local councillors and officers to plan a gateway feature including a signal, interpretation boards and a level crossing gate as the trackbed enters Sturminster Newton. Shillingstone - the base for North Dorset Railway - the only remaining station built to a Dorset Central Railway design in 1863 Stourpaine & Durweston Halt - in private hands Activity In 2009, of the up main track through the station was laid and ballasted using 110a and 113a flat bottom rail and wooden sleepers. The Ruston & Hornsby diesel shunter was moved from the isolated goods dock. This was the first standard gauge loco on the Somerset & Dorset mainline south of the Mendips and north of Blandford, since the demolition train departed in July 1967, exactly 42 years before. Progress in 2010 included acquiring a tracked Priestman Mustang excavator, finishing construction of the up platform wall, regrading of the cattle dock track bed and preparations for track-laying, and the connection of the station to the mains drainage system. The NDR submitted in December 2020 a planning application for the extension, this was approved in April 2021 with permission to extend the line 400 m north of the station. Trees were felled and bushes cleared on the section of the embankment between the station and Lamb House Bridge. In accordance with the planning permission granted by Dorset Council, a temporary diversion was created allowing the public to use the Trailway whilst a new Trailway was constructed along the eastern side of the embankment so that the trackbed for the Northern extension could be restored along the western side of the embankment. The Trailway diversion was completed during the Summer of 2022 and officially opened in August by Simon Hoare, MP. Throughout the summer of 2022 work continued reconstructing the embankment to the north of Lamb House Bridge. This had been excavated after the closure of the line to allow the construction of a tennis court. In October 2022 work started excavating spoil that had been dumped on the embankment during the construction of the industrial estate and transferring it over the bridge to complete the reconstruction of the embankment. In February 2023 a temporary diversion of the permissive path at the North end of the station was created allowing the construction of a pedestrian level crossing. The permissive path was restored and the last hump of soil obstructing the line of the trackbed for