Abbotsbury railway station

Abbotsbury
General information
Location	Abbotsbury, Dorset England
Coordinates	50°39′57″N2°35′29″W / 50.66586°N 2.59139°W / 50.66586; -2.59139
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Opened	9 November 1885
Closed	1 December 1952
Original company	Abbotsbury Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway Western Region of British Railways
Location

Abbotsbury was the terminus of the Abbotsbury branch railway in the west of the English county of Dorset. Serving the village of Abbotsbury, it was sited amid fields to the east of the village on the Weymouth to Abbotsbury road, because the railway could not buy the land needed to build the station nearer to the village centre. Plans for westward expansion came to nothing and led to the railway petering out in a shallow cutting to the west of the station.

History

The Great Western Railway first opened a line to Weymouth on 20 January 1857 which allowed trains from Paddington and Waterloo to service the town. In 1872 a six mile branch of the Weymouth line at Upwey to Abbotsbury was proposed but it took until 1877 to get the Bill through parliament. ^[1] Opened by the Abbotsbury Railway Company in 1885, the station was operated from the start by the Great Western Railway. The line then passed on to the Western Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Portesham Line and station closed		Great Western Railway Abbotsbury branch railway		Terminus

Buildings

A typical William Clarke stone building served the single platform. The station also had a signal box and engine shed, and although neither of these operated for long, the ruins of the engine shed remained until closure. The goods shed however functioned for the life of the branch.

The station closed with the branch in 1952. ^[2]

The site today

The station building has now been replaced with a private dwelling although the platform remains underneath the length of the building.

Film

The station makes short appearances in the Powell and Pressburger film The Small Back Room .

References

1. "West Dorset's lost and abandoned railway stations". Bridport and Lyme Regis News. 3 January 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
2. "The Dorset railway station that lasted less than 70 years". Dorset Echo. 27 September 2025. Retrieved 1 October 2025.

Sources

• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   1-85260-508-1.
• Jowett, A. (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas. Atlantic Publishing. ISBN   0-906899-99-0.
• Abbotsbury station on navigable 1946 O. S. map

Further reading

• Jackson, Brian L. (1989). The Abbotsbury Branch. Wild Swan Publications Ltd. ISBN   0-906867-80-0.
• Karau, Paul (1977). Great Western Branch Line Termini Combined edition. Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN   0-86093-369-5.