Castleman Trail, north of Broadstone

Image: © A-M-Jervis Taken: 10 Dec 2007

Merley Bridge, almost a short tunnel, took the Southampton & Dorchester Railway, opened in 1847, diagonally beneath a crossroads on the main Poole to Wimborne road. Passenger services here were withdrawn in 1964, though freight services to Wimborne hung on until 1977, after which the line was quickly dismantled. Later the section between Broadstone and Oakley, south of Wimborne, was converted to a cycleway known as the Castleman Trail, taking its name from the Wimborne solicitor who promoted the railway. Drainage has long been a problem here and it is believed the trackbed was raised in Southern Railway days to lay larger drains, necessitating the cutouts both sides of the arch to ensure that coaching stock and other high-roofed vehicles did not strike the brickwork on the curve through the bridge. The concrete pathway through the bridge is a more recent attempt to prevent waterlogging of the trail.

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