Links

The following are the main organisations holding information on the railways around Wimborne and East Dorset, with notes on the scope of the material they hold:

Dorset History Centre – the County’s main repository for archives on Dorset’s history.

Museum of East Dorset – previously the Priest’s House Museum, a repository for records and artefacts relating to the former East Dorset District (pre-2019) or Wimborne Urban District and Wimborne & Cranborne Rural District (both pre-1974).

The National Archive – the UK’s central repository of historical records, including those of the pre-grouping and pre-nationalisation railway companies and British Railways.

Hampshire Record Office – especially for material relating to the Southampton & Dorchester Railway in and beyond Hampshire.

Southampton Archives – Southampton & Dorchester Railway minute books and other material.

Poole Museum – material relating to the former Poole Borough area and beyond, extending northwards to the River Stour at Wimborne.

Red House Museum, Christchurch – holding some material relating to railways in and beyond the former District boundary, including East Dorset.

Wiltshire Record Office – especially relating to the railway from Salisbury to West Moors, plus other strategic railway schemes straddling Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset.

Somerset Heritage Centre – especially relating to the Somerset & Dorset Railway network, but also holding some material on East Dorset.

South Western Circle – an independent study group for the history of the London & South Western Railway, its predecessors and its successors.

Railway & Canal Historical Society – A group for everyone with an interest in the history of transport in Britain – not just inland waterways and railways, but also tramroads, roads, aviation, coastal shipping, ports and pipelines – from pre-Roman times to the day before yesterday. R&CHS has a South West Group covering our study area.

Southern Railway email Group (SREmG) – a forum for aficionados of BR Southern Region, Southern Railway and its pre-Grouping constituent companies.

Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust – originally set up in 1965 to gather and preserve historical information on this particular railway. The Trust archive has transferred to the Somerset Heritage Centre (above).

National Railway Museum (York) – including for collections of magazines relating to the L&SWR and Southern Railway; track plans (formerly in the Oxford Publishing Company collection), locomotive history, etc.

Wimborne Railway Society – a members’ railway club, founded 1975 and interested not only in the district’s railways but railways in general. Holds meetings with speakers, has an OO-gauge model of Wimborne Station and its approaches, and organises the (normally) biennial WimRail exhibition.

West Moors Railway History – a platform for Martin Rowley’s findings about the railway at West Moors and the background local and social history of the community.

Railway work, Life and Death project – developed by Dr. Mike Esbester at University of Portsmouth, looking at railway accidents across the UK. Our study will interact with this project to mutual benefit as regards cases in East Dorset.

Railway Archive – transcribing railway accident official returns across the UK.

Verwood Station
Verwood. This delightful view from the south end of the station on 1st May 1964 – the Friday immediately before the final closure – shows much of the layout. The twin-gabled Albion Hotel dominates behind the Up platform and squat station buildings. Off left behind camera was the brickworks, which provided much traffic and had its own private siding. The loop could be ‘switched out’ during quiet days to allow all trains to pass along the Up side. The road bridge remains in situ in 2021 but, after the railway’s closure, the road itself was realigned to run in front of the hotel on the level, close to where it existed prior to the railway’s arrival in the mid-1860s. BR Standard 4MT 4-6-0 No.75067 may be gathering the remaining wagons ahead of final closure on and from Monday 4th May. Unknown; © Duncan Chandler Collection
Daggons Road. In this northwards view towards Fordingbridge, we see the small yard and Up sidings, a spur from which led to a brickworks. This was the only station on the route with a single platform. It started life as ‘Alderholt’ (after the local village) but is believed to have changed to Daggons Road to avoid confusion with Aldershot! Pupils at Wimborne Grammar School travelled from here until closure of the line. BR Standard Class 4MT 2-6-0 No.76053 is heading a Salisbury-Bournemouth (West) service on Saturday 2nd May 1964, the last day of passenger trains. Unknown, © Colour-Rail, ref: BRS612 
Broadstone. This classic overview of the station looking northwards from the station bridge shows the Hamworthy lines (left) and Poole lines (right), with the station footbridge in the distance and the railway hotel to the extreme right. BR Standard Class 5MT 4-6-0 No.73164 is heading towards Poole on a Down service from Bath that has traversed the Wimborne cut-off from Corfe Mullen Junction. 12th October 1963. Roy Panting, © Colour-Rail, ref: 314702