Bridport Railway

The Bridport Railway was a railway company in Dorset, England.

The company was founded on 5 May 1855 to build a railway line from Maiden Newton on the railway line of Wiltshire, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (now the Heart of Wessex Line) to Bridport. The 14.9 km long line was opened on 12 November 1857. From 1 July 1858, the Great Western Railway ( GWR ) leased the line for 21 years. On April 21, 1873, the distance of 2.14 meter broad gauge was converted to standard gauge. The lease agreement with the GWR was extended from July 1, 1882. In order to boost tourism in the region, the GWR extended the range 1884 to the port of Bridport and named the terminus of Bridport Harbour in West Bay has to offer.

The Bridport Railway was acquired with effect from July 23, 1901 by the Great Western Railway. The hope of the tourist boom was not met during the First World War, passenger services were temporarily suspended. Passenger traffic on the leg to West Bay was set on 22 September 1930 and abandoned the remaining freight traffic in 1962. The freight traffic on the rest of the route was set in 1965. It remained until 1975 passengers to the village Bridport himself, who fell to the Beeching Axe victim. This passenger was carried out with diesel railcars mainly from the Series BR Class 122.