Corfe Castle - Platform 2

Corfe Castle - Platform 2, a photo by LLAP Dorset on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Corfe Castle Dorset

At the beginning of the 19th century, the area around Corfe Castle was known for its supply of Purbeck Ball Clay, which at that time was shipped by a pair of horse drawn tramways (the Middlebere Plateway and the Furzebrook Railway) to wharves on Poole Harbour. The port of Swanage at the tip of the Isle was equally well known for the Purbeck Marble that was mined locally and shipped out by sea.
The presence of these industries attracted railway promoters once the L&SWR main line reached Wareham in 1847. Several schemes were promoted and failed, but eventually the Swanage Railway received its Act in 1881 and opened on 20 May 1885. The position of Corfe Castle, commanding the only relatively low level route across the hilly spine of the Isle of Purbeck, meant that line passed close to the centre of the village, and Corfe Castle station was built for the opening of the line. From its opening, the line was operated by the L&SWR, and line was absorbed into that railway in 1886. Corfe Castle station was the only intermediate station on the Swanage branch, a status it retained until closure by British Rail, and possessed the only passing loop between the junction with the main line at Worgret Junction and Swanage. In 1960, the station was allocated a camping coach converted from a Pullman car, which was fitted with a full kitchen, two sleeping compartments and a room with two single beds.

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