Bournemouth West railway station

Disused railway station in England

Bournemouth West
Station approach in 1963
General information
Location	Bournemouth, Dorset England
Grid reference	SZ076914
Platforms	6
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Pre-grouping	SDJR (MR & LSWR)
Post-grouping	SDJR (LMS & SR)
Key dates
15 June 1874	Opened
6 September 1965	Closed to passengers
4 October 1965^[1]	Closed to freight

Bournemouth West railway station was a railway station in Bournemouth, Dorset, England.

History

The station opened on 15 June 1874. Although passenger trains were withdrawn from 6 September 1965 a substitute bus service was provided until official closure on 4 October 1965. The closure was originally temporary, but then became permanent and the station was demolished. The station was the southern terminus of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, as well as being the terminus for trains from London Waterloo and other local trains.

Accidents and incidents

On 17 August 1956 a rake of carriages ran away colliding with another rake of carriages and a parcels van. The van was pushed into the parcels office bringing down its roof crushing two cars.^[2]

Closure

The station was closed during the electrification of the London Waterloo to Bournemouth line. Originally the closure was meant to be temporary pending completion of the electrification project, as it was thought that Bournemouth Central did not have enough capacity to handle all of Bournemouth's trains. Experience during the temporary closure showed that the newly electrified Central station could handle all the trains in the town, so the closure became permanent.

The station was demolished shortly after the closure became permanent and the site is now occupied by a car park and the A338 Wessex Way. Bournemouth Traincare Depot, former home of the Class 442 Wessex Electrics, occupies the former approaches to the station.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Terminus		Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway Dorset Central Railway		Branksome Line closed, station open
Terminus		London and South Western Railway Southampton and Dorchester Railway		Meyrick Park Halt Line and station closed

References

^ "Bournemouth West Station © Ben Brooksbank :: Geograph Britain and Ireland". Geograph. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
^ Bishop, Bill (1984). Off the Rails. Southampton: Kingfisher. p. 50. ISBN 0-946184-06-2.