The Coming of the Railway
When on the 15th April 1856, Miss Seymour - sister of the Chairman of the Salisbury & Yeovil
Railway Company - turned the first sod at Chantry Fields, Gillingham, Dorset, who would have
guessed that within 20 years the line would become one of the most successful in the country.
Mr Louis H Ruegg, who wrote a History of the line in 1878 remarks that at Templecombe
junction "the best paying line in the Kingdom is brought into connection (and contrast) with the
worst" - the Somerset and Dorset - which was in trouble from the start. The ceremonial
wheelbarrow and silver spade are now on show in Gillingham Museum.
The first trains, in May 1859, terminated at Gillingham from London Waterloo. Construction of
the tunnel at Sandley to the west of Gillingham was not completed for a further year. From 1860
the link was established right through to Exeter and beyond. The prosperity of the line has ebbed
and flowed, especially with the ceasing of freight traffic but it still exists today for passenger
traffic.
More information on the railway is available at Gillingham Museum.
