The Bridport Railway in Dorset, the 3:11 to Bridport passenger service. An afternoon passenger service (pulled by a Pannier tank locomotive ) runs under Whetley Bridge near Powerstock railway station on its way to Bridport on a sunny afternoon. Two boys are delighted with the steam about to engulf them as they look over the bridge. On their way home each afternoon they take their time, the sleepy west Dorset life, the rolling hills, and a whistle would tell them the train is coming. As children often did they jump up to see over the bridge. As a result, they know they will be lost in the smoke and steam as it passes but it was free entertainment each day.

The Pannier tank was a regular sight on branch lines across the country. In GWR livery they looked great but here I’ve portrayed her after British Rail took over. Whetley Bridge still stands today, unfortunately, the trains are mere ghosts of the imagination nowadays. I plan to do many more paintings of this particular line.

The Bridport Railway was a railway branch line that operated in the county of Dorset in England. It connected Bridport with the mainline network at Maiden Newton and opened on 12 November 1857. It was extended to West Bay in 1884, but the extension was not well used and it closed to passengers in 1930.

 The Bridport Railway opened on 12 November 1857, the GWR line having opened throughout the region earlier that year. There was one intermediate station at Poorstock, renamed Powerstock in 1860. It was constructed in a broad gauge and worked by the GWR. Toller station was opened on 31 March 1862, serving the village of Toller Porcorum. The branch was converted to the standard gauge in June 1874.

The line extension from Bridport station to West Bay, a little over two miles, opened on 31 March 1884.

 

The route.

Running through undulating topography, the route had to negotiate difficult terrain. It ran southwest from Maiden Newton.

The route climbed from Maiden Newton to a summit west of Toller, near the 4-mile post, with a steep gradient of 1 in 85. From there it fell at 1 in 50 for a mile and a half and falling nearly as steeply—1 in 62 for part of the way—to Bridport. The West Bay extension was comparatively easy.

Toller

When the station at Toller was opened in 1862, the platform originally had no shelter. A simple structure was built later. Sometime after the line closed it was carefully dismantled and taken to the South Devon Railway where it remains today. There was only a single siding at this station to start with, later it became a double-ended siding.

Powerstock

This was the only intermediate station when the original line opened. Powerstock station had a single platform with a small goods yard partly cut into the hillside. 

Bridport

The original Bridport station was a stone-built terminus with two platforms under a train shed. When it opened the Goods Yard provided a focus for distribution of the net and twine products made locally. When the line was extended, the alignment of the existing station had to be altered to accommodate the new line.

Bridport East Street

This station was little more than a cottage and platform, built closer to the town.

Bridport West Bay

The extension to West Bay opened in 1884 and the GWR, thinking that the area would develop into a major holiday resort initially called it Bridport Harbour, however, it was soon renamed Bridport West Bay to encourage the hoped-for holiday business.

There was a signal box on the single platform and some siding accommodation. Goods activity ceased on 3 December 1962 except for limited traffic in coal and shingle, which finished on 1 January 1966.

The branch line closed in 1975.