Creekmoor Light Railway

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The Creekmoor Light Railway (Poole Dorset) was what is now classed as a pleasure line at SY999941. Operated by a group of up to ten lads & the owner, Mr. T.L.Waterman who bid in competition with Mr.J.J.Evans (Launceston Steam Rly.). Purchasing rails, two 4wheel drive diesel locos, about 10 vee skips, 15 brick carrying wagons & accessories purchased at scrap value from the disbanding Upton Brickworks, formally The Lytchett Brick Company near Upton at SY982934. Redevelopment of the Upton site, railway purchase & moving all the stock to it's new Creekmoor Lane site took place in October 1968. The site is adjacent to what was Creekmoor Halt. Opened 13th June, 1933, for workers at the new 'Oerlikon' munitions factory and Closed 17th March, 1966,in keeping with the esteemed Dr. Beechings' cutbacks. Mr. Waterman & his Brother kept two smallholdings & the area was quite 'countryfied'. The two brothers reared pigs & first plans were to carry cooked swill from a higher place down to Trevors styes. A main line ran from a lower boundery up approx 100 yds to & crossed a communial lane used by other smallholders & around the edge of a grasing field curving round a few Oak trees and rising up straight, across two gated paths to 'Pines Clump' & three sidings. Track length just over half a mile long. Achievements were,- a three road engine shed built entirely out of materials gleened from the local dump ie, corrogated roof sheets, strip lighting & insulated inside boarding. Windows from the demolishing Halt nearby. Railwayana plates were proudly hung from beams. Two low, open dropside wagons, a 14ft flat bogie rail carrier, a 12ft bogie coach to carry 12 passengers, and a tool van were built using the chassis & framework gas cut from the brick carrying trollies parked on the stock sidings. A chassis just had to be cut in half, an angle iron welded on each end resulting in two bogies each needing two axle boxes. All the materials were to hand as the small farm was self sufficient. All welding was done in a clutterd shed alongside a well positioned boat set to catch rain water below the leaking roof. British Railways were removing equipment at Broadstone so an offer from us of Ten Shillngs - scrap value was accepted by the B.R.Property division for the CLR to remove ALL the signalling posts, arms,signs, dummies infact any removable metelwork. This was performed over four weekends with a 4 wheeled trolly pushed a mile up the track, with oxyactylene & held back when loaded with long posts & arms & signs. One occurance the trolley was closly followed by the returning Crompton after finishing their turn.................The metal was sorted, all trains were now signalled, the scrap bought the Orenstein & Koppel steam 0-6-0WT loco Fojo, 9239 of 1939?

The diesel loco's bought from Upton Brickworks were -

• No.1. Hibberd 1887 of 1934, a runner, named Samson.
• No.2. Motor Rail 9778 of 1953, rolling chassis, gearbox stripped, Delilah.
• No.3 Ruston Hornsby 179880 of 1936 a good runner, Brunel
• No.4. Motor Rail 8644 of 1941, a runner named Druid or later David.

• (a) Ex Upton Brickworks Nr Poole Oct 1968.
• (b) Ex L.W.Vass Ltd Dealer, Amphill, Beds.December 1969.
• (c) Ex Pollock & Brown Southampton. May 1971.
• (d) Ex Empresa Carbonifera do Douro, Portugal, Via Alan Keefe August 1972.
• (z) To Lynton & Barnstaple Railway. c1978.
• (x) To Abbey Light Rly. Leeds. Totally rebuilt to a different guise. c1978.
• (y) To Welsh Highland Rly Beddgelert, Private purchase??? c1978.

The line operated late afternoon Fridays till after dusk. Saturdays & Sundays access came as lads wished, it was playing trains 12" to the foot. The lads were young & always liked the late nights, when Trevor, after working hard in one of the sheds would come on in & tell a story or three of the old Somerset & Dorset or trains that he'd seen or heard, or if the boys were lucky someone gets an ear bashing for a tiny misdeamure that had occured & hoped hadn'd been seen. But Trevor, quote, "had an eye like a stinking eel". He missed nothing. It was a great pleasure for five years to work the line, have respect, using tools, equipment, & get on with one another.

Turning the coach into the engine shed road was a curiosity. The main track ran down to a short stub of only eight feet, the passenger caoch being twelve, firstly had it's four foot long bogie run onto the stub, RH point crossed over, coach pushed over the new set route, which with the coach length swinging in an arc, would position it on the turntable. Then point reset & pushed up to the outer line alongside the locos. At the Summit 'Pines Clump', a ten lever frame that came from 'Uddens Crossing' (today close to Uddens Trading Estate Stapehill) & installed in a hut from another crossing on the 1849 Southampton & Dorchester line, complete with sliding windows. At least once, a lad stayed overnight with sleeping bag and slept on top of the frame with the levers crossed in a V position. From this box the line was fully track circuited & sidings down to the bottom box located at the road (lane) crossing, bells, plungers & batteries within the Ten Shillings. The bottom box was the original booking office & crossing box from Creekmoor Halt, hoisted onto a farm trailer & off loaded by JCB A new housing estate being planned, forced the railway to lift the tracks, all & sundry to move down to Crockway Farm, Maiden Newton Dorset. A three road shed with a pit was built,locos put inside & wagons pushed a few hundred yards over tempory welded track to acouple of sidings. The Western Region Main Line ran along side the eng. shed and many drivers would sound their horn in passing. Two auctions came about - believed to be 1977 and 1978, arranged with the Narrow Gauge Railway Society, all stock & signs sold off to different bidders and went far afield. A once proud 'pleasure' line gone. So did the once enthusiastic lads, now chaps, all they have now are long memories of the good times, - we left with nothing else... All that value around us & it all went through our fingers..................