Blandford Forum railway station

Blandford Forum railway station was a station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway which served the town of Blandford Forum.

Blandford Forum
Blandford Forum railway station in April 1963
LocationBlandford Forum, North Dorset
England
Grid referenceST888067
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyDorset Central Railway
Pre-groupingSomerset and Dorset Joint Railway
Post-grouping
Key dates
31 August 1863Opened (Blandford)
21 September 1953Renamed (Blandford Forum)
7 March 1966Closed for passengers
1969closed for goods

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.[1] 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.[2]

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.[3]

The impending closure of the station was lamented by musical duo Flanders and Swann, being one of several stations mentioned in their 1964 song Slow Train ("No more will I go to Blandford Forum …"). 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 to be closed.[4]

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.[5]

The site of the station now lies within a housing estate.[6]

References
  1. Atthill, Robin; Nock, O.S. (1967). The Somerset & Dorset Railway. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4312-2.
  2. Atthill, Robin (1964). Old Mendip. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5171-0.
  3. "Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Blandford Forum" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  4. "The Musical Slow Train". BBC Cambridgeshire. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  5. "Railway Club". Blandford Town Museum. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  6. "Blandford Forum". After Closure: The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2016.

Further reading
  • Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  • Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
  • Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.

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
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