Looking back at the railways of Bridport and Lyme Regis
Bridport railway station was located on Sea Road North and was in use from November, 1857 until May, 1975.
The line between Maiden Newton and Bridport was run by Bridport Railway, with the train calling at Powerstock and Toller stations.
An extension to West Bay[1] was added in 1884.
Outbound freight included net, twine, timber, livestock, milk and more.
In 1930, the West Bay extension was eventually closed to passengers, but remained open for the goods service until December, 1962.
Goods services were withdrawn from Bridport in April, 1965.
The Beeching Report of October, 1965 saw a huge reduction of the country’s rail networks.
The recommendations called for modernisation and saw Dorset lose miles of track.
Among the lines indicated to be cut was the line between Bridport and Maiden Newton.
However it was argued that the railway route between Maiden Newton and Bridport was more direct than by road, and the settlements surrounding Toller and Powerstock were only reachable through narrow country roads.
A subsidy from Dorset County Council enabled the service to continue.
Although the line continued to be open, Powerstock and Toller stations became unstaffed from April, 1966, with platform lamps sent from Maiden Newton Daily.
Bridport station soon followed suit, becoming unstaffed from October, 1969.
It wasn’t until May, 1975 that passenger services stopped serving the Maiden Newton to Bridport line.
Alan Young visited the Bridport Line twice.
He said: “The first time was on a weekday in early March 1974 when I was about the only passenger on a train between Toller (to which I’d walked from Maiden Newton) and Bridport.
“I revisited the line on 26 April 1975 which was the penultimate weekend before closure – thinking that the closure weekend would be very busy.
“Even so, the trains were ‘standing room only’ when I travelled, and my photos at Toller and Bridport that day show an unusually large number of passengers or onlookers.
“It was a delightful line to travel: one of the last truly rural survivals in England.
“When I revisited Bridport station in August 1977 it was almost entirely demolished, but the intermediate stations of Toller and Powerstock were still in good shape, minus rails.”
Lyme Regis branch line connected the seaside town with the main line network at Axminster and when opened, was run by the Axminster & Lyme Regis Light Railway.
The route ran through the rural countryside of the Dorset-Devon border and was opened in 1903.
The station was located three quarters of a mile inland from the town centre, due to the steep gradient nearby.
The line was six miles long, starting from Axminster station, and climbed southwards through the village of Uplyme into Lyme Regis.
On summer weekends, high passenger levels were transported from station to station.
By 1952 the Lyme Regis branch was recorded as having fewer than three passengers per train in winter and seven in summer.
Although the summer was popular for the line, running during the winter was uneconomic.
However a reasonable service continued, with 10 trains down and eleven up running in 1961.
In winter, a single carriage was used, and in the summer, two to three carriages.
Like the Bridport to Maiden Newton line, the Breeching report proposed the closure of the Axminster to Lyme Regis line.
Freight trains were withdrawn in February, 1964, and the formal proposal of closure was published in August, 1964.
The final trains ran in November, 1964, with the platform at Lyme Regis so overcrowded, that passengers hoping to catch the 3.39pm to Axminster could not reach the platform.
Ken Gollop remembers Lyme Regis railways station from his childhood and later adulthood.
Ken said: “When I used to go to the grammar school in 1946, there used to be a WH Smith on the platform where we brought our school stationary.
“After the war, most of the traffic coming into the station used to be on Saturdays when people came in from London.
“They would add two or three extra carriages to the service.
“During the 1950s I used the line a lot for work, where the passenger numbers eased off.
“The introduction of cars and a bus service meant occasionally I was the only one on the train.
“It’s no wonder that it closed, but it is a shame as it was a beautifully scenic journey which went through bluebell woods, Uplyme Valley and Axminster Valley.”
Where Lyme Regis station once was is now occupied by a builders merchant and industrial estate.
Bridport station is now the site of a a Co-op car park.
Upon both lines closure, they were being run by British Railways Western Region.
At the spots where the Bridport and Lyme Regis stations once stood, there are no signs that a train station was there.