North Dorset end of season Shillingstone steam up on the 60th year of the Somerset & Dorset Railway!

A very enjoyable afternoon spent exploring the North Dorset Railway at Shillingstone and seeing the progress the volunteers are making here before the afternoon arrival of several full size and minature traction engines as part of the railways End of Season Steam Up event!

There was a good opportunity to explore the station and various museums and displays around the site, exploring the history of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway that used to run through here. The year 2026 marks the 60th anniversary of the closure of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, which shut down in March 1966 due to the Beeching cuts. We also had a good chance to meet the Project 62 team and hear about the current status of both their Yugoslavia Class S62 (USA Class S100) Tanks 30075, now down at the Plym Valley Railway, and S62 classmate 30076, a big but not impossible restoration task. The team are working hard to remove the boiler tubes and working on the gradual restoration.

The Hudswell Clarke diesel shunter NDR D1 'Ashdown' made a welcome appearance in action and took the opportunity to shunt with the brake van down to Lamb House Bridge for an impromptu photoshoot with some of the full size steam traction engines arriving, before they headed to the station. Sadly the railway cannot extend beyond the buffer stops at this bridge so all focus is on goign down alongside the cycle path in the direction of the former Stourpaine & Durweston Halt site.

The sun shone as more steam traction engines continued to arrive throughout the afternoon, with a great atmosphere, the bar and cafe trading well and a real sense that this event has the potential to grow as the team at this railway push forwards with their development and expansion plans. Certainly a railway I will be looking forward to visitng again in the future! | 17.10.2026

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