Return to the Somerset and Dorset Railway

The station was opened on 31 August 1863 by the Somerset and Dorset Railway, although planned and designed by one of its two predecessors, the Dorset Central Railway. It is the last surviving example of a station built by the Dorset Central Railway (one of the forerunners of the S&DJR).

After a prolonged run-down of services, including the closure of freight and goods services on 5 April 1965, the station was closed, along with the remaining former S&DJR lines, on 7 March 1966, as a result of the Beeching Axe. The station was fully staffed until closure. Track-lifting commenced in 1967, Shillingstone being tackled between March and May. The signal box and platform shelters were demolished at this time, and the last train through the station was the demolition train, hauled by a small diesel shunter.

The station was important as one of the passing places on the single-line between Templecombe and Blandford. The passing loop, new down platform and signal box were opened in 1878; in later years the loop was 511 yards long, as measured between the facing points at each end, compared with 514 yards at Stalbridge. There was a small goods yard to the north of the station, on the up side, with a cattle dock, a small goods shed, and a 5-ton crane. There was a siding at the north end of the passing loop on the down side, and another just to the south of the station (also on the down side and installed in 1901) which could accommodate a 14 coach train. The yard, the sidings and the passing loop were controlled from a signal box at the north end of the up platform.