Background
Here we outline the origins and scope of the current study, the personnel involved, the methodology (probably a minority interest!), and the anticipated outputs. Readers seeking more detail on any theme may then follow the internal links to specialist pages.
Origins and purpose
The study’s roots date back to the co-directors’ upbringing in East Dorset. We spent our formative years at local state schools and became increasingly immersed in the local railways, albeit in the declining years. Sporadic research from the mid-1960s onwards sustained interest until retirement has allowed a more intensive effort at explaining the detailed local railway history. The study is still embryonic; hence a key aim is to reach out to potential contributors and to present provisional findings. The study scope aims to cover:
- East Dorset and its transport just before the railway age.
- Proposed railway schemes, successful and abandoned.
- Construction of authorised railways.
- Development and operation of the local network.
- The peak operational years.
- Retraction, decline and closure.
- Post-closure destruction and revival efforts.
Territorial scope
The post-1974 local government Wimborne District (later East Dorset) is a convenient, if not entirely satisfactory, frame for the study. It embraces the Southampton & Dorchester Railway (So&Dor) from just west of Ringwood to the River Stour at Wimborne, the Dorset Central Railway (DCR, later Somerset & Dorset) from Wimborne Junction to Bailey Gate, and the Salisbury and Dorset Junction (Sa&DstJ) line from West Moors to the County boundary north east of Daggons Road. The routes from Wimborne to Broadstone plus most of Corfe Mullen Junction to Broadstone Junction were inside the former Poole Borough, but we include them as being critical to Wimborne’s role as a railway centre.
Our chosen study boundary for historical and physical detail is therefore as shown on the map on the Home page and the detailed railway network as described below. A more detailed explanation of the historical boundary developments around East Dorset and the criteria for choosing the study boundary will be provided on the Mapping page.
Peak railway network
With the study area defined, we can show in detail the route infrastructure – running lines, junctions, stations/halts, sidings, signal boxes, loco sheds, level crossings, etc. We need the peak network with all such installations that existed at various times (not necessarily simultaneously) between the first constructed routes and the final closures. We developed such a district map for the 2014 exhibition in Wimborne to commemorate the 50th anniversary of closure to regular passenger services. It comes in four route sections, which can be examined in detail by clicking on each of the thumbnail maps to open a larger version.
Although this is probably the first time anyone has consolidated such detail in one place, it is unlikely to be definitive in terms of completeness, use of correct official and unofficial names, etc. We welcome inputs from readers with extra or better knowledge and who can cite supporting sources. The maps offer a key to the locations of places and features on which research is being carried out. Mapping of railways more generally provides useful tools for historical research and we are developing a separate page purely on this subject, with references made to Ordnance Survey, railway company maps, (the former) British Railways Property Board land terrier, and other sources.
Study personnel
Two co-directors and research collaborators are leading the study – Peter Russell and Colin Divall, and several specialists are providing informal support on key themes, whom we shall credit in the appropriate places.
Peter Russell
My love of railways, especially the Southern, perhaps began sub-consciously when my mother worked in the locomotive drawing office at Eastleigh Works as I began my gestation in 1949. Our family’s move to the Wimborne area in 1958 began my consciousness of the local lines. I would lie awake listening to evening steam trains crossing the heathland. From Wimborne Grammar School, I left in 1968 for Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh) to train as a policy planner, specialising in environment and transport. I stayed on for post-graduate research, while also teaching and tutoring. Despite my exile from East Dorset – to Scotland and later Herefordshire – I’m constantly drawn back to my roots by my love of this part of Wessex.
Across 25-30 years I practised in local government planning, and in advisory capacities in the consultancy and voluntary sectors. I worked at regional level alongside Transport 2000 (later Campaign for Better Transport), Scottish Association for Public Transport, Railway Development Society (later Railfuture), Sustrans, Friends of the Earth, as well as supporting various railway reopening campaigns. Prior to and during retirement, I was a Trustee, Secretary and Planning Manager of the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust, working to reopen part of the S&D’s Mendip main line. Until 2019, I also edited and contributed to the Trust’s journal – The S&D Telegraph.
