Abbotsbury branch railway

The Abbotsbury Railway was a standard gauge railway line which ran in the west of the county of Dorset in England opening in 1885. Although great hopes of mineral traffic drove the original construction of the line, these failed to materialise and after a quiet existence carrying local passengers and agricultural produce, the line closed in 1952.

The Southampton and Dorchester Railway opened its line to Dorchester on 1 June 1847. The Company was friendly to the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) so Dorchester had a direct connection to London over that line. At the time there was intense rivalry between the LSWR and its allies, and the Great Western Railway (GWR) and its associated companies. Because the track gauges of the two groups were different, the competition was characterised as the gauge wars; the GWR used the broad gauge and the LSWR used the narrow gauge, which later became known as standard gauge.

The Southampton and Dorchester line had been planned as the first stage of a line via Bridport to Exeter, but that intention was not implemented. The Southampton and Dorchester Railway was taken over by the LSWR on 22 July 1848.

The GWR planned a line to reach Weymouth, and it promoted a nominally independent company, the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, which started construction from near Chippenham. It was taken over by the GWR on 14 March 1850, but progress in building towards Weymouth was slow; it finally reached the town via Yeovil and Dorchester, on 20 January 1857. The line had a separate station at Dorchester, and a connecting link was made to the Southampton and Dorchester (now LSWR) line. The GWR was required by the terms of its authorising Act of Parliament to give running powers to the LSWR over the line from Dorchester to Weymouth, and "mixed gauge" track, that is track with rails both for broad gauge trains and narrow gauge trains, was provided.

The line passed through difficult terrain, and there were steep gradients and a tunnel. There was public demand for a station serving Upwey and Broadwey, and the GWR agreed to provide one if local subscriptions reached £150 toward the cost. This was done and the station opened at Upwey, on the north side of what is now Old Station Road on 21 June 1871.

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