{"id":1763,"date":"2022-06-14T00:54:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T23:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/?p=1763"},"modified":"2025-05-15T13:35:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T12:35:20","slug":"65-return-to-bridport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teignrail.co.uk\/scouting\/65-return-to-bridport\/","title":{"rendered":"65 Return to Bridport"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This was one of four free tickets allowed annually at the time. The concession was nothing like as generous as it became in 1978. The ticket had to have been used before 13th April, 1975.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The train service was within a month or so of withdrawal when the scout rode the single-car D.M.U. with his father from Maiden Newton to Bridport in 1975.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not until 2015 that the scout returned to Maiden Newton, passing through on the summer Saturday “Weymouth Wizard.” He passed again numerous times over the next four years, in the course of visiting all the stations in Dorset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rapid and chilling descent of Dunsford Road came as rather a shock, as this was the scout’s first early start since 2019. He caught the 0510 to Waterloo as far as Yeovil Junction and was immediately disappointed to find that the delightful station buffet had closed two years before, after the death of the owner.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Where the path which follows the line from the former Town Station starts to climb towards Sherborne Road had appeared one of the track authority’s ridiculously elaborate access points, which will likely soon be overgrown like the rest of the estate.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

So, instead of enjoying a cooked breakfast there and riding to Thornford, the scout headed for Pen Mill and the nearby 24-hour Co-op filling station, where he paid \u00a32.45 for a coffee from a well-known brand’s machine; used regularly it seemed by ordinary working men who would once have filled a flask with tea before leaving home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating a sandwich at Pen Mill was a poor second to a buffet breakfast but it was pleasant in the early morning sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the scout stepped onto the platform at Maiden Newton just before eight, it had been nearly 50 years since the last time. After the train continued to Weymouth, the scout wandered around the lifeless station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The branch to Bridport was opened shortly after the main Wilts, Somerset & Weymouth. Maiden Newton did not at first have a bay platform but one was soon made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maiden Newton<\/p>\n\n\n\n