Bridport Branch Line

[KeithMacdonald]

This will be a short series about a short line in Dorset. From Maiden Newton to the coast at Bridport Harbour (West Bay), active from 1857 until 1975.

 

Stations and locations on route:

 

• Maiden Newton
• Toller (Toller Porcorum)
• Witherstone Brick works
• Powerstock
• Bridport (Bradpole Road)
• Bridport (East Street)
• Bridport Harbour (West Bay)

 

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by KeithMacdonald
.

[KeithMacdonald]

In the beginning...

 

Originally, way back in the 1840s, folks in Bridport had hoped to be a station on any one of various proposed lines. One was a “Wiltshire, Somerset & Weymouth Railway”, intended to run between Weymouth and Chippenham, passing through Bridport. A second was a “Bristol & English Channel Railway” from Bridport to Stolford near Bridgwater (Somerset). A third was a L&SWR line from London to Exeter through Dorset. But the hopes of the people of Bridport were dashed three times, lastly when the L&SWR chose an alternative route through Yeovil instead.

 

But in the 1850s, when the GWR announced plans to build a line from Yeovil to Weymouth (via Maiden Newton and Dorchester), the locals saw their chance. A Bridport Railway Company was created to link Bridport to a junction at Maiden Newton.

 

Initially, the line used the “MacDonnell road system of Permanent Way, with rails mounted on longitudinal iron sleepers”. Does anyone know what that was?

[Southernman46]

Looking forward to it - after the MSJR topic - spookily I now live in Crewkerne and know this area well also (A Cousin owns & runs "The Stores" shop in Maiden Newton and we regularly meet & walk our dogs along the track bed).

[KeithMacdonald]

Maiden Newton

 

Important as a junction with the Weymouth to Westbury line.

 

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14.7&lat=50.77658&lon=-2.57848&layers=11&b=1&marker=51.489442,-2.752378

 

The station had a footbridge, signal box, cattle pen and goods shed. The branch to Bridport is at bottom left, with a bay platform. No sign of a turntable here, or at Bridport. So presumably in the steam era, the local GWR loco spent half its working day going backwards.

 

 

instead of a passing loop, the station had an unusual inclined siding.

 

Quote

In this photo, the locomotive (4562) has previously pushed the Bridport branch train up an inclined siding and then withdrawn to the branch approach . Under the control of the guard the train has then rolled back into the platform bay. Once the carriages had come to a stop, the locomotive has rejoined the train for the next service to Bridport.

 

 

Is that the correct number? 4562 was a Churchward 2-6-2T, based at 82F Weymouth Radipole

https://www.brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=locodata&type=S&id=4562&loco=4562

 

Another view of the "gravity siding"

 

 

Quote

Arriving from the direction of the bridge, the steam locomotive has already pulled the two carriages into the platform at the extreme left. Once the passengers have departed, the engine has then pushed the carriages up the slope of the siding to the left of the water tower. Once uncoupled, the loco has returned into the platform and subsequently moved out of the way to its present position. Under the control of the guard, the carriages are then rolled back down the incline to the platform so that the engine can rejoin the set for the return journey out of Maiden Newton Station.

 

Later, that became unneccessary. A class 121 bubble car waiting with slam-doors left open on a wet day.

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Toller (Toller Porcorum)

 

Is the first stop heading west from Maiden Newton. With that name, I wondered for a while if Toller Porcorum was a mostly-forgotten but once-posh Romano-British settlement. No such luck. Toller is the original name of the local river. Wiki says

 

Quote

The addition Porcorum means of the pigs in Latin

 

Did nobody mention that to Swindon? It could have been called Porcorumdon.

 

Anyway, what did it have?

 

 

A station with one siding that faced back towards Maiden Newton.

 

OS map

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.8&lat=50.77879&lon=-2.62196&layers=168&b=1&marker=51.489442,-2.752378

 

Quote

 

At the time of closure the building, still painted in pre-1963 Southem Region green and cream, was locked as the station had been unstaffed since 11 April 1966. Passengers could still find shelter under the awning and use the bench which was obligingly left in place. The nameboard with relief lettering and carried on concrete stanchions survived until the end: also in Southem

Region green. After standing derelict for some years the building was dismantled and moved to Totnes: where it is now used as South Devon Railway's Littlehempston station.

