Blandford Forum
Blandford Forum railway station in April 1963
General information
LocationBlandford Forum, North Dorset
England
Grid referenceST888067
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyDorset Central Railway
Pre-groupingSomerset & Dorset Joint Railway
Post-groupingSouthern Region of British Railways
Key dates
31 August 1863Opened as Blandford
21 September 1953Renamed Blandford Forum
7 March 1966Closed for passengers
1969closed for goods

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

History

Originally part of the Dorset Central Railway, the line to Blandford opened on 1 November 1860 to a station at Blandford St Mary, 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, requiring a bridge over the Stour, 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 & Swann, being one of some 30 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]

An Up freight train at Blandford Forum station, 1963

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

50°51′35″N 2°09′38″W / 50.85970°N 2.16050°W / 50.85970; -2.16050

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Charlton Marshall
Line and station closed
  Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway
LSWR & Midland Railways
  Stourpaine & Durweston Halt
Line and station closed
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