Pokesdown railway station

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Pokesdown
Location
Place	Pokesdown
Local authority	Bournemouth
Operations
Station code	POK
Managed by	South West Trains
Platforms in use	2
Annual entry/exit 04/05	0.233 million **
History
Key dates	Opened 1886
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
** based on sales of tickets in 2004/05 financial year which end or originate at Pokesdown. Disclaimer (PDF)

Pokesdown railway station is a railway station serving the Pokesdown region of Bournemouth in Dorset, England. It is located on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth.

The station is served by South West Trains, who operate local stopping services from Brockenhurst to Wareham railway station and London Waterloo to Poole stopping services.

[edit] The station

The station was opened in 1886 by the Southampton and Dorchester Railway. It was originally named "Boscombe", which was later altered to "Pokesdown (Boscombe)", since the station was closer to Pokesdown than