 

 

South Devon Railway Association has pictures of the station being moved to become Totnes Riverside.

https://www.southdevonrailwayassociation.org/London_Group.html#Toller

 

Toller handled watercress for Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Bolton. Apart from the lingering memory because of the "Watercress Line", hardly anyone remembers now what an important crop watercress used to be. It used to grown widely in many places across the south and east of Britain. Wherever chalk upland downs fed crystal-clear chalkbed streams, and many villages are called "something"-bourne. "Bourne" meaning a stream or river that mostly flows in winter and spring. Watercress was one of the early springtime crops, providing one of the first fresh vegetables every year. Changes in fashion and increasing in imports killed the demand; ever-increasing water extraction by water companies killed the ability to sustain the production.

 

Also boxes for Kentish fruit markets, railway sleepers and wood for collieries from sawmills.

 

Ref : http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/t/toller/index.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Toller in recent times.

 

 

OS map

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.9&lat=50.77859&lon=-2.62153&layers=168&b=1

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Witherstone Brick Works

 

Witherstone is most likely the location of the Brick Works shown on the map of the line by Disused Stations. 

 

The siding may be visible on the Lidar DTM background on the OS map

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.8&lat=50.77316&lon=-2.65763&layers=168&b=17&marker=50.73774,-2.74677

 

Quote

 

At Witherstone where the railway cut through the hills: a slippage occurred in a large cutting; one of the slips required purchase of extra land from a Mr Jenkins, in return for

which a 50R siding was provided for his use.

 

 

Disused Stations also says

 

Quote

Within twelve months of opening another major landslip occurred at Witherstone, and drainage works were required to make the earthworks safe. Some 20,000 cubic yards of spoil had to be removed - but it was found to be suitable for brick-making and was sold at a profit.

 

The geology in this western part of Dorset has a lot of sands, clays and Fuller’s Earth. The chalk downs and oil-bearing tertiary ground are further east.

Pictures of the cutting:

https://dwhiteman.blogspot.com/2010/09/witherstone-cutting-west-dorset.html

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Next station : Powerstock

 

Originally called Poorstock until 1860. Presumably Powerstock sounded grander to the GWR?

 

 

OS map

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.9&lat=50.75590&lon=-2.67914&layers=168&b=1&marker=51.489442,-2.752378

 

Again, a small station, with a goods siding but also a quarry siding. This part of Dorset is in the Bridport Sands geological layer, so presumably it was sandstone that was being quarried as a building material?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridport_Sand_Formation

 

1950s, with what looks like one milk churn on the platform?

 

 

This picture from the other end of the station. Can anyone identify the loco?

 

 

Once again we can see B134 on duty.

 

 

 

The station building was sold-off in 1968, six year before closure of the line. Here's what it looked like in 1989.

(C) S.A.Williams

 

 

A book about the station was written by Diana Read

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Powerstock-Station-Diana-Patina-Read/dp/0952752204

 

Ref http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/p/powerstock/

 

 

[LBRJ]

Is that a small milk churn or is it possibly a paraffin can?

[KeithMacdonald]

Thanks, hadn't thought of that. Would it have been paraffin for the train's lamps or station lights or both?

 

 

 

[LBRJ]

I was thinking it could be the supply for the station lamps. is that not a classic GWR  corrugated  iron lamp hut ?

[KeithMacdonald]

Bridport station

 

Also called Bridport (Bradpole Road) until 1902.

 

 

Like Maiden Newton, no turntable, but it did have enough space for a passing loop. It seems curious that all the goods and freight facilities are on straight tracks, but they built the station in a more difficult manner, with curved platforms. With an engine shed, goods shed, tanks (for water?) and cattle pens.

