Part 1

Friday 9th May 2025 ... 06:32 Melksham towards Southampton, change at Westbury (06:48 arrival to 06:50 departure) onto the train towards Weymouth.   The risky change works, as I understand it "usually" does from regulars.   You know who they are because they position themselves for a rapid sprint though the subway!

The train calls on request at Thornford (where we picked up three people), Yetminster (which we skipped) and Chetnole (where it stopped just to let me off.

The city of Chetnole is situated a few hundred yards from the station, which is set in the countryside.  Makes sense really, as a railway station in the city itself and no-where near the railway would not make sense.  More seriously, the station is a rare survivor of the major cull around 60 years ago, said to have been because of the narrow lanes making it hard to run replacement buses.   These days, it's well kept though not wheel chair accessible, and I wonder if it much more use could be made of it by extending Chetnole (OK, it's a village really) toward the station - Cranbrook and Copplestone stile - and there are a handful of others in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) territory where it has happened or there's obvious potential.

Part 2 - across the fields towards Evershot Tunnel

The school bus - and, yes, the roads are still tight for buses


And across the fields to Melbury Bubb with some keeping my company




Beyond Melbury Bubb, the path was hard to follow - yes - through this farmyard


And I got the impression it's virtually unused


Relieved to see some way marking otherwise I would have had a clue


Heavy going though the grass.


And the locals so rarely see anyone they crowded all around me.  Yes - through their field


Hit a minor road up for a final ascent to the top over the tunnel - next part

Given a station just out of the town/village, it can be rewarding to look for the pavement alongside the road that eased access to it - something that holds good even for long-vanished stations. That's something from which Chetnole doesn't benefit, mind - and even the village's 30 mph limit ends at the village boundary.

Mark

That was the site of Cattistock Halt, opposite is Cattistock Cricket Club where I spent many hours trying to play that game.

If open the Fix and Hounds at Cattistock would have been the better choice. The Chalk and Cheese used to be called the Brewery Inn. One of three pubs open when I moved there in 1976, the others were the White Horse and the Castle. The latter had a terrace on to the river.

The only bus now is the school bus to Beaminster School. There was a regular run years ago running Dorchester, Maiden Newton to Evershot and Yeovil but that stopped some years ago.
Plans are being developed for the section from Maiden Newton to Toller, which will be the last section to be opened for active travel.

Plans at Dorchester Record Office show that the north entrance of Evershot Tunnel needed the cuttings deepened and extended before opening of the line. The road over the tunnel at this point had to ve diverted.

Like other Dorset rivers, the Frome has parallel roads on either side - the winter and summer ways.  These form a circular walk to Evershot or to Rampisham.