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
, which ran from Wimborne Junction, just south of the station on the other side of river, initially to Blandford (1860) and then Burnham
in Somerset
(1863) and finally Bath (1874); Wimborne was the point of reversal for trains to and from Poole
. The second was the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway
(1866), a minor line which branched off at West Moors
; the station there was not opened until 1867, and goods traffic largely continued to be worked through to Wimborne and later beyond. The final new railway, branching off the original main line at New Poole Junction (the station went through many name changes, ending up as Broadstone
), was to Poole (1872) and onwards to Bournemouth
(1874).
as a residential
town and holiday resort indirectly led to the decline of Wimborne station. The Somerset and Dorset avoided the awkward reversal there by opening a bypass from Corfe Mullen
to Broadstone in 1885 (goods) and 1886 (passengers). A handful of local S&D passenger trains still ran into Wimborne, as well as some goods trains as the large yard made for a more convenient point of interchange. Worse still came in 1888 when Wimborne was bypassed by the opening of a direct line to Bournemouth from the east. When that was extended in 1893 across Poole Harbour
to join with the original Southampton and Dorchester line at Hamworthy Junction
via the Holes Bay Curve - forming an alternative through-route between Southampton
and Weymouth via Bournemouth - this meant that most main line passenger trains to and from London, Dorchester and Weymouth had no need to run through Wimborne.
Nevertheless, the generally increasing level of traffic on the railways up to 1914 meant that it was still a busy station, although post-war economies led to the withdrawal of the last S&D passenger trains from 11 July 1920, followed by milk and parcels in February 1932, with freight traffic ceasing completely from 17 June 1933. Loss of the S&D traffic only left Wimborne with the infrequent push-and-pull
services between Brockenhurst
and Bournemouth West
, a handful of trains from Salisbury
and some long-distance Summer Saturday traffic when the station was used to relieve Bournemouth. This seasonal holiday traffic built up in the inter-war period and boomed in the 1950s. Goods trains also used the route all year around for the same reason.
programme of economies. Regular goods services ceased from 28 February 1966 when sundries were concentrated on Bournemouth Central. This led to a rationalisation of the station's track and signalling for the purposes of dealing with the remaining goods traffic, and from 24 July 1966 "siding working" was introduced whereby the Down line was put out of use and services were concentrated on the former Up line. Signals were removed, but the signalbox remained in service as a ground frame until 8 January 1967 when all points
were converted for manual operation.
Goods and parcels trains continued to serve the station from Poole, running through to West Moors and Ringwood until August 1967. Thereafter traffic to Wimborne consisted mostly of coal and similar wagon loads, with the continued use of the line for an RAOC fuel depot just beyond West Moors
keeping trains running through until the early summer of 1974. For just over another 30 months, the occasional goods train disturbed the peace of Wimborne's decaying station, although by then the main reason for line's survival was the use of the goods yard by a company building exhibition trains.
Wimborne Minster
Wimborne Minster is a market town in the East Dorset district of Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town...
in the county of Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Open from 1 June 1847 to 2 May 1977, it was sited just north of the River Stour
River Stour, Dorset
The River Stour is a 60.5 mile long river which flows through Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England, and drains into the English Channel. It is sometimes called the Dorset Stour to distinguish it from rivers of the same name...
in what is still Station Road. Built for the Southampton and Dorchester Railway
Southampton and Dorchester Railway
-Planning and Construction:The Southampton and Dorchester Railway, operating in the counties of Hampshire and Dorset, received Parliamentary Assent in 1845 and opened in 1847. The railway was promoted by a Wimborne solicitor, Charles Castleman...
, the station was operated from the start by the London and South Western Railway
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
, which took over ownership in 1848. It was then operated by the Southern Railway
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
(1923-47) and from 1948 by the Southern Region of British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ways which traded as British Rail from 1965.
Heyday
The station's heyday was from the mid 1860s until the mid 1880s,when as well as being a significant station in its own right on the main line to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
it was the point of interchange
Interchange station
An interchange station or a transfer station is a train station for more than one railway route in a public transport system, and allows passengers to change from one route to another. Transfer may occur within the same mode, or between rail modes, or to buses...
for several other railways. The first and most important was the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway – almost always referred to as "the S&D" – was an English railway line connecting Bath in north east Somerset and Bournemouth now in south east Dorset but then in Hampshire...
, which ran from Wimborne Junction, just south of the station on the other side of river, initially to Blandford (1860) and then Burnham
Burnham-on-Sea
Burnham-on-Sea is a town in Somerset, England, at the mouth of the River Parrett and Bridgwater Bay. Burnham was a small village until the late 18th century, when it began to grow because of its popularity as a seaside resort. It forms part of the parish of Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
(1863) and finally Bath (1874); Wimborne was the point of reversal for trains to and from Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
. The second was the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway
Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway
The Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway was a railway that ran in the English counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset from 1866 until its closure in 1964. Working from Salisbury, trains left the Salisbury to Southampton line at the remote Alderbury Junction. Here there was a signal box, some...
(1866), a minor line which branched off at West Moors
West Moors
West Moors is a village in East Dorset, England, on the northern fringe of the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation, just outside the larger settlements of Ferndown and Verwood...
