A LINE that ran mainly through Wiltshire and Dorset was the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway, from Salisbury to Bournemouth West via Wimborne.

The line opened in December 1866, and the heart of the route, between Alderbury Junction and West Moors, on "Castleman's Corkscrew", was 19 miles of single line, which included two Hampshire stations, at Breamore and Fordingbridge.

The line served a purpose for some years, including local goods traffic, but was closed during the Beeching era (at the same time as the Ringwood line) in May 1964, just two years short of its centenary.

This picture shows a "700" class engine heading a classic pick-up goods train, leaving Fordingbridge, in 1953, and comes from a new book by John Vaughan, Branches & Byways: Sussex and Hampshire.

From being the main route into Bournemouth between 1862 and 1887, traffic gradually reduced and the line became a loss-maker. In 1927, there was a local service of just seven trains each way, with no Sunday service, and it closed to all traffic from September 1935.

Branches & Byways: Sussex and Hampshire by John Vaughan, published by Ian Allan Publishing, £35. Available from bookshops or direct from: Ian Allan Mail Order Department, 4 Watling Drive, Hinkley, Leics LE10 3EY.