Sturminster Newton railway station

The station was opened on 31 August 1863 by the London and South Western Railway as part of the Dorset Central Railway. A passing place on a stretch of single line, the station had two platforms with shelters, and a small goods yard. This and the passing loop were controlled from a signal box.

The station become part of the Southern Region of British Railways when the railways were nationalised in 1948.

The goods yard gave milk trains access to the private sidings of the local creamery. Started in 1913 by local farmers to produce cheddar cheese and pasteurised milk, it was taken over by the Milk Marketing Board in 1937. Milk trains ceased in 1966 upon closure of the line, with the creamery remaining in operation until 2000, when it was closed by owners Dairy Crest.^[1]

The station was closed when the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway closed on 7 March 1966^[2] and subsequently demolished leaving no trace of the station.

As of 2022, the site is a trading estate, arts centre and small park with a set of commemorative gates at the entrance.^[3]

• RVJ Butt (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens. ISBN 1-85260-508-1
• JH Lucking. Railways of Dorset. Railway Correspondence and Travel Society 1968. (no ISBN)

• Sturminster Newton station map Ordnance Survey, 1946
• Sturminster Newton Station Dorset Stations

50°55′37″N 2°18′11″W / 50.9270°N 2.3031°W / 50.9270; -2.3031