 

What kinds of freight? Disused Stations says:

 

Quote

Outbound freight traffic was net, twine, milk, timber (especially pit props), cattle and pigs, while received traffic was coal, cattle food and general merchandise. A 5-ton crane was provided. One of Bridport's most profitable years was 1923 when it sold 39,634 tickets and dealt with 47,083 tons of goods and 469 cattle trucks. Goods services were withdrawn on 5 April 1965 and the sidings had been lifted by 1968, leaving only the single passenger track to a point a short distance south of the station.

 

How about the choice of location? Curiously situated on a narrow strip of land between the road and the River Asker. We might ask “why there” when there was open space closer to the town. Also, they later built East Street station closer to the town itself. Maybe an easier location, or cheaper land? The answer, and the orientation, might have something to do with the 1859 proposed West Dorset Railway scheme, with an extension to Charmouth due west.  Proposed, but never built. Here’s my guess at a route from Bridport to Charmouth that might have been preferred by the engineers to avoid high ground and major engineering works (bridges and tunnels). Seems like a long way round for marginal benefit and high cost?

 

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Thanks to Bridport Museum via Flickr for the following pictures.

 

Perhaps the earliest – station staff 1900s. Is that broad gauge or just unusual trackwork?

 

 

A while later (1957) – amazing that a small station employed so many? I count 36 people (including the one almost hidden in the signal box).

 

 

Here's one of the relatively rare pics of a steam loco at Bridport. Can anyone confirm the number? It looks like 30102, but I'm not sure.

 

 

This one shows a short loading dock on the west end of the passenger platform.

 

 

Again, Bridport Museum via Flickr. A useful picture of a mixed freight. Perhaps six coal wagons, a flatbed, two freight vans and the obligatory Toad.

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Disused Stations:

Quote

On 6 October 1969 Bridport station ceased to be staffed. Nevertheless the station building and platform awning were retained, and the gas lighting remained in use. Whilst the down platform had Southem Region-style gas lighting: an ornate GWR standard of hoop design remained at the southern end of the up platform until closure.

 

 

1974, the end of the line for a much neglected station. One track already removed, peeling paint, weeds growing everywhere...

 

 

Same Class 121, from the other end of the platform.

 

 

After the closure of the extension to West Bay, the end of the line.

 

 

 

 

[melmoth]

35 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Here’s my guess at a route from Bridport to Charmouth that might have been preferred by the engineers to avoid high ground and major engineering works (bridges and tunnels). Seems like a long way round for marginal benefit and high cost?

 

 

 

 

I think the part of your suggested route that runs through Bridport itself would have been highly unlikely. It would have mean the demolition of at least three major townhouses (which would have been large single residencies in those days, i.e. belonging to the more wealthy and influential inhabitants), and would impinge upon a fair bit of the 'better' housing in the town at the time - not to mention going through the site of the largest rope mill.  I think the probable route would have been to continue south towards West Bay, and then swing round in an arc, effectively between St Mary's church and the Brewery, across the meadows that are still there today.

 

I've lived in Bridport for 18 years and have had plenty of time to think on such things.

[melmoth]

13 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

Here's one of the relatively rare pics of a steam loco at Bridport. Can anyone confirm the number? It looks like 30102, but I'm not sure.

 

 

 

It's 30107 - apparently the only ex-SR loco ever to run over the branch. It was there on a railtour in June 1958. 

 

There are quite a few photos of locos at Bridport in Gerry Beale's "The Bridport Branch" (Wild Swan, 2016, isbn 9780953877188)

[KeithMacdonald]

26 minutes ago, melmoth said:

I think the probable route would have been to continue south towards West Bay, and then swing round in an arc, effectively between St Mary's church and the Brewery, across the meadows that are still there today.

 

Like this?

 

[KeithMacdonald]

34 minutes ago, melmoth said:

It's 30107 - apparently the only ex-SR loco ever to run over the branch. It was there on a railtour in June 1958. 

 

Excellent! 🙂

A Drummond M7 0-4-4T

BRDatabase says it was allocated to Bournemouth from 1948 until withdrawn in 1964.

https://www.brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=locodata&type=S&id=304453079&loco=107

 

 

[melmoth]

13 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

Like this?

