Bournemouth railway station

Coordinates: 50°43′41″N 1°51′50″W / 50.728°N 1.864°W / 50.728; -1.864
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
See also: Bournemouth West railway station

Bournemouth
Southern Railway
Key dates
20 July 1885Opened (Bournemouth East)
1 May 1899Renamed (Bournemouth Central)
10 July 1967Renamed (Bournemouth)
Passengers
2018/19Increase 2.752 million
 Interchange Decrease 48,752
2019/20Decrease 2.526 million
 Interchange Increase 64,754
2020/21Decrease 0.698 million
 Interchange Decrease 13,233
2021/22Increase 2.010 million
 Interchange Increase 39,650
2022/23Increase 2.430 million
 Interchange Increase 48,487
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Bournemouth railway station is the main railway station serving the seaside town of

London Waterloo to Weymouth. It is 108 miles 2 chains (173.8 km) down the main line from Waterloo[note 1] and is situated between Pokesdown and Branksome
.

A previous incarnation of Bournemouth East station was on another site. Ticket barriers were installed in 2008 and British Transport Police have a Bournemouth office at the station which acts as a regional hub.[1]

History

Looking eastward in 1963

The station was designed by William Jacob, chief engineer of the

Bournemouth Train & Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot but no further. From the end of steam most trains were formed of 4REP EMUs coupled up with one or more unpowered 4TC units. The 4TC units would be uncoupled at Bournemouth and attached to a Class 33/1 diesel locomotive for the onward journey to Weymouth. This continued until the electrification of the line from Branksome to Weymouth and the introduction of Class 442
units in 1988. The end of steam also saw the removal of the station's centre tracks which ran between the up and down lines serving platforms 2 and 3 respectively and the demolition of the locomotive sheds to the west; the station car park took over their site.

The station roof was severely damaged by the

Great Storm of 1987 that hit the South of England. It was extensively refurbished in 2000 by Railtrack
after many years of disrepair and being surrounded by scaffolding to protect people from falling debris.

Ticket barriers were installed in 2008.

Bournemouth railway station was once served by services and goods deliveries across five railways, the South West Main Line, Southampton and Dorchester Railway, Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway, Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway and Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

Accidents and incidents

On 2 September 1961, a train, hauled by SR West Country Class 4-6-2 No. 34045 Ottery St. Mary, was derailed by trap points at the west end of the down platform.[3]

Layout

The station has four platforms:

  • Platform 1 – east facing bay platform capable of accommodating trains of up to four 20-metre coaches. As of April 2024, trains to Winchester depart from this platform.
  • Platform 2 – for through services to the east towards
    London Waterloo
    .
  • Platform 3 – for terminating services from London Waterloo & Manchester Piccadilly and through services to Weymouth.
  • Platform 4 - rarely used by trains in passenger service.

Platforms 3 and 4 are continuous, and both can accommodate full-length trains. This means Bournemouth has one of the longest platforms in the country. Other stations with this arrangement include Gloucester, Cambridge, Bristol Temple Meads and Edinburgh Waverley.

Motive power depot

BR Standard 5MT 4-6-0 No. 73110 approaching the station 10 May 1958. The Locomotive Depot is visible behind the locomotive.

A small locomotive depot was opened at Bournemouth East in 1870, but closed in 1883.[4] This was replaced by a larger shed, adjacent to Bournemouth Central station, in 1883. This in turn was supplemented by another shed nearby in 1888. In 1921, the 1883 shed was closed and the 1888 one was extended to increase capacity, and between 1936 and 1938 this was rebuilt and enlarged. The new shed included a 65 ft (20 m) turntable and a 50 LT (51 t) hoist. However the facilities remained cramped and awkwardly sited; there were proposals to move the depot to Branksome which were never implemented. This site therefore remained in use until June 1967 when the site was cleared.[5]

Accessibility

View from the footbridge looking towards London.

The station is fully accessible, with an underpass going from Platform 3 to Platform 2.[6]

Services

A CrossCountry service

Rail

The station is primarily served by

London Waterloo to Weymouth or Poole, and stopping services from Winchester to Bournemouth.[7]

Manchester Piccadilly via Birmingham New Street.[8] All CrossCountry services at Bournemouth use Voyagers. Before the CrossCountry service was standardised in 2007 there were for many years CrossCountry services to many other destinations, including the Dorset Scot, Pines Express and Wessex Scot and other trains to Scotland via both the West Coast Main Line and East Coast Main Line, along with trains to Leeds and to Liverpool Lime Street
.

As of 2024, the typical off peak stopping pattern at the station is as follows:[9]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Brockenhurst or Southampton Central  
Manchester–Bournemouth
   Terminus
Pokesdown or New Milton or Brockenhurst  
South Western Railway
London–Weymouth
   Branksome or Poole
  Historical railways  
Boscombe
Line open, station closed 		  London and South Western Railway
Southampton and Dorchester Railway 		  Meyrick Park Halt
Line open, station closed

In May 1994,

Southern
. The service was one of the few regular services to use platform 1.

Bus

Bournemouth railway station also serves as a hub for local bus services. On the down side of the station is Bournemouth Travel Interchange which is served by

morebus, operating frequent buses to the town centre. A regular bus service to Bournemouth Airport, the 737, is operated by morebus. It is also a stop on National Express coach routes which serve the town. The station was served by Yellow Buses until their collapse on 4 August 2022.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ Railways in the United Kingdom historically are measured in miles and chains. There are 80 chains to one mile.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bournemouth railway station.
  1. ^ "South West Trains > Rail Community Officers". Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  2. ^ "Bournemouth Central – History" semgonline.com
  3. ISBN 0-906899 03 6
    .
  4. ISBN 0-86093-542-6
    .
  5. ISBN 0-86093-020-3
    .
  6. ^ "Bournemouth". National Rail. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  7. ^ South Western Railway Pocket Timetable 28
  8. ^ CrossCountry timetable, Scotland, The North East & Manchester to the South West & South Coast
  9. ^ "Timetable 28". 19 January 2024.
  10. ^ Network SouthCentral goes west Rail issue 230 6 July 1994 page 19
  11. ^ "Bournemouth's Yellow Buses collapses after failing to find buyer". BBC News. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.

50°43′41″N 1°51′50″W / 50.728°N 1.864°W / 50.728; -1.864

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