by Lorraine Gibson.

In the midst of rolling government and rail unions disputes, a timely piece of railway history will be resurrected as Wimborne Railway Society marks the 60th anniversary of the infamous Beeching Report.
One of the most notorious government reports of the 20th century, it tolled the death knell for hundreds of railway lines across Great Britain.
Issued in March 1963 to address the failure of the modernisation plan to stem British Rail’s losses Dr Richard Beeching, its Conservative government-appointed author, purposed wholesale route closures in an attempt to concentrate resources on ‘core’ routes.

These closures included the much-loved Somerset & Dorset, a picturesque route from Manchester to Bournemouth that included a branch line out to Wimborne.
The Wessex Way now runs above where the Bournemouth West terminus once stood in Wimborne, the only indicator of its important past being the location name… Station Road.
A famous express train, it brought thousands of passengers from the north to Dorset for their annual holidays and, for obvious reasons, was nicknamed ‘The Pines Express’.
To mark the occasion of the Beeching Report, the society is offering families and people of all ages the chance to see, admire or remember what the famous Dorset & Somerset actually looked like.

The story is brought to life through the Wimborne Railex Model Railway Exhibition, an award-winning scale model of the terminus station with the Pines Express train in action.
It’s on April 15 and 16 at the Allendale Centre, Wimborne.

It may be 60 years ago since the steam-hauled Pines Express delivered its happy cargo of holidaymakers to Bournemouth but many Dorset residents still remember it with great affection.
If you have a related memory or photo you’d like to share, send it to newsdesk@stourandavon.net.