THE railway was once the backbone of British rural life. A vital lifeline for communities and industries, you could catch a train to almost anywhere, with even the smallest towns having their own stations – and a stationmaster to run it.

The publication of the Beeching Report in 1963 changed all that.

Given the task of improving the railways’ viability, Dr Richard Beeching, chairman of the British Railways Board, came up with a programme resulting in the closure of 5,000 miles of track and more than 2,000 stations with the loss of thousands of jobs.

Dorset and the New Forest lost much of their rail services during the cuts.

Previously, the Somerset and Dorset line linked the area with Bath and beyond, stopping at villages such as Broadstone, Blandford and Sturminster Newton.

The Brockenhurst to Poole line served Ringwood, West Moors and Wimborne, and offered a link to Salisbury.

Plans have often been mooted to reopen some of the axed routes, but it seems such a project could become a reality in the next few years.

The Association of Train Operating Companies wants to roll out a £73 million rail link across the New Forest, with a new station at Ringwood and revamped track at Brockenhurst.

The last passenger services operating on the Brockenhurst-Ringwood-Wimborne branch line ran in 1964. Trains also ran for the last time on the Salisbury-Fordingbridge-West Moors route to Bournemouth and the line was closed completely.

It was said the lines were losing £150,000 a year on passenger services.

The Brockenhurst-Ringwood-Wimborne line was opened in 1847 with hopes it might become the main line to the West of England. Bournemouth was then a tiny hamlet of no importance so the line was routed to serve Wimborne and Ringwood, which were then the principal towns of the district.

In their day, Ringwood and Wimborne were important railway junctions. Until 1888 trains were divided at Ringwood, one part going to Christchurch and Bournemouth and the other part continuing to Dorchester and Weymouth.

Wimborne was the junction station for the Somerset and Dorset line to Bath, with connections for the Midlands and North.

Across the rest of Dorset and Hampshire, tiny villages warranted a stop and neat little stations featured blossoming gardens and men devoted to their job.

Many of the passengers were regulars and there was always time for the porter to discuss his lettuces or border plants with the guards.

Back then, not many people owned cars, so trains were the primary method of transport. Deliveries of everything from newspapers to groceries also used to come by train.

At Abbotsbury, for example, the main traffic was milk and other agricultural goods, plus mackerel from Chesil Beach during the summer.

The last train ran on the line in 1952. Before it left for Abbotsbury a wreath was placed on the smokebox of the engine.

In Blandford, many locals also feel the closure of the station killed an important part of the town.

And yet once, between Blandford and Gillingham, on the line which once carried the pride and joy of train spotters – the Pines Express – passenger, goods, cattle and troop trains thundered through for more than a century.