Colin Divall
I blame my parents. In 1960 we moved to a bungalow in Colehill with a view across the fields to the railway. No one in the family had any interest in trains, although my dad occasionally used Wimborne station. But over the next eight years the sight of those trains a few hundred yards away ignited something in my imagination and I was hooked for life. Even the Old Road’s decline and eventual closure interested me. This had once been the motorway of its day, and now it was disappearing before my eyes. I found it unbelievably sad, and a spur to find out more. I was becoming a historian.
Fast forward several decades. In the mid-1980s I’d briefly worked for British Rail before returning to university, first as a researcher and then a lecturer. In 1995 I moved to head the National Railway Museum and University of York’s newly-founded academic unit, the Institute of Railway Studies. My interest in East Dorset’s railways found occasional expression in teaching and research. Peter and I met in the late-noughties, giving each other a sounding board for the more arcane aspects of our shared interest – some might say obsession. In 2014 the Priest House Museum’s exhibition, marking 50 years since the ‘Old Road’ closed to passengers, gave public expression to much of what we’d discovered. Freed the same year from the constraints of full-time employment, I turned to more detailed studies of East Dorset’s railways. The journey’s not over yet….
Why East Dorset?
Why focus a railway study on such a small area of a predominantly rural County? We make no apologies for the personal reasons, mentioned earlier, but we do have more substantial justification. While the last half century or so has seen many in-depth studies of individual UK railway routes and companies, local area studies and even individual station studies have also become more common. Yet railways in the UK’s smaller towns have often made do with brief mentions in the broader histories of the lines serving them. The Wimborne district has perhaps been luckier than some in its referencing, but rarely focused on in its own right. A key part of the study is to catalogue, review and reinterpret existing studies. We will therefore include a literature review, partly to establish where this study fits in and where gaps exist in the historical information.
Outputs
The ultimate aspiration is to publish a book, but time constraints may dictate that the output will only be in the form of an archive of material that we hope to deposit with the Dorset History Centre and/or the Museum of East Dorset. Along the way, focused research on key aspects should result in a series of ‘occasional or working papers’, perhaps published in condensed form, or merely forming parts of the overall archived and unpublished legacy. We naturally expect to gather or create far more material than we can include in either published papers or a book. This website will also provide an outlet to publish abbreviated reports on specific outputs – cameos on sub-stories that may be incomplete and invite readers to contribute.
Another major output should be an image archive, gathering photos, maps and other formats that illustrate features of the district railways and its topographical context (the surrounding landscape, settlements, etc.). Along the way, as well as illustrating the stories, we plan to present rare and mystery photos where we may need help from readers in identifying locations, railway staff, original sources, etc.
Philosophy and methodology
We both consider methodological issues to be essential elements in justifying the study’s findings, and have adopted such approaches in our respective careers. Yet we recognise that they are perhaps a minority interest to most of our likely readers, so they are discussed in a separate section. Suffice to stress here that we do not want to limit the railway story to a narrow, linear description of events, dates and physical and operational developments. We prefer a more coherent theoretical framework that can situate the emergence and development of the railways in the context of the social, economic, political and cultural history of the region.
Referencing and intellectual property
An underlying principle of the study is to identify the ‘knowledge trail’ that leads to the study’s findings and outputs, and to credit other students, authors and photographers who have covered elements of the story. A key purpose of this academic rigour is to enable other interested researchers to examine in greater depth the themes dealt with by the study, or explore sub-stories and tangential subjects.
Much popular railway history has sadly been deficient in accurate referencing, especially of primary sources such as original railway company archives. Similarly, it has often not given adequate attribution to many illustrations used, although we recognise that tracing some photographers, collections and copyright holders is often a difficult and time-consuming activity, sometimes ultimately futile.
Properly attributing images is not a pedantic exercise, but a requirement under copyright law and a courtesy to sources. Where we cannot identify such sources, but use of material is important or even essential, we shall offer appropriate disclaimers and apologies, partly to give due respect and perhaps in the hope of flushing out the originators or copyright holders. A key objective in this regard is to seek long-lost sources of historically important material, especially rare photographs that perhaps lie hidden in family collections.
Personal statement
Ultimately, while the above stances are important, this study is a labour of love – to try to uncover, collate, interpret and present to the interested reader the full story of the railways around Wimborne and East Dorset, much of which has previously either not seen the light of day at all, or received only fragmentary coverage. We trust that the reader who picks up and digests the contents will empathise with our perspective on the study’s subject matter.
