Shillingstone Station and the S&DJR

Its origins in 1862 as part of the S&DR to the present day

The Dorset Central Railway (DCR) amalgamated with the Somerset Central Railway (SCR) on 1 September 1862 to form the Somerset & Dorset Railway (S&DR).  At that time the DCR line stopped at Blandford Forum going north from Wimborne Minster. Another section was built from Templecombe to Cole near Bruton where it joined the SCR line to Burnham on Sea. The result of this ad hoc building was a gap between Blandford Forum and Templecombe.

The first task of the S&DR was to fill this gap and build five stations, with one of the new stations being at Shillingstone. This was completed by 31 August 1863 and through trains from Wimborne Minster to Burnham on Sea were now possible. The S&DR was now able to boast a Channel-to-Channel service linking with ships to Cardiff and in cooperation with the LSWR south of Wimborne Minster to Bournemouth West. Unfortunately, it was not particularly successful as Burnham was incapable of being developed into a port. The route served only scattered rural communities and traffic was lost owing to a shortage of motive power. The end result was that the Railway was placed into administration in 1866.

Following significant reorganisation, the Receivers were discharged in 1870. Later that year the S&DR took the decision to extend the line from Evercreech Junction to Bath, with the first train from Bath leaving on 20 July 1874. Despite now being able to link to the Midlands and north of England, the S&DR always struggled with the cost of motive power, inadequate rolling-stock and sections of single track. Revenue was insufficient to provide proper maintenance and the Directors were faced with having to sell out.

In 1876 the Midland Railway and the London & South Western Railway took over responsibility for the line having signed a 999 year lease to form the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR), and so Shillingstone Station fell under new ownership. 

After 1876, the ownership of Shillingstone Station changed hands three more times: to the  London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923, to British Railways in 1948 and finally after closure to Dorset County Council in 1966.