# Brockenhurst railway station

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Brockenhurst railway station serves the village of Brockenhurst in Hampshire, England. It is located on the South West Main Line between London Waterloo and Weymouth. It is also the junction of the Lymington Branch Line with the main line. It is 92 miles 66 chains (149.4 km) down the line from Waterloo. It is managed and served by South Western Railway, with some CrossCountry trains also calling here.

## History

Brockenhurst station was opened on 1 June 1847 as part of the Southampton and Dorchester Railway (nicknamed the Castleman's Corkscrew) with services running to Southampton in one direction and Dorchester via Ringwood and Wimborne Minster the other. The following year, the railway was amalgamated with the London and South Western Railway. On 12 July 1858 the Lymington Branch Line opened, beginning shuttle services between the station and Lymington, turning the station into a junction station and leading to its name being changed between 1876 and 1888 to Brockenhurst Junction to emphasise this.
On 5 March 1888 the direct line from Brockenhurst via Sway to Bournemouth and Poole and bypassing the longer 'Corkscrew', opened to traffic. This massively increased the number of trains passing through the station for both routes and enhancing its status as an interchange, especially after the downgrading of the 'corkscrew' in 1893 to that of a branch line. Brockenhurst station, along with the L&SWR was taken over by Southern Railway in 1923 and under their ownership, the station was extended in 1936 to include two new platforms. Services over the old Southampton and Dorchester line via Ringwood fell victim to the Beeching Axe, ceasing in May 1964. The track through the station was electrified in 1967 and the station saw minor changes as part of British Rail's Network SouthEast region.
The station was used as a filming location for the 1974 film Brief Encounter, a poorly-received remake of the well-known 1945 film of the same name. The station represented Winchester railway station in the film, and the running in boards were altered to reflect this.
In 2014 the station received £4.6 million of government grants as part of the Access for All initiative to replace the footbridge at Brockenhurst with a new bridge complete with lift shafts. Step-free access to platforms 1 and 2 was previously by a rotating turntable bridge across the tracks while step-free access to platforms 3 and 4 was across the track bed itself.

## Station layout

The station consists of four platforms, arranged in two island platforms, with a ticket office housed in the main building nearest Platform 1 on the side closest to the village. The platforms, ticket office and car park are all connected by footbridge, with the ticket office at one end and the car park and bicycle hire point at the other end of the walkway.
* Platform 1 - Up loop platform used by stopping services from Poole where it is overtaken by the express services from Weymouth and CrossCountry services from Bournemouth on platform 2. This platform is occasionally used by Lymington services, which is normally the first service in the morning. A weekday evening service to Portsmouth and Southsea via Southampton Central used to run from this platform but, since the COVID-19 pandemic, this has ceased.
* Platform 2 - for through services towards Southampton, Winchester and London Waterloo.
* Platform 3 - for through services towards Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth.
* Platform 4 - Down loop platform for Lymington services, this can also be used by other down services, but this is rare.
A signal box and level crossing is located at the northern end of the station.

## Service

The station is served primarily by South Western Railway services between Weymouth and London Waterloo. In addition, CrossCountry operate some services from Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly, via Reading and Birmingham New Street.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:
* 2 tph to London Waterloo
* 1 tph to Weymouth
* 1 tph to Weymouth and Poole, dividing at Bournemouth
* 1 tph to Bournemouth
* 1 tph to Winchester
* 2 tph to Lymington Pier
During the peak hours, some services to/from Weymouth do not call here, with the station instead being served by a stopping portion to/from Poole, which divides from or attaches to the Weymouth portion at Southampton Central.
Only five services operated by CrossCountry call here each weekday: three to Bournemouth and two to Manchester Piccadilly. Most other CrossCountry services pass through the station without stopping.
On Sundays, the services between Winchester and Bournemouth do not run; trains to Weymouth and Poole do not divide at Bournemouth and run only to Poole.
| Preceding station | National Rail | National Rail | National Rail | Following station |
| Beaulieu Road or Totton or Southampton Central | | South Western Railway South West Main Line | | Sway or New Milton or Bournemouth |
| Terminus | | South Western Railway Lymington branch line | | Lymington Town |
| Southampton Central | | CrossCountry Bournemouth-Manchester limited service | | Bournemouth |
| | Historical railways | Historical railways | Historical railways | |
| Terminus | | British Rail Southern Region Southampton and Dorchester Railway | | Holmsley |

## Connections

Local bus routes serve the bus stop located outside the ticket hall. There is a year-round Bluestar 6 service to Lymington in the south, Lyndhurst to the north and onward connections to Totton and Southampton. In the summer time, this is supplemented by the seasonal New Forest Tour green and blue routes to Lymington, Beaulieu, Hythe and Lyndhurst and Burley, New Milton, Barton on Sea, Milford on Sea and Lymington.

## Awards

The station was the winner of the 2009 National Rail Award for best medium-sized station; the judges stated that they "were impressed by the standard of customer service, station presentation, initiative and innovation they observed, all of which ensure that the station provides a smooth, efficient and pleasant departure and arrival point for the travelling customer."
The station was also winner of a National Cycling Award, for a system which informs passengers where cycle spaces are on approaching trains, allowing them to speed-up boarding and form partnerships with local bike-hire firms.

## Gallery of historic pictures

| View from station in 1906, showing the level crossing and signal box | The station as it was in 1963, with platforms 1 and 2 on the left, and platforms 3 and 4 on the right | A Class 414 electric multiple unit at platform 4 in 1973 | Former footbridge in 2010, now replaced by a modern accessible structure with lifts |