The Abbotsbury branch line

The Abbotsbury Railway was proposed in 1872, approved by Parliament in 1877 and opened on 9 November 1885. It ran six miles from Upwey, on the Weymouth line, to a terminus in the fields east of the village, and the Great Western worked it from the first day. The idea was to carry iron ore and stone from Portesham. The ore never came in any quantity, so the line lived on passengers, milk and the odd coach party for the Swannery. British Railways shut it on 1 December 1952, well before Beeching. The station building is a house now, with the platform still underneath it, and the goods shed and the ruin of the engine shed are still there.

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