The S&D at Burnham on Sea

Earlier this week we took a trip to Burnham on Sea to discover what remains of what was once the terminus of the Somerset & Dorset branch line from Evercreech Junction.

Well, the short answer to that is very little.

The trackbed of the route from Highbridge to the little terminus station is now a road although, in fairness to the town, they have made great efforts to commemorate their railway heritage, without which it probably would not have grown to become the place it is today.

The representative junction signal,, shown below, stands where the original signal stood that controlled access to the, much longer, excursion platform. 

The base of the original signal is shown in the second photo.

The next two photographs show the road that was built over the old railway trackbed. This leads down to the sea front, which can just be seen in the distance in the second photo.

In the photos below we have replica station nameboard and signal box, the latter being, roughly, in the same position as the original. There is also an Information Board, one of several that have been erected, charting the history of the railway.

This buffer stop is, more or less, where the original one stood, at the end of the head shunt, and was erected in 2015 following six years of negotiations.

Of course, the line originally continued beyond the station to a short pier, although it is believed that no passenger trains ever traversed this short section. The rails were used, however, to launch the life boat, which was housed at the end of a short private siding adjacent to the west end of the station.

The photo below shows the pier as it is today. The rails have long gone, indeed, as has the sea! This, sadly, is so often the case in Burnham (not very often) on Sea.

The Somerset & Dorset pub is still there, of course, and is still so named:

Actually, it was not the only pub to be given a railway-themed name as there is this one quite close by.

I will end, our trip to Burnham, with two more information boards located in the area, which show the layout of the station and give a potted history of the line, respectively, plus a Company Rule notice, which looks to be original and which is on the side of what was once the parcels office.

Hornby's Terrific Terrier

This is a Hornby Collector's Club exclusive model of BR 'Terrier' 0-6-0T, Nº 32635 'Brighton Works', Catalogue Nº: R3849.

I recently acquired this delightful version of the ever-popular Hornby 'Terrier' range of locos, simply because I loved it and liked the colour too!

She is tiny and will probably not see a great deal of use on the railway but she will be fitted with a non-sound decoder and will definitely see the occasional action.

Of course, these locos were famous for their use on the Havant to Hayling Island branch line that, sadly, closed on 2nd September 1963.

These locos were used because the Hayling Bridge, which carried the line across Langstone Harbour (see below), was not strong enough to accept anything heavier.

Hornby 66731 'Capt. Tom Moore'

The latest locomotive to join our fleet is this Hornby celebrity Class 66 - 66731 'Capt. Tom Moore', Catalogue Nº 30069.

When Hornby first launched this model at the end of April, as a way to thank, not only Captain Tom Moore (now a Sir and an honorary Colonel) and the NHS but also GB Railfreight, they initially planned to produce just 500 models.

Well, within a day, it was obvious that demand was such that the number became 1000 and, then, 1500.

By the next day it was clear that this would still not be enough so the number went up to 2000.

Hornby eventually confirmed that the total number of models would be 3500 and even these quickly sold out.

My model arrived earlier this week and, sad to say, many have already appeared on eBay at around twice the original price of £80. Many people, wholly predictably, buying these models in order to make a fast and vast profit - shame on you all!

Such a fate will not befall my loco, however, and she has already been fitted with a Hornby TTS sound decoder and I have just uploaded a video onto YouTube of her in action.

Clearly, at the price Hornby were charging, compromises have had to be made and she has nowhere near the amount of detailing found on other Class 66 models, notably by Bachmann and Hattons.

She has no working lights and lacks a decent amount of weight so that her pulling power suffers as a consequence.

Fitting the TTS decoder was simplicity itself as the body just clips to the chassis and is very easy to remove.

There is also lots of space inside the body for a decent sized speaker and, maybe, the addition of extra weights to improve haulage capacity, if desired.

She is certainly the most modern loco that we have on the railway, which actually began life in the BR Blue era but which has slowly morphed to entertain a much more eclectic mix of motive power.

Our 66 will predominantly be handling freight, such as the ballast hoppers shown here, but not exclusively so. Indeed, she was working a passenger train at the weekend and seemed to handle that with great aplomb!

Finally, Hornby were able to donate a whopping £140,000 to the NHS through sales of this model.

So, a very big thank you to Captain Tom Moore, the NHS, GB Railfreight and, of course, Hornby!

Anchwood Improvements

Just to show that there has been work done on the railway, here are some photos of the improvements that have been made to Anchwood, the little terminus at the end of the branch line from Gunnmere Junction.

A back scene has been added here, which is an immediate improvement to the blue wall that was the previous background.

Some trees, hedging and bushes have also been added to make it appear a bit more rural.

In these photos, a Class 108 DMU waits to depart from the station's only platform. This being the usual motive power for the branch line.

Indeed so rural, now, is this station that the gents toilet is one without a roof. 

That is fine on a day like today, when the sun is shining but, when it rains!

The ladies toilet, meanwhile, is attached to the Ticket Office / Waiting Room.

Now, why is that man holding the door open?

Ah, I see - there, emerging from within, is a BR Class 4MT, about to haul a special, no doubt.

Meanwhile, at Gunnmere Junction, we see a Class 37 departing with a rake of GUVs.

Beyond the Trailway - Bailey Gate and Corfe Mullen

After completing what there currently is of the North Dorset Trailway, we thought we would see what there was of the S&D, further south, at Sturminster Marshall (aka Bailey Gate) and Corfe Mullen.

Well, sadly, the answer is very little at either location. 

The trackbed does still exist between Spetisbury and Sturminster Marshall, although it does cross three roads in the process. However, the station site itself has completely disappeared beneath a large industrial estate that has totally consumed both the station site and the adjacent milk factory.

What was Bridge Nº 220 has also disappeared and has been replaced by a roundabout at the entrance, although the road either side of said roundabout has been named Bridge Street in its memory!

The only other nods to the railway's existence in the village are thoroughfares named Station Road and Railway Drive.

As to why the S&D named the station Bailey Gate rather than Sturminster Marshall is simply to avoid confusion between here and the stations at Sturminster Newton and Charlton Marshall.

Moving on to Corfe Mullen, again, the trackbed between the two stations is largely extant but, as with Bailey Gate, nothing remains of the station site nor of Bridge Nº 235, which carried the Wimborne Road.

The cutting in which the halt was situated was filled in during the 1980s and subsequently developed to form Corfe Halt Close:

This was the location of the station, looking north:

And looking south:

Bridge Nº 236 at Lambs Green Lane does still exist, see below:

The cutting below the bridge is heavily overgrown but, if cleared, could still make an attractive pathway. However, there is a footpath to the side of this cutting which affords great views towards Wimborne:

Further along the trackbed is a little clearer but still inaccessible.

After walking alongside the trackbed for about a quarter of a mile, you can eventually access it as it becomes part of the Corfe Burrows Nature Park which, in turn, is linked to the Happy Bottom Nature Reserve.

From here until the start of the Broadstone Golf Course, which the S&D traversed but which is not, now, accessible, is a lovely, peaceful walk and all the more so because it was unexpected.

It included the three-arched Ashington Lane bridge as well as the odd railway remnant.

Photos of this stretch of line are extremely rare but I did find this black & white image by Ivo Peters, from his excellent and highly recommended book: 'The Somerset and Dorset - An English Cross Country Railway'.

This is rare indeed since Ivo tended to concentrate on the northern half of the line so to find this one in his book was a lovely surprise.

It shows quite nicely how much this cutting has been in-filled since closure.