Sturminster Newton railway station was a station in the town of

Sturminster Newton Sturminster Newton is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish situated on the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour in the north of Dorset, England. The town is at the centre of the Blackmore Vale, a large dairy agriculture region around w ...

, in the English county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. It was located on the

Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR, also known as the S&D, S&DR or SDJR), was an English railway line Joint railway, jointly owned by the Midland Railway (MR) and the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) that grew to connect Bat ...

History

The station was opened on 31 August 1863 by the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exete ...

as part of the Dorset Central Railway. A passing place on a stretch of single line, the station had two platforms with shelters, and a small goods yard. This and the passing loop were controlled from a

signal box A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

. The station become part of the Southern Region of

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

when the railways were nationalised in 1948. The goods yard gave milk trains access to the private sidings of the local

creamery A creamery or cheese factory is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has ...

. Started in 1913 by local farmers to produce

cheddar cheese Cheddar cheese (or simply cheddar) is a natural cheese that is relatively hard, off-white (or orange if colourings such as annatto are added), and sometimes sharp-tasting. It originates from the English village of Cheddar, Somerset, Cheddar in ...

and

pasteurised milk In food processing, pasteurization (also pasteurisation) is a process of food preservation in which packaged foods (e.g., milk and fruit juices) are treated with mild heat, usually to less than , to eliminate pathogens and extend shelf life. ...

, it was taken over by the

Milk Marketing Board The Milk Marketing Board was a producer-run product marketing board, established by the Agricultural Marketing Act 1933, to control milk production and distribution in the United Kingdom. It functioned as buyer of last resort in the milk market in ...

in 1937. Milk trains ceased in 1966 upon closure of the line, with the creamery remaining in operation until 2000, when it was closed by owners

Dairy Crest Saputo Dairy UK, the trading name of Dairy Crest Limited, is a British dairy products company. It was created in 2019 when the Canadian company Saputo Inc bought Dairy Crest. Dairy Crest itself was created in 1981 as a spin-off of the Milk Marke ...

. The station was closed when the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway closed on 7 March 1966 and subsequently demolished leaving no trace of the station.

Subsequent usage

As of 2022, the site is a trading estate, arts centre and small park with a set of commemorative gates at the entrance. https://stur-exchange.co.uk/about/

References

External links

Sturminster Newton station map
Ordnance Survey, 1946
Sturminster Newton Station
Dorset Stations {{coord, 50.9270, -2.3031, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Disused railway stations in Dorset Former Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1863 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1966 Beeching closures in England Sturminster Newton

History

Subsequent usage

References

Further reading

External links