A plaque and memorial have been unveiled at Herston Halt to honour the contributions that the Royal Corps of Signals made to the Swanage Railway over the past 40 years.

Carol Wright, who has been a volunteer gardener for the past 25 years, and Mayor of Swanage, Councillor Mike Bonfield, unveiled the wooden memorial at the halt.

The memorial is made up of a wooden railway sleeper with 15 small plaques which pay tribute to Royal Corps of Signals soldiers as well as volunteers who have helped develop the halt.

Additionally, a metal plaque has been mounted on a wall at Herston Halt, which was unveiled by Frank Roberts, Swanage Railway Trust chair.

Veterans and volunteers were present at both unveilings, which took place on the 5th July.

Herston Halt was the first station to be built by the Swanage Railway, and they built out from there, where the first train left from Swanage towards the halt on Good Friday in April 1984.

This is the same year that the Royal Corps of Signals began its association with the railway.

“There was a wonderful feeling of community, family, camaraderie and shared purpose when the memorial and the tribute plaque were unveiled.

“It was good to welcome the families of some of those people, sadly no longer with us, who played such an important part in the development of Herston Halt over the years. It’s important to remember those people whose determined volunteer work has contributed to the maintenance and development of Herston Halt over 40 years.

“The Herston Halt of today is very different to the small basic halt that welcomed its first train from Swanage on Good Friday, April, 1984 – an historic and exciting day that saw Herston Halt become a springboard to success, enabling the Swanage Railway to push on and relay its tracks to Harman’s Cross, Corfe Castle and Norden,”

Volunteer Swanage Railway Trust chair Frank Roberts