 

 

Yep, that's it.

[KeithMacdonald]

Bridport East Street

 

The extension from Bridport (Bradpole Road) to Bridport Harbour had closed for passenger traffic as early as 1930, but remained open for freight traffic until December 1962.  On the way, it crossed East Street and for a while provided a small station, closer to the town. The station was sadly lacking in features or facilities, and I'm sadly lacking in finding anything useful to say about it.

 

Disused Stations says just about all there is to say:

 

Quote

The single platform was on a low embankment and the stone building was halfway along platform. There were no goods facilities at the station.

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bridport_east_street/index.shtml

 

 

OS map

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18.3&lat=50.73240&lon=-2.75029&layers=168&b=1&marker=51.489442,-2.752378

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by KeithMacdonald
typo

[KeithMacdonald]

Bridport Harbour (West Bay)

 

Between 1854 and 1883, the terminus was at Bridport (Bradpole Road).

 

Then a rival scheme was proposed to build a line from Crewkerne to Bridport Harbour. Of course, Crewkerne was in LSWR/SR territory, so we can fairly safely assume a line between Crewkerne and Bridport Harbour would have been an LSWR/SR operation as well. From the lie of the land, it looks like the likeliest route from Bridport would have been due north up the River Brit valley to Beaminster, then north east to get into the River Axe valley, joining the existing LSWR line near Clapton, a couple of miles west of Crewkerne. A shorter and straighter route from Beaminster to Crewkerne would have had to cross a lot more contours with steeper gradients.

 

The Bridport Company, with its GWR connections, opposed this and an extension to Bridport Harbour opened in 1884.

 

 

OS map

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.3&lat=50.71142&lon=-2.75891&layers=168&b=1&marker=51.489442,-2.752378

 

GWR called it West Bay, apparently with the intention of promoting it as a holiday resort. Clearly, that wasn’t a great success. It only offered a passenger service until 1930, and goods finished in 1962. Would it have survived longer if the station had been closer to the dock?

 

During WW2, GWR Collett 2-6-2 5555 was used, to haul heavier trains with shingle from West Bay for airfield construction.

 

For a while after closure, a coach used the track as a station kitchen.

 

 

 

Any ideas what the concrete blocks are for?

 

 

More:

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bridport_west_bay/

 

[LBRJ]

If those concrete blocks are not meant for the foundations for some sort of decked seating area, then they should be!

[KeithMacdonald]

On 17/08/2023 at 23:03, Southernman46 said:

Looking forward to it - after the MSJR topic - spookily I now live in Crewkerne and know this area well also (A Cousin owns & runs "The Stores" shop in Maiden Newton and we regularly meet & walk our dogs along the track bed).

 

@Southernman46 - here's hoping your cousin can provide some more useful info. I've mentioned the proposed line from Crewkerne to Bridport Harbour. What else have I missed?

[KeithMacdonald]

i've been mulling over that picture of the Bridport Station staff in 1957. I counted 36 people (including the one almost hidden in the signal box). I just wanted to ask anyone with inside knowledge if this was typical? Maybe @The Stationmaster or @The Johnster ?

 

This might be a heritical thought, but maybe that's where Beeching got it wrong. Maybe the number of people wasn't a simple case of overmanning. Maybe it was a natural outcome of how much manual effort it took to deal with antiquated infrastructure and clapped-out equipment? It wasn't the length of the network that was the direct problem. The length of the network just amplified the effect. so Beeching was dealing with the effect, not the cause.

 

I might be projecting personal experience beyond it's relevent domain. But even in my "modern high-tech" computing day-job, senior management has no bloody idea how much sheer manual effort still goes into keeping systems working.

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

3 hours ago, LBRJ said:

If those concrete blocks are not meant for the foundations for some sort of decked seating area, then they should be!

 

Agreed, I'd just put two or three more layers of blocks on first. Whatever necessary to get within (say) five inches of the platform level. Before the 4"x2" and then the decking on top.