; the station there was not opened until 1867, and goods traffic largely continued to be worked through to Wimborne and later beyond. The final new railway, branching off the original main line at New Poole Junction (the station went through many name changes, ending up as Broadstone
Broadstone (Dorset) railway station
This article refers to the former station in Dorset, England. For the similarly named station in Ireland see Broadstone railway station....
), was to Poole (1872) and onwards to Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
(1874).
Decline
Bournemouth's rapid development in the late Victorian eraVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
as a residential
Residential area
A residential area is a land use in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas.Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single family housing, multi-family residential, or mobile homes. Zoning for residential use may permit...
town and holiday resort indirectly led to the decline of Wimborne station. The Somerset and Dorset avoided the awkward reversal there by opening a bypass from Corfe Mullen
Corfe Mullen
Corfe Mullen is a village in Dorset, England, on the north-western urban fringe of the South East Dorset conurbation and is part of the rural district of East Dorset. The population is 10,147 ....
to Broadstone in 1885 (goods) and 1886 (passengers). A handful of local S&D passenger trains still ran into Wimborne, as well as some goods trains as the large yard made for a more convenient point of interchange. Worse still came in 1888 when Wimborne was bypassed by the opening of a direct line to Bournemouth from the east. When that was extended in 1893 across Poole Harbour
Poole Harbour
Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being the Frome. The harbour has a long history of human settlement...
to join with the original Southampton and Dorchester line at Hamworthy Junction
Hamworthy
Hamworthy is a parish and inner suburb of Poole in Dorset, England. Hamworthy lies on a peninsula of approximately and is bounded by Upton to the north, Poole Harbour to the west and Holes Bay to the east. Poole Bridge, the southern terminus of the A350 road, connects the suburb with the town centre...
via the Holes Bay Curve - forming an alternative through-route between Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
and Weymouth via Bournemouth - this meant that most main line passenger trains to and from London, Dorchester and Weymouth had no need to run through Wimborne.
Nevertheless, the generally increasing level of traffic on the railways up to 1914 meant that it was still a busy station, although post-war economies led to the withdrawal of the last S&D passenger trains from 11 July 1920, followed by milk and parcels in February 1932, with freight traffic ceasing completely from 17 June 1933. Loss of the S&D traffic only left Wimborne with the infrequent push-and-pull
Push-pull train
Push–pull is a mode of operation for locomotive-hauled trains allowing them to be driven from either end.A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via some form of remote control, such as multiple-unit train control, to a vehicle equipped with a control cab at the other...
services between Brockenhurst
Brockenhurst railway station
Brockenhurst railway station is a railway station serving the village of Brockenhurst in Hampshire, England. It is located on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth...
and Bournemouth West
Bournemouth West railway station
Bournemouth West railway station was a railway station in Bournemouth, Dorset, England. It closed on 4 October 1965. The station was the southern terminus of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, as well as being the terminus for trains from London Waterloo and other local trains.-Closure:The...
, a handful of trains from Salisbury
Salisbury railway station
Salisbury is a railway station serving the city of Salisbury, Wiltshire. Located southwest of London Waterloo, the station is the crossing point of the West of England Main Line and the Wessex Main Line...
and some long-distance Summer Saturday traffic when the station was used to relieve Bournemouth. This seasonal holiday traffic built up in the inter-war period and boomed in the 1950s. Goods trains also used the route all year around for the same reason.
Closure
In its final years the station suffered from an air of neglect leading to Wimborne station closing to passengers as from May 1964 along with all others on the bypassed original line, an early casualty of the Beeching AxeBeeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
programme of economies. Regular goods services ceased from 28 February 1966 when sundries were concentrated on Bournemouth Central. This led to a rationalisation of the station's track and signalling for the purposes of dealing with the remaining goods traffic, and from 24 July 1966 "siding working" was introduced whereby the Down line was put out of use and services were concentrated on the former Up line. Signals were removed, but the signalbox remained in service as a ground frame until 8 January 1967 when all points
Railroad switch
A railroad switch, turnout or [set of] points is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another at a railway junction....
were converted for manual operation.
Goods and parcels trains continued to serve the station from Poole, running through to West Moors and Ringwood until August 1967. Thereafter traffic to Wimborne consisted mostly of coal and similar wagon loads, with the continued use of the line for an RAOC fuel depot just beyond West Moors
West Moors railway station
West Moors is a closed railway station in Dorset. Opened in 1867, It became the junction of the Southampton and Dorchester Railway and the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway. Although passenger services were withdrawn in 1964 as a result of the Beeching Report, continued use of the line into the...
keeping trains running through until the early summer of 1974. For just over another 30 months, the occasional goods train disturbed the peace of Wimborne's decaying station, although by then the main reason for line's survival was the use of the goods yard by a company building exhibition trains.
The site today
The site today is occupied by the weekly Wimborne Market. Most of the original embankment was removed in the 1980s for construction of the Wimborne bypass road.Services
Further reading
- J.S. Nicholas, 'Wimborne', The South Western Circular, vol.5 no.9 Jan. 1982: 197-206. ISBN 1 85260 508 1