Disused Stations: Breamore Station

Station Name: BREAMORE

Date opened:

20.12.1866

Location:

On the south side of an unnamed minor road

Company on opening:

Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway

Date closed to passengers:

4.5.1964

Date closed completely:

4.5.1964

Company on closing:

British Railways (Southern Region)

Present state:

The main station building has been restored and is now in use as an office. It retains its canopy. The trackbed between the platforms has been infilled and is now used as an allotment. A new station sign has been erected.

County:

Hampshire

OS Grid Ref:

SU160177

Date of visit:

January 1976

Notes: The South Western's first major push westwards occurred after collaboration with Charles Castleman, a Wimborne solicitor and the opening of 'Castleman's Snake' from Northam to Dorchester during June and July 1847.

From Lymington Junction, Brockenhurst, the line swept through Holmsley (known as Christchurch Road until 1888), Ringwood, West Moors, Wimborne and Broadstone before continuing southwestward to Wareham and Dorchester. Meanwhile, another independent line under the title of the Salisbury & Dorset Junction Company was promoted to link Salisbury with Wimborne: opened on 20 December 1866, the 19 miles of single track from Alderbury Junction (between Salisbury and Dean) to West Moors was also worked by the London & South Western Railway and absorbed in 1883. It served stations at Downton, Breamore, Fordingbridge, Daggons Road and Verwood and for much of its length followed the River Avon along the western edge of the New Forest. As with local trains over the adjoining line from Brockenhurst, the usual destination was Bournemouth West.

On summer Saturdays in Southern days both lines served as useful alternatives for some of the many holiday trains run at peak periods. A few through trains from Waterloo ran to Swanage, while the Fordingbridge line offered similar facilities for holidaymakers from South Wales heading for the coast. Traffic on the line was always light and closure had been proposed before the line was eventually axed under Beeching from 4 May 1964, although goods traffic continued to use the line to Ringwood from Broadstone Junction until October 1966, after which it was cut back to West Moors for occasional military requirements. For a brief period the station was known as Breamore.

Breamore Station has remained largely intact since closure despite easy public access to the station site. All the buildings have been boarded up and although somewhat dilapidated have remained free of vandalism. In 2004 a long lease on the station site was offered by the owner, Hampshire County Council with planning consent for office/workshop use. The property is protected in as much as it cannot be demolished and rebuilt or extended and that all materials have to be approved by the planning authority. The new tenants have restored the station building on the northbound platform retaining its canopy.

Tickets from Michael Stewart. Route map drawn by Alan Young.

To see the other stations on the former Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway click on the station name: Downton, Fordingbridge, Daggons Road, Verwood, West Moors & Wimborne

A busy sceneat Breamore, looking south from the road bridge, in September 1959. The photographer believes it was a Sunday and the lack of passengers will be noted; the group on the platform appear to be merely observing rather than about to board or having alighted. The train on the left is formed of Bulleid '3 Set' (three-car set) No.825 with an additional vehicle of some description attached. Set No.825, built under BR auspices, was formed in 1949 and comprised car numbers 4289, 5818, 4290 which were types BTK, CK, BTK* respectively and this particular set is thought to have ended its days on the Oxted line. The train on the right comprises another Bulleid 3-set but appears to be from to a slightly earlier diagram from Southern Railway days. The presence of two locomotives suggests one has been attached to save a light engine movement, this being a quite common occurrence at one time and can still occur today to a much lesser degree. Both locomotives, and probably also that on the left, are BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0s. Displaying an Eastleigh shedplate, No.76017 had been new to this shed in June 1953 and remained there until transferred to Salisbury in March 1960. Withdrawn in July 1965, she has survived into preservation. Built specifically for Southern Region use, No.76017 was therefore one of those fitted for the SR headcode disc system which offered six positions instead of the more usual four found elsewhere. The headcode displayed was Salisbury to Bournemouth West via Wimborne or vice versa and in the usual Southern fashion signified a route rather than a particular train type, thus this headcode would also be seen on variations such as trains continuing beyond Bournemouth via that town's Central station. The 'SC' below the shedplate on No.76017 signifies 'Self-Cleaning Smokebox'; a device which pulverised ash and ejected it out through the chimney. It did not, however, eliminate the need to manually clean out the smokebox entirely but merely reduced the frequency this dirty job was required to be undertaken. Visible in this photograph are a number of Southern style concrete posts, serving both as lamp standards and telegraph poles. A few vans are present in the small goods yard, together with what appears to be a Series I Humber Hawk. Just visible right of centre but largely obscured by smoke is the building of the Avon Valley Creamery, while the stationmaster's house, which still stands today together with the partly restored station, is out of view to the right. *Brake Third Corridor (BTK) and Corridor Composite (CK). Despite Third Class having been abolished by 1959, the original stock codes continued in use for some time.
Photo received from David Roberts