Ideas for new stations on existing lines in Dorset

[PTR 444]

Dorset is a county which doesn’t have a huge amount of rail trackage. There is the SWML to Weymouth, the Heart of Wessex branching from Dorchester to the Somerset boundary just south of Yeovil, and the WofE main line which dips in and out of the county at various places. Most of the settlements these lines pass through already have a station serving it, so there are few places where building a new station could be viable, but just because of this, should we entirely rule out any possibility of building new stations in Dorset?

For starters, Poundbury is an expanding town west of Dorchester with development already planned to reach Poundbury Road, just 250 yards from the HofW line. A station in the vicinity could attract potential travellers from this new development, as it would be within walking distance from the centre of Poundbury.

Another suggestion could be to build a new station on the site of the old Radipole Halt which closed in the 1980s. This area also has a sizeable population which would otherwise have to travel over a mile to Upwey or Weymouth, and it would also help the nearby business park gain some custom.

These are the best two examples I can think of, as anywhere else on a railway in Dorset isn’t really sizeable enough for a station. I suppose you could reopen Meyrick Park between Bournemouth and Branksome (although technically in Hampshire) as it would be nearest to the university and suburb of Winton, but I don’t think passengers from there who currently travel to BMH would switch to such a station unless some buses were diverted to serve it.

Any criticism is welcome, as I’m sure someone will point out that my ideas are completely unworkable for whatever reason.

 

[30907]

Radipole would serve a clutch of superstores - might be worth it from that point of view, but I wonder where people (workers or shoppers) would travel from?

Poundbury - would be better served IMO by developing the existing bus which serves Dorchester S and town centre.

Those apart, you could I suppose look at Boscombe, which moved into Dorset after closure

But suburban stations in any area with decent bus services are going to struggle, unless they offer a significantly quicker journey (think Saltaire to Leeds in my area) and/or are a significant destination themselves.

 

[Gloster]

With Radipole, I reckon the only shoppers using it would be those living near Upwey station. Staff might come from Dorchester, but how many of them would there be?

Only the two stations in Bournemouth might be worth a look, but will there be enough people wanting to use local trains? My recollection of the area around Boscome is that it is a rather run-down, down-market residential area.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Sounds like reasonable plans, haven't been to Dorset sadly, but wondered how easy connections are between Yeovil and Bournemouth via Dorchester, would a new Dorchester Junction for interchanges be beneficial?

 

[Grecian 1998]

The two obvious issues are:

1. Who would use Poundbury station that won't use Dorchester West? A Poundbury station would only be a mile from Dorchester West. Who would use Radipole that wouldn't use Upwey or Weymouth? It would be less than 2 miles from either Upwey or Weymouth.

2. Where are the extra journeys going to be to or from?

Dorset's railways aren't the fastest to begin with - there are constant complaints the Weymouth - Waterloo services are too slow, whilst the Heart of Wessex takes nearly 2.5 hours for the 87 miles from Bristol to Weymouth at an average speed of under 40mph. Long-distance services are already slow through SE Dorset- the fast service takes 19 minutes from arriving at Poole to leaving Bournemouth, less than 6 miles away.

Unless new stations will actually generate significant extra custom and new journeys, I really can't see any point opening more stations which will slow down existing services further.

Sounds like reasonable plans, haven't been to Dorset sadly, but wondered how easy connections are between Yeovil and Bournemouth via Dorchester, would a new Dorchester Junction for interchanges be beneficial?

A station right by Dorchester Junction is impossible due to the Roman ampitheatre next door. A station further south might be possible but would be a mile out of the town centre, whereast West and South are fairly convenient. It isn't at all difficult to walk between Dorchester West and Dorchester South - it's flat with pavements and takes about 10 minutes. If you don't want to do that you can change at Upwey. If you have mobility issues you can change at Weymouth.

Whilst not in Dorset, it has been discussed on here many times that changing trains just over the border at Yeovil is much harder.

 

[Gloster]

Sounds like reasonable plans, haven't been to Dorset sadly, but wondered how easy connections are between Yeovil and Bournemouth via Dorchester, would a new Dorchester Junction for interchanges be beneficial?

The two existing stations are reasonably well placed for the centre of Dorchester. If you build a new station at or south of the junction you either have two stops within a couple of minutes of each other , or you have the only station badly placed for the town. I used to either go on to Upwey or walk across between the two stations. (You could even have a meal, but the only time I tried that I didn’t get my food, despite four times reminding the staff I was waiting, and had great difficulty getting my money back. “Only the manager can do refunds.” “And where is he?” “I don’t know.” “When will he be back?” “I don’t know.” “Well what are you going to do about my money.” “I don’t....”)

 

[dgl]

At the moment I am not too sure if there are many places within Dorset where a new station would not have a detrimental effect on the speed of current services, all the big towns on the 3 routes are served and I don't think a station at Poundbury would be all that useful especially considering that there would probably be more people wanting to go to London than Yeovil/Bristol and naturally a station on the Heart Of The Wessex Line would naturally not offer connection free journeys to London.

Naturally it would be great if connections between the West Of England Main Line and the Heart Of The Wessex Line could be made better but I don't think there is the money to do anything.
If only there was a way to reroute the West Of England Main Line so that it went through Yeovil Pen Mill rather then Yeovil Junction then that would be a benefit, not only as it would make the line walkable from the town centre and make connections easier, but then again it would require having the land available to reroute the West of England Main Line and upgrades to both the Heart of The Wessex Line and Pen Mill station, something I doubt would get funding.

 

[Gloster]

Unfortunately, Pen Mill is out on the edge of town, so once you have got your car out you might as well go to Junction; although I don’t know what the road is like nowadays. Putting in a connection to allow trains from the Salisbury direction to reach Pen Mill would probably not be too difficult, although there would probably be a far from negligible time penalty for through services. In some ways reopening a station as near as possible to the old Town one would have no more disadvantages than using Pen Mill, but with the station being better placed for the town.