Closing the Somerset and Dorset Railway: 1951-1967

Colin Divall is Professor Emeritus of Railway Studies at the University of York.

“2026 marks the 60th anniversary of the closure of the Somerset and Dorset Railway. The Somerset & Dorset’s closure in March 1966 was one of the most bitterly fought of the Beeching cuts in the South West. Accusations of fiddled figures, poor marketing and deliberately missed connections painted a picture of a valuable north-south link sabotaged by short-sighted railway managers and uncaring Whitehall mandarins. More than 60 years on we can now see that the line was financially in deep trouble by the early 1950s. Given the widespread belief in the 1960s that cars and buses were the future of personal mobility, modernization was never going to be enough to save a heavily loss-making route that ran through solidly Conservative constituencies rather than the marginal ones which saved some other lines.”

This event is being held in support of Dorset Archives Trust, a charity that works to preserve and promote Dorset’s rich archival heritage. Its strapline is ‘Saving Dorset’s disappearing history’ and it undertakes this work by fundraising, holding events, supporting projects and promoting the value of archives. DAT works closely with the Dorset History Centre in Dorchester which holds archive collections dating back over 1000 years from across Bournemouth, Poole and wider Dorset.