Castleman's Corkscrew & the Salisbury Line

Index page Summer 1963 timetable Links to other sites See also Ringwood - Christchurch

Wimborne

Wimborne station on the 'Corkscrew' route seen in 1980. Even the platform here had a curve in it! The brick building, centre right, was the goods shed, built around 1880. With passenger services withdrawn in 1964 and the last freight departing in 1977, some demolition of buildings had already taken place, as evidenced by the bricks on the trackbed. One building that had gone, near the centre of the picture, contained a waiting room, permanent way inspector's office and what was once a refreshment room. According to Michael Webb, a former station employee, there was at one time, a W.H. Smith kiosk on the left hand platform that employed a boy to deliver morning and evening papers. Also demolished in the above view was the signalbox. Built very tall and known as the 'lighthouse' - access was via a total of 27 steps - this was unstaffed from 1966 and abolished in 1967. The line from Wimborne to Broadstone was singled in 1966 and from Broadstone to Holes Bay Jcn. near Poole in 1970, with the signalbox at Broadstone closing at that time. Latterly serving an exhibition train operator's base, the remaining line from Wimborne was closed in May 1977 and the track had been lifted back to Holes Bay Jcn. by February 1978. With major bridge reconstruction at Ringwood in 1961 (see below), it had been thought that Wimborne Station would continue forever, but in 1962, rumours circulated that the line was on Dr. Beeching's list of closures. The withdrawal of through trains from the S&D in September 1962 only heightened the fears of the staff. As Mr. Webb puts it, 'The loyalties of even the staunchest of railway workers were taxed. Morale plummeted.' In 1963, 30 trains per day called at Wimborne (counting separately those terminating and starting at Wimborne) and the average train loading on the western half of the line heading into and out of Poole was given as 62 passengers. This figure may date from after the closure proposal - on the S&D, year-on-year figures available for some of the stations indicate a sharp rise in patronage in the months following the closure proposal on that route.

There must have been a railway here once...... point rodding props up the edge of a path at Wimborne in 2000. See also a recent bird's eye view of the site of the Stour bridge and the station. Much of the line west of West Moors has been obliterated.

Ashley Heath

Ashley Heath Halt, pictured in September 2000, was opened in 1927 & in the later years was served by all trains on the line. Today, one platform has disappeared. The Halt is notable for the presense of an original concrete name board, which has been repainted in traditional green & white.

Ringwood

The Millstream Viaduct, Ringwood, seen on a wet day in September 2000. The line across both the viaduct and the river bridges a short distance to the west was reduced to single line working plus an engineers' siding from September to December 1961. This enabled the concrete decking seen here to be installed. Until this time, certain locomotives, notably Maunsell Class U1, were barred from passing over these structures. However, after closure consent was given in March 1964, the passenger service on this line was quickly withdrawn in May that year. Freight continued until the line was closed completely from Ringwood to West Moors in August 1967. The signalbox at Ringwood had been unstaffed since September 1965. The wording on the ageing notice is actually correct, with the structure at the time under the care of British Railways Board (Residuary) Ltd., and even listed on their website at that time. A bridge number can be seen painted on the concrete - BTW is the Engineers' Line Reference & the numerals (104 05) are the number of miles & chains from London Waterloo. The mileage figures are now giving way to a simple structure numbering system. Today, the viaduct is part of the Castleman Trailway foot & cycle path (see Links page for more details). Brockenhurst - Ringwood Reinstatement proposal The ATOC reinstatement proposal of 15th June 2009 is contained in this document, the Ringwood case being outlined on page 19.

The viaduct's original listing on BRB's website.

