A folorn scene from Shepton Mallet station in 1967 , the much loved and well used Somerset and Dorset line having closed in March of 1966 . An eventual closure of the line had ben heralded at the end of the 1962 Summer Services when all long distance through passenger workings in both directions between the North Midlands and the South Coast were taken off the Somerset and Dorset and re routed via Banbury, Oxford and Basingstoke thereby substantially reducing passenger traffic over the Somerset and Dorset network to merely local " All Stations " services . The need for double heading of vitually all the heavily loaded passsenger workings in earlier years had also contributed to the line's eventual closure , and the introduction of Standard Clas Nine locomotives in 1960 only partially resolved that operating problem