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Fantastic video, I enjoy following along on Google maps as I watch.

Is the route still there to walk?

I was lucky enough as a 17 year old to travel on the last day. Some friends had a younger son who wanted to travel, so they bought tickets from Bath for me to take him - a great DMU fest! The last day trains were made up of a 3 car set with the single cat attached!

I believe the line was deliberately murdered. Looking at earlier photos one can see that it was possible to run full trains in and off the branch, which thanks to the change in the pointwork and signalling ceased to be possible. Prove me wrong, please...

Beautiful memories. Great Britain, not so ‘Great’ any more. 😢

Just discovered this film. Amazingly clear colour. I am from Bridport and lived there until my 20s. My happiest childhood memories are of this line, which closed when I was 6.

In August 1963 I was on a cycling trainspotting trip from Towcester to Plymouth and back with my mate. I got a puncture in Bridport and I repaired the puncture on the curve of Bridport station and was helped by the Driver of the single Railcar and I was invited to sit behind him on the trip up to Maiden Newton. I wish I could remember the cost of the ticket for myself and my bicycle.

I enjoyed this very much, especially as we have just returned home from a week spent just outside Bridport. A reminder of what has been lost... Subbed. 😊

What a lovely video, we have visited Bridport often and a rail link would have been most welcome

Best county in UK - Dorset

An absolute tragedy these lines have been lost. Such short sighted thinking.

beautiful music

Beautiful county is Dorset. All those jobs gone and people losing the convenience of a train service. As mentioned previously the vandalism of destroying what was appreciated by many has been replicated through E&W. Thank you for your video.

Thank you so much for going to the trouble of Telecining the film and uploading it. A wonderful history of the Dorset villages and a celebration of the bygone days of rural railways.

Very nostalgic. Well done.

An interesting piece of film; spoiled for me by that awful noisy piano music which practically drowns out the commentary.

I lived as a child of 4 years old in 1953/4 in Bradpole, and the train passed at the bottom of our garden. Being a typical naughty boy, I put pennies on the rails, which fortunately did not cause a major derailment!! Happy days, enjoying the steam engines going by. Raymond Peto

Phenomenal! How prescient to make this film. What an absolute gem of historical significance, let alone an insight into English rural beauty. Thannk you so much to all involved.

Wonderful film, and one I've never seen before, despite an almost lifelong interest in Bridport and it's railway. And I'm still sad I just missed out on a trip over the line.

It appears that , just like in America, the bean counters were ruthless & thorough with cutting out many ways of life to all the folks who needed the railroads. Bastards 😢

You can visit the Toller station building as it was moved and has been beautifully restored on the South Devon Railway at Totnes Riverside. Fabulous video.

As a kid at school we took one of the last journeys on the train before it was closed as a school outing great memories ❤

I have some un seen footage of the last train that my dad took.

Very well shot and edited. Super 8mm looks great!

What a beautiful country we used to have. I'd give anything to be able to climb into this film and live back then.

An outstanding film Thank to everyone involved in the making and restoration of this video😊😊😊😮

Useless factoid, the Dorset word for "pit props" is "slags" bet not many folks knew that lol

I’m so pleased to see this pop up. What a wonderfully poignant film.

Come on new video

Greetings from an American railroader. This is an absolutely beautiful homage and tribute to the branchlines of the UK that used to service the rural communities that needed the train as a lifeline to the rest of the world. Excellent footage. Perfect narration. Somber yet well placed music. This is perfection. ❤️❤️ Deepest sympathies and love from your neighbors across the pond who have been equally heartbroken by abandoned rail lines.

My goodness, what a wonderful video. I am sure I am not the only one to feel a deep nostalgia and melancholy for what we have lost. We must be so grateful to the people who went to the trouble to make these old railway films. What a priceless record of vanished times.

Truly superb - in all respects. Sad that even 8mm Kodachrome film (and 35mm stills) is no more. I was particularly impressed with the audio - everything, script, narration, acoustic audio, music, sound mix - so brilliantly done. The locations of the camera locations and film editing was fantastic as well. I have copied a link to this video into the description of my little recent video about West Bay Station. Thank you so much! Paul

Great informative video my parents have juts found this .. Roger Poole the crossing keeper at bradpole village was my late grandfather on my mums side .

What an absolute gem of a film! Thank you so much for posting. I have ridden my motorcycle around the lanes to follow the route of this old line, and it is a lovely part of my home county.

Wonderful film. Thank you

Just a beautiful video this, such a shame so many lines were lost. Bow before the god of the motor car, such a shame, we are worse off as a result

The drivers would be dismissed today for eating their lunch in the carriages......

Maiden Newton Station was also used in the BBC sitcom To The Manor Born. The now defunct Railscene videos did a feature on the signal box a few days before it closed.

Lovely, amazing history🎉

Love the old footage 👍

That beautiful scenery makes me wanna live there

Brilliant video. I especially enjoyed the commentary to put some context to what we are watching. Thanks for sharing this.

Hello There Again it is Mr Cannadine T. Boxill-Harris, I have another interesting idea for most of you Class 313, Class 314 and that also is including those interesting Class 315 Fans out there, rather than scrapping most of those Class 313's Class 314's including the Class 315's maybe you guys can convert them and including the refurbishment into those Leyland 680 Engine, Volvo B10M Engine, Cummins M11 Engine, Gardner 6LXC Engine, Gardner 6LXB, Engine, Gardner 8LXB Engine, Class 313's, Class 314's and the Class 315's and convert all of them into a 2 Carriages and Three Carriages of the Class 313's, Class 314's and that is including those Class 315's for most of us Class 314's and the Class 315's Diesel Train Fans Pretty Please Are you still going to do this interesting type of Project for all of us out there Please?

The item described as a deadman's handle is, in fact, the vacuum brake handle. This is not the deadmans handle on a DMU. There must be some dubbing on the soundtrack, as when the loco hauled train departs, hauled by a Class 31 with an English Electric engine, we hear a Class 47 with a Sulzer engine. Unfortunately I had to turn the commentary off half way through as the totally unnecessary music plinking away was getting on my wick. I enjoyed the footage - on silent.

How nice is it to see something from the past. We have traveled a Lott by train in Britain during our holiday visits. Unfortunately this line was already closed before we could travel it. Cheers Jef

You will never know how much i appreciate this video. It’s rare to get videos of these old lines, but you done better and recorded it with such a high standard and commitment. 26 years old Dorset lad who loves these old line and hates beeching 🥹

What an amazing mini-documentary this is, so evocative of a recent past that is fast receding.

If i had a time machine...

Fantastic quality from 8mm cine, truly a wonderful look back in time. The sharpness and colour is outstanding, thank you so much for putting this here for our enjoyment. Dad was a driver all his working life, there was some wonderful rivalry between Salisbury and Fratton drivers. I had wondered what depot covered the route. I have some of my dad's old 8mm cine which l am now tempted to try and transfer to video. Once again many thanks.

Absolutely amazing video. Could sit and watch railway history like this all the time. Great production, music and narration.