Holmsley

Holmsley station today serves as a popular tea house and the trackbed towards Ringwood, although fenced off in the above view, is now a well used path. Holmsley was originally named Christchurch Road, but once Christchurch had a station of it's own, with the building of the Ringwood - Christchurch line, the change of name took place. The opening of the Bournemouth Direct Line via New Milton in 1888 reduced Holmsley's importance to such an extent that a proposal was made for it's closure in the same year. However, the situation had been pre-empted and the Act of Parliament for the new Direct Line stated that the station could only close upon the approval of the owner of Burley Manor, or his heirs! Proposals followed in 1893 and 1895 by residents of the nearby village of Burley to have a new stopping place provided some way to the west of Holmsley, and more convenient for the villagers, but this was to no avail. Holmsley was to remain until the closure of the line itself in 1964, though along with Hurn on the Ringwood - Christchurch line, Holmsley had already been reduced to single person manning and was unstaffed from 1928. Probably owing to it's proximity to the Holmsley South Airfield in World War 2, the up (London-bound) line between Holmsley & Ringwood was used for the storage of wagons for several weeks from 1400 hrs on 27 May 1940. All trains used the down line during this time. In the run-up to closure, the average weekday train loading on the eastern half of the line was stated to be 30 passengers, though this excluded 158 pupils of Brockenhurst Grammar School (now Brockenhurst College) who travelled from Ringwood. Passenger and freight services ceased in May 1964 and the track between Lymington Jcn. and Ringwood was taken out of use in March 1965, in preparation for lifting. Despite having had a road passing under it since the late 1960s, the A35 overbridge in the background remained in rail ownership and today still has the old-format bridge number showing that it is 99 miles & 15 chains from Waterloo. In 2003, negotiations were under way with Hampshire County Council regarding passing on the ownership of the bridge, at which point it was revealed that the bridge was designed for a maximum loading of only 17 (imperial) tons! The bridge is due for replacement in 2010. It has been stated that whilst the bridge is currently safe for 40 tonne loads, it may not remain so with further corrosion. The parapets also need to be upgraded. See also the Brockenhurst - Ringwood reinstatement proposal in the Ringwood section above.

The trackbed, looking west, about ½ mile west of Holmsley Station in November 2007.

West Moors

The view east from West Moors along the trackbed in 2000. A fuel depot of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (more recently part of the Royal Logistic Corps) kept freight trains running to West Moors via Wimborne until 1974. A pipeline now runs along the trackbed to Ringwood.

Daggons Road

Daggons Road station on the West Moors - Salisbury line pictured in 1979, having been turned into a very attractive dwelling. Note a station nameboard behind the wheelbarrow, this looks to be from the former signalbox. The station was demolished a few years ago & several small houses now occupy the site. In summer 1963, there were six weekday trains in one direction and five in the other (excluding an overnight newspaper train), plus an additional Salisbury - Weymouth and return service during August. All of the regular services ran through to and from Bournemouth West or Central, except for one which started from Broadstone with a Bournemouth connection. There were also up to three through services running along the line but not stopping at any of the stations. These ran to and from Cardiff, Swansea and Nottingham. Closure had been considered in 1958, so when the line was listed by Dr. Beeching in his March 1963 Reshaping report, the closure proposal followed fairly swiftly in June of that year. The line closed completely in May 1964. BR gave the average weekday train loading as a mere 13 passengers - however, this figure may date from after the closure proposal with a resultant 'surge' of interest - if only a small one. Today, the Wilts & Dorset X3 bus runs every 30 minutes on the Salisbury - Ringwood - Bournemouth route, a service frequency suitably appealing to potential customers. In the age of the motor car, and against a more frequent bus service, a train service with gaps of up to 4 hours 35 minutes between daytime services, never stood a chance. Sources for this page include: Marsh G., Webb M., Vent A.P.(Ed.); The Rise and Fall of Wimborne Station; Buggleskelly Books 2004. Mitchell V. & Smith K.; Branch Lines around Wimborne; Middleton Press 1997. Lymington Times, 4th October 2003. Jackson B.L., Castleman's Corkscrew: Volume One; Oakwood Press 2007. Jackson B.L., Castleman's Corkscrew: Volume Two; Oakwood Press 2008. Lymington Times, 18th April 2009.

For a complete change of subject, elsewhere on this site are many years of images from my Bird Box. Click on the picture.