New carriages for Poole Park line arrive

TESTING of new carriages has begun on the closed 10¼-in Poole Park Railway.

The line, founded in 1949 by Southern Miniature Railways Ltd, has been closed since a mass walk-out of volunteers from the Friends of Poole Park in 2018. In July the previous year, the Friends group was awarded a 30-year conversion by the then Poole Borough Council to run the railway.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has pledged to reopen it and received a grant from the Parks Foundation for the purpose. A set of all-new carriages was delivered in early August and the council has secured the use of a temporary locomotive while awaiting the arrival of its permanent electric one later this year. The council must now undergo testing and qualification, overseen by an industry certification body, prior to the training of officers and volunteers to run the line.

Accordingly, no date for the reopening has yet been set.