Webcam Swanage Railway Station
The railway station is located at Swanage, on Purbeck Island in the English county of Dorset. It was originally the terminus of the London & South Western Railway (L & SWR) branch line from Wareham; the line and station were closed by British Rail in 1972.
Later, in 1979, it reopened as a station on the Swanage Railroad, a historic railroad that now runs from Norden north of Corfe Castle to Swanage Station.
Swanage is at the tip of Purbeck Island, a peninsula bordered by the English Channel to the south and the marshlands of the Frome River and Poole Harbor to the north and east. Since the twelfth century, the area around Swanage was known for Purbeck marble, which was quarried locally and shipped by sea. The presence of this industry, along with the Purbeck Ball Clay factory in the area, attracted railroad promoters when the main L & SWR line reached Wareham in 1847. The Swanage Railroad opened on May 20, 1885.
By the end of the 19th century, Swanage began to develop as a tourist resort. There were buses and trains to the town from both London and the industrial towns of the Midlands and Northern England. To accommodate this traffic, the station was significantly rebuilt in 1937, with the station buildings expanded using suitable materials and the design blended well with the 1885 original.
