It is worth noting that the Bridport branch closed 50 years ago on 5th May 1975

That the Bridport branch was built was the work of one man - Edward Gill Flight. A solicitor in Bridport in the 1820s before moving to London. He returned in 1852 to note the town in an economic low. That year the Chambers Journal printed an article on cheap railways, a number of which were built in Scotland. Using this idea Flight promoted the railway, getting the local business men behind him.

He employed Mathieson as contractor, who had built a couple of these lines in Scotland. Using a route from Maiden Newton reduced the engineering costs versus a route via Dorchester or Beaminster but meant that it needed connections at Maiden Newton which were at the mercy of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), especially as there were no passing loops on the line.

I arrived in Maiden Newton a few months after it closed and, after being transferred to teach at Colfox School in Bridport, use the 73 Bus on a daily basis for a number of years.
In July Bridport Museum are holding a series of talks on the line as part of Rail 200. I am giving two, one on its opening and early years an the other on the West Bay extension.

Blimey! 

Thank you for posting those historic images here, PhilWakely. 

I'm now inclined to merge various previous posts into this one, to become a definitive topic on 'the Bridport Branch.'

Will do! 

The caption on the image at the top of the piece is incorrect. The train is at Bridport station, not West Bay!