In 1923, the government decided that Britain's railways would serve the nation better in a combined, but still privately-owned fashion: the London & South Western was absorbed into the Southern Railway, ending nearly 90 years of service to Wessex. Most accounts of the history of West Moors describe the railways of these inter-war years. Although often portrayed as idyllic times, the long decline of railways in our national life had already begun.

For West Moors though, the arrival of the fuel depot during the Second World War extended the useful life of the railway & boosted the development of the village as a whole.