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The Railway

A brief look at the railway

The railway played a very important part in the development and popularity of of the towns and villages along the South Coastal areas.

In 1840 the London and South Western Railway, a mainline track running from Southampton to London was completed. Rail travel was becoming so popular at this time that parliament had over 500 bills for promotions of new railway routes and stations around the country. One such bill was for the railway to run from Southampton to Dorchester through the New Forest and this was promoted by solicitor Charles Castleman. The Southampton to Dorchester railway was opened in 1847 and the route went via  Ringwood, Wimborne, Wareham and Poole. (When building the station for Ringwood, the distance was somehow misplaced and when the spur line was completed, the station was actually quarter of a mile away from the track!! A new station had to be built, and the old station building lay derelict until it was bought and became The Lamb Inn!) This route was known as Castlemans Corkscrew because of the way that the line wound in and out of the forest.

The old rail track at Ringwood

A few small branch lines were later built from this line. It was planned to build the railway further westwards but this didn't happen until 1870. 

This new and convenient form of transport became popular and people were able to travel to places that before had not been possible for them. With the opening of the railway, holidays and days out became popular. It was from these holidays that the people often decided to retire to the coast as it was said that the air here was much healthier.   

The nearest station to Bournemouth was in the New Forest and called Christchurch Road, which later became known as Holmsley. 'Royal Blue Coaches' (horse drawn) would meet passengers at the station and drive them onto Bournemouth. The disused railway line is now a lovely forest walk and some of the old sleepers and irons can still be seen. The old station house is now a tea room.

Bournemouth at this time was just a small village and had no need for a railway station! But by 1856 the 'village' was expanding rapidly, and there were plans of extending the railway to Bournemouth. Many routes were proposed, most of them meant building the new line through somebody's land! However, these plans were turned down by parliament as being too expensive! It was decided to run the line as far as Christchurch, to serve Mudeford, a new and popular seaside resort, and this extension was opened on the 13th November 1862.

Finally it was agreed to extend the line from Christchurch and in 1867 plans to build a station at Bournemouth were being prepared. There appeared to be many setbacks to this route, mainly financial, but finally on the 14th March 1870 the first train with passengers arrived at Bournemouth! The journey from London to Bournemouth took about five hours  (not bad when it can still take over three hours to do this journey on a Sunday today!!) The first station was built at Holdenhurst village, which had the highest population in the area at the time, and known as Bournemouth East. Initially, there were just three trains a day arriving here, one at 09.40 one at 1.15 and one at 5.30. Third class passengers  were only allowed to travel on certain trains!

In 1872 an extension line was built at Bournemouth and the first direct service from Bournemouth to London was opened. The first station master at Bournemouth was Mr. Edward Leach, and he held the post for fourteen years. As Bournemouth continued to grow it was no longer considered practical to run the trains via Avon Valley and Ringwood. In 1885 a second station opened for Bournemouth, called Bournemouth West, with routes up country to the Midlands and Bristol. This station was demolished in 1965. 

In 1893 another station was built, called Bournemouth Central (which is still in use today). It was built with typical Victorian grandeur and boasted a fantastic glass roof.  In 1980 plans were put forward to demolish the station. These were refused as the station is a listed building. However, during storms in the 1990's, the roof suffered severe damage and eventually in the late 1990's revamping of the station began. 

In 1888 a direct route was opened between Brockenhurst and Christchurch.  Stations were opened at Sway, New Milton and Hinton Admiral (serving Highcliffe) and the original stations are still in use today. 

These two stations are very similar in design

The last train ran the Corkscrew line in the 1960's and the track was closed in 1964. 

In 1967 electric trains replaced the steam trains, making journeys quicker.  Today the railway is still a popular form of travel.  There are trains running every half an hour to London, and anywhere in the whole country can be reached with the huge network of railways line around the country!

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