Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway

Common card · No. 386500

The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR, also known as the S&D, S&DR or SDJR) was an English railway line jointly owned by the Midland Railway (MR) and the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) that grew to connect Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (then in Hampshire; now in south-east Dorset), with a branch in Somerset from Evercreech Junction to Burnham-on-Sea and Bridgwater. Strictly speaking, its main line only ran from Bath Junction to Broadstone, as the Bath to Bath Junction section was wholly owned by the MR and the Broadstone to Bournemouth section was owned by the LSWR. Brought under joint ownership in 1876, the S&DJR was used for freight and local passenger traffic over the Mendip Hills, and for weekend holiday traffic to Bournemouth. Criticised as the "Slow and Dirty" or the "Slow and Doubtful" (Blandford Forum station, for instance, was immortalised in 1964 in the song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann), it closed in 1966 as part of the Beeching axe, despite...

Read on Wikipedia