Part 1

Friday 9th May 2025 ... 06:32 Melksham towards Southampton, change at Westbury (06:48 arrival to 06:50 departure) onto the train towards Weymouth.   The risky change works, as I understand it "usually" does from regulars.   You know who they are because they position themselves for a rapid sprint though the subway!

The train calls on request at Thornford (where we picked up three people), Yetminster (which we skipped) and Chetnole (where it stopped just to let me off.

The city of Chetnole is situated a few hundred yards from the station, which is set in the countryside.  Makes sense really, as a railway station in the city itself and no-where near the railway would not make sense.  More seriously, the station is a rare survivor of the major cull around 60 years ago, said to have been because of the narrow lanes making it hard to run replacement buses.   These days, it's well kept though not wheel chair accessible, and I wonder if it much more use could be made of it by extending Chetnole (OK, it's a village really) toward the station - Cranbrook and Copplestone stile - and there are a handful of others in GWR territory where it has happened or there's obvious potential.

 
The Chetnole Inn was a regular watering place when the evening trains were loco hauled!

 
Part 2 - across the fields towards Evershot Tunnel

The school bus - and, yes, the roads are still tight for buses


And across the fields to Melbury Bubb with some keeping my company




Beyond Melbury Bubb, the path was hard to follow - yes - through this farmyard


And I got the impression it's virtually unused


Relieved to see some way marking otherwise I would have had a clue


Heavy going though the grass.


And the locals so rarely see anyone they crowded all around me.  Yes - through their field


Hit a minor road up for a final ascent to the top over the tunnel - next part

 
Part 3 - up to and over the tunnel, and roads down to Cattistock



From the road above, you can see how deep the cutting is and the work needed to keep it there


And above the tunnel all is tranquil


Until you come to the main A37 Yeovil to Dorchester Road


The tunnel mouth from the A37 ... used to be a double track main line


Speed restriction through the tunnel - relaxed to 75 once the train runs down the other side


A Disused(?) bus stop in Frome St Quentin and a phone box without a phone


There is a bus timetable starting in 2014 in the phone box - can't help thinking it's changes now?


Round here, the bird and bees - or rather the birds - have priority


And there are some very grand houses and far houses, and some very grand cars. No public transport to see. The trains run along the bottom of the valley and there's just a very occasion buzz as one passes. Masked from site, thank goodness!

 
Given a station just out of the town/village, it can be rewarding to look for the pavement alongside the road that eased access to it - something that holds good even for long-vanished stations. That's something from which Chetnole doesn't benefit, mind - and even the village's 30 mph limit ends at the village boundary.

Mark

 
Part 4 (and you will be relieved this is the last section! - Cattistock and beside the River Frome to Maiden Newton

Cattistock Village


The lane runs under the railway - is this where the station used to be?


A path still runs up to the railway - but now private just for Network Rail


Through the countryside, the path here is far better marked


It runs also the valley of the River Frome, Irises in bloom


Out for a walk with the dog - bright one that waited for the ball to drift into the shallower sections.  Collies!


The old Bridport branch crossed the river here, with a footbridge and a sluice too




And a part of the old railway is now a path - but what a missed opportunity (or is it a latent opportunity still) for path, cycleway or narrow gauge railway all the way to Bridport?


And so via Maiden Newton Station to the Chalk and Cheese


Lovely to have a long, cold drink - bit disappointed at the limited food menu on offer.

 
That was the site of Cattistock Halt, opposite is Cattistock Cricket Club where I spent many hours trying to play that game.

If open the Fox and Hounds at Cattistock would have been the better choice. The Chalk and Cheese used to be called the Brewery Inn. One of three pubs open when I moved there in 1976, the others were the White Horse and the Castle. The latter had a terrace on to the river.

The only bus now is the school bus to Beaminster School. There was a regular run years ago running Dorchester, Maiden Newton to Evershot and Yeovil but that stopped some years ago.
Plans are being developed for the section from Maiden Newton to Toller, which will be the last section to be opened for active travel.

Holywell or Evershot Tunnel was built at the behest of the land owner, Lord Ilchester. The WSWR would have preferred a cutting. Plans at Dorchester Record Office show that the north entrance of Evershot Tunnel needed the cuttings deepened and extended before opening of the line. The road over the tunnel at this point had to be diverted.

Like other Dorset rivers, the Frome has parallel roads on either side - the winter and summer ways.  These form a circular walk to Evershot or to Rampisham.

 

At Chetnole, you walk us the steps and though a gate direct onto the main carriageway a few yards from the blind bridge brow of the lane over the railway.  Not ideal, and as I walked during the day I found that cars are far quieter ( to me at least ) than they used to be - a combination, perhaps, of engineering, electrics, and my own more limited hearing.  BUT - care taken knowing these limitations and it's OK.


It looked to me as if that cricket pitch was sloping ... not a test match wicket?


Not knowing the walk / paths, I stopped briefly at the Post Office and store in Cattistock for a can of coke which I drank in the bus shelter, secure in the knowledge that I was not depriving anyone who was waiting for the bus of a seat.  And the proceeded to Maiden Newton so that opportunities to get lost, explore, etc were not lot in the need to catch the next train.


I explored the option of walking the route in two halves, picking up a bus / dropping off from a bus on the A37. But there isn't one.  Ironically, a coach full of what looked like work people rushed by as I crossed that road.   It truly is a public transport desert!


Fascinating - although I ended up tired at the end of the day, I really saw and learned a lot and the filling in information from members does so much to add to the picture.   I may well look to walk from Maiden Newton onwards to Bridport later this summer.  The walk to Dorchester more dubious - looks like a long way and perhaps mostly a road walk?

 

"City" of Chetnole?

 

Written tongue in cheek - but there have been smaller.  Remember I am bilingual (American and English):

 

As a citizen of the throbbing metropolis of Taplow I understand.

 

City Dulas in Anglesey would be a good contender for our smallest 'city'.

 
As I mentioned in a post, the R Frome has two parallel roads. One is the main road while the other involves tracks and minor roads. It passes a Roman aqueduct and Poundbury Camp on the way.
The map marks the route
Sadly the track bed on the Bridport branch is only accessible from Toller onwards. The walk to Toller may be best via road to Wynford Eagle and then footpath to Toller.

 At Nettlecombe is the Marquis of Lorne for lunch. Let me know if you are going to do it.

At Bridport return by bus to Dorchester(X51) or Weymouth (X53 and X52 open top in summer) Each to a two hourly timetable.

 
I may well walk further - but August at the earliest. Staring from Maiden Newton, it has to be provisional until very close or even the morning - weather and the train connection dependent.  If the 06:32 is late, it holds me up 2 hours at Westbury. If it's cancelled the delay in theory is 4 hours.  There are bus alternatives ...  8 O'lock walk start is fine, 10 O'Clock on a hot day is disappointing, Midday makes it a washout.