wimborne

(All pics courtesy Jim Type, copyright C L Caddy Collection)

Wimborne was the original southern end of the S&D, and at one time was the busiest station in Dorset. It is currently closed completely, and has been since 1977 (1964 to passengers!) Not quite sure what the planners were thinking of in the Silly Sixties when Ringwood, Blandford, Wimborne and Fordingbridge all lost their passenger and freight services! All of these stations should be open again in the not too distant future.

The original connection may seem odd to us now, but the honeypot of Bournemouth didn't really exist before 1870, around which time a direct route from Brockenhurst was built, leaving the original line, nicknamed 'Castleman's Corkscrew' thanks to its rather singular course, as a secondary, albeit double track to the end, route. At around the same time the S&D south of Bailey Gate acquired a direct route into Poole and Bournemouth. The S&D line to Wimborne then became a minor branch line, closing to passengers as early as 1933. Wimborne's final passenger services, to Salisbury, Brockenhurst and Poole all closed in 1964, with freight continuing from Poole until 1977.

From the 21st century this loss may seem insane, but remember in the sixties they hadn't quite twigged that oil was a finite resource and seriously expected roads to last well into the 21st century and perhaps even the 22nd!

Back in the real world our task will be to get these large towns back on the network ASAP. The recent ATOC report had the Ringwood line right at the top of its reinstatement list, though shied clear of making the obvious next step to Wimborne. The New S&D will restore trains to Blandford as quickly as possible, and will also have the second connection to Wimborne, to give greater flexibility of services as well as tap into the traffic of this large town. A group to rebuild the Fordingbridge line is also likely to be launched very soon. So the railways in this part of Dorset are definitely stirring from the rather stupid hibernation they've been in since the mid sixties. About time too!