Introduction

Templecombe Junction was located in the county of Somerset, on the southern part of the main line of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR) from Bath to Wimborne. The southern end of the S&DJR was constructed originally by the Dorset Central Railway (DCR), which was opened on 1-November-1860 as a single-track line from Wimborne to Blandford. In 1863 the DCR was extended northwards to join with the Somerset Central Railway (SCR) and a station was constructed at Templecombe. The DCR and SCR had merged in 1862 to form the Somerset and Dorset Railway, which became the S&DJR in 1875 when the line was leased jointly by the Midland Railway (MR) and London & South Western Railway (L&SWR). After the Grouping of the railways of Great Britain in 1923 the S&DJR remained a Joint line, but now under the control of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) and the Southern Railway (SR), who were the successors to the MR and L&SWR respectively. After the railways were nationalised in 1948 the Joint line came under the control of British Railways (Southern Region) (BR(SR)) initially, but by mid-1958 British Railways (Western Region) (BR(WR)) had gained control as far south as Templecombe Junction and retained that until the S&DJR closed on 6-March-1966.

Templecombe Junction signal-box after closure

To be continued...

© CJL Osment 2018
Signal-box photograph courtesy the late David Milton