Powerstock was a railway station on the
Bridport Railway
The Bridport Railway was a railway branch line that operated in the county of Dorset in England. It connected Bridport with the main line network at Maiden Newton, and opened on 12 November 1857. It was extended to West Bay, Dorset, West Bay i ...
in the west of the
English
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* English language
* English people
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Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
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 ...
. The station served the villages of
Powerstock
Powerstock is a village and civil parish in south west Dorset, England, situated in a steep valley on the edge of the Dorset Downs, north-east of the market town of Bridport. The civil parish includes the village of West Milton to the west ...
, and
Nettlecombe, which was nearer the railway. Opened with the branch on 12 November 1857, it was called Poorstock until 1860. Consisting of a single platform and bungalow style building, it had a siding. The station was host to a
GWR camp coach
Camp may refer to:
Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution
* Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups
* Exterminatio ...
from 1936 to 1939. Operated by the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
, it was placed in the
Western Region when the railways were nationalised in 1948.
The branch was threatened with closure in the
Beeching report, but narrow roads in the area, unsuitable for buses, kept it open until 5 May 1975. The station was unstaffed in 1966.
In its final years train services were usually operated by single carriage
Class 121 diesel railcars.
The site today
The station building can still be seen from the road. It was sold by British Railways in 1968 and was converted into a private home. The platform was still available for passenger use until 1975. After closure the trackbed and platform was sold to become part of the grounds of the hous
References
Further reading
* ISBN(no ISBN)
* Powerstock Station - All Change, Diana P. Read, 1996, (tells the history of the Bridport Branch line and in particular the history and people associated with Powerstock Station)
External links
Station on navigable O.S. mapBridport Trailway
Disused railway stations in Dorset
Former Great Western Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1857
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1975
Beeching closures in England
1857 establishments in England
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