Shillingstone Railway Project

Main building at Shillingstone Station being refurbished in Southern Railway colours, October 2007

A big project: 92207 being stored at Shillingstone, October 2007

The Shillingstone Railway Project (formerly the Shillingstone Station Project) is a heritage railway project based at Shillingstone railway station on the former Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.^[1] It is supported by the North Dorset Railway Trust (NDRT). The medium-term aim is to restore the current leased length of one quarter of a mile: an addition of 1,200 feet (370 m) of single track mainline with a loop through the platforms. The long-term aim is to extend north towards Lamb House Bridge, and to provide a rail link with Sturminster Newton, working in harmony with the North Dorset Trailway. Track has been laid through the station using 95 bullhead rail extending to the Church gate on the current southern boundary.The signal box, coal store, motor trolley hut, permanent way huts, signals and pole route have been rebuilt. The NDRT has rebuilt the 400 foot Down platform wall and replaced and repaired the platform edge slabs. The North Dorset Trailway runs alongside the formation and up over the 395-foot (120 m) 'down' platform. The electrical supply has been improved and the Museum improved. The Station Gardens are also a prominent feature for the 28,000 visitors that come annually. The NDRT membership in 2017 exceeded 200 for the first time.

Buildings

The station building currently houses a cafe, shop, work room, model railway and separate toilet facilities for ladies and gentlemen. The registered museum displays a variety of artefacts that have been donated over the years. The Signal box has been rebuilt and fitted with fully working signalling equipment. The south end of the up platform has been rebuilt and the picnic area above landscaped with a colourful garden and an outdoor 'O' scale model railway. A new siding has been laid to accommodate the catering carriage at present outside the main station platform which serves as additional café accommodation and is available for hire for private functions. The down platform waiting shelter has been rebuilt in its original position and serves as storage.

Stations

• Sturminster Newton - Proposed
• Shillingstone - under restoration as a base of operations
• Stourpairne & Durweston Halt - in private hands

Activity

In 2009, 210 feet (64 m) of the up main track through the station was laid and ballasted using 110a and 113a flat bottom rail and wooden sleepers. The Ruston & Hornsby diesel shunter was moved from the isolated goods dock. This was the first standard gauge loco on the Somerset & Dorset mainline south of the Mendips and north of Blandford, since the demolition train departed in July 1967, exactly 42 years before. The wooden box van was also been moved to the same track.

Progress in 2010 included acquiring a tracked Priestman Mustang excavator, finishing construction of the up platform wall, regrading of the cattle dock track bed and preparations for track-laying, and the connection of the station to the mains drainage system.

On 9 and 10 May 2015 two new arrivals were added to the stations fleet, a class 48DS 4wd Ruston a long time since the previous Ruston was sold. This arrived along with an ex-virgin cross-country kitchen coach No.11062

On 12 August 2015 a class 08 shunter was bought successfully by the NDRT. This class 08 (No.08 995) is a low cabbed version and is only one of three survivors of this variant. She is currently having repairs before transfer to Shillingstone..

New rolling stock is on its way, along with the restoration work on both engines 30075 & 30076 run by the team at Project62.

History

After the closure of Shillingstone railway station on 7 March 1966, and a few years post closure, the Dorset County Council purchased the trackbed for a proposed Shillingstone by-pass.

Various furniture manufacturing companies were sited in the former station yard, and over 1970s, industrial buildings were constructed, some of them making partial use of the station building.

By December 2002, the by-pass plan had been shelved and the station was derelict.

Dorset County Council decided to dispose of the redundant station, and, after protracted negotiations, lasting from 1998 to 2005, the North Dorset Railway Trust took signed a lease for the former station site.

The Trust's plan is to reopen the station as a tourist attraction, and restore the site to as it looked in the 1950s and 60s.

Restoration work commenced in 2006, and over the years, the main building was repaired, and a replica signal box with a correct Stevens frame. and tablet machines, was constructed by volunteers. The Porters office was reconstructed, and the Parcels office restored. Track was laid in the dock and up platform, also NDRT members. This work is now nearing completion.

Rolling stock

• JŽ Class 62 0-6-0T Nos. 30075 and 30076. The Jugoslovenske Železnice (JŽ; Yugoslavian Railways) class 62 was a class formed of 106 ex-United States Army Transportation Corps S100 Class 0-6-0T steam locomotives, surplus after the Second World War, plus about 90 similar examples built by Đuro Đaković of Slavonski Brod, Croatia between 1952 and 1961.
• 62-669 (built 1960) "30075" Currently being stripped for boiler repairs.
• 62-521 (built 1954) "30076" Complete, kept as static.
• DS1169 Ruston & Hornsby 48DS class 4WD diesel-mechanical shunter, works No.305302 was new to Ransome Hoffman Pollard, Annfield Plain, Co Durham in 1951. Arrived in Shilligstone in 2015, and restored as former Yeovil Junction permanent way department shunter .

See also

• New Somerset and Dorset Railway

References

External links

• Shillingstone Railway Project - official site