Dorset Railways

The first railway in Dorset was not a steam operatedline, but one worked by horses and gravity, totransport Portland stone from the quarries to the sea.However, the first true main line in the county wasthe Southampton & Dorchester which opened on1 June 1847 followed by the Wilts, Somerset& Weymouth Railway (WSWR) which reachedWeymouth on 20 January 1857.The Southampton &Dorchester Railway had running power over the linebetween Dorchester andWeymouth and opened toWeymouth in 1857. The Salisbury & Yeovil Railwayopened to Gillingham in 1859, and to Yeovil andonwards to Exeter in 1860. The Dorset CentralRailway was inaugurated between Wimborne andBlandford in November 1860 and northwards toCole in 1862 where it linked with the SomersetCentral Railway, the two companies uniting as theSomerset & Dorset Railway.The extension to Bathopened on 20 July 1874 creating a new main line.