The station is located on the Heart of Wessex Line, 154.12 miles (248.03 kilometres) from the zero point at London Paddington, measured via Swindon and Westbury.

A signal box was added later - it was closed in the summer of 1988, when the "no signalman token system" was introduced between Maiden Newton and Yeovil.

The other buildings within the listing include a smaller shelter with Welsh slate roof, and the footbridge of reinforced concrete installed in the 1950s by the Western Region of British Railways.

Access to the southbound platform is normally by the footbridge but there is a level crossing at the south end of the station for passengers who are unable to use the bridge.

[citation needed] The block section to Dorchester West is operated under the "tokenless single line" principle with track circuiting.