Swanage Railway has won a £1.47 million Government grant to re-introduce a regular train service from Swanage and Corfe Castle to the main line at Wareham.

It’s been a long-held ambition since British Rail controversially axed the service back in 1972.

The first regular trains will be running the route by the spring of 2015.

The service will create 40 new jobs indirectly and ten new jobs directly.

The grant money will pay for the upgrading of track and bridges on the Network Rail three mile single line from Worgret Junction, on the London to Weymouth main line, to the Swanage Railway at Motala just east of Furzebrook.

The cash will also fund the upgrading of two 1960s heritage diesel rail bus trains to main line running standards.

Swanage Railway Company chairman, Peter Sills, who rode on the last British Rail train from Swanage to Wareham as a teenager, said: “We are elated at this historic news because the Swanage Railway has been campaigning to bring back regular trains from Swanage and Corfe Castle to Wareham since 1972.

"We are working closely with Network Rail and Dorset County Council to ensure that land access and lease arrangements are put in place as soon as possible.”