It is worth noting that the Bridport branch closed 50 years ago on 5th May 1975

 

Sadly, it is. ...  Editorially, I have limited "on this day" entries off closures, deaths and accidents but this is one that I feel *is* worth a mention and it will pop up in the forum headers tomorrow.

The sad story of many branches off the Heart of Wessex
Yeovil Town (from Pen Mill) - 3rd October 1966 (3.3.1967 / freight)
Yeovil Junction (from Pen Mill) - remains open
Bridport (from Maiden Newton) - 5th May 1975
Poole etc (from Dorchester Junction) - remains open
Abbotsbury (from Upwey) - 1st December 1952
Portland (from Weymouth) - 3rd March 1952 (1965 freight)
Weymouth Quay (from Weymouth) - 26th September 1987 (special train 26.5.1999)

 
That the Bridport branch was built was the work of one man - Edward Gill Flight. A solicitor in Bridport in the 1820s before moving to London. He returned in 1852 to note the town in an economic low. That year the Chambers Journal printed an article on cheap railways, a number of which were built in Scotland. Using this idea Flight promoted the railway, getting the local business men behind him.

He employed Mathieson as contractor, who had built a couple of these lines in Scotland. Using a route from Maiden Newton reduced the engineering costs versus a route via Dorchester or Beaminster but meant that it needed connections at Maiden Newton which were at the mercy of the GWR, especially as there were no passing loops on the line.

I arrived in Maiden Newton a few months after it closed and, after being transferred to teach at Colfox School in Bridport, use the 73 Bus on a daily basis for a number of years.
In July Bridport Museum are holding a series of talks on the line as part of Rail 200. I am giving two, one on its opening and early years an the other on the West Bay extension.

 
Quoting from a previous thread relating to a proposal to reopen the Bridport Branch.....

 
Blimey! 

Thank you for posting those historic images here, PhilWakely. 

I'm now inclined to merge various previous posts into this one, to become a definitive topic on 'the Bridport Branch.'

 

Hmmm ... please take care of the "On this day" nature of this thread - leave it until after tomorrow?

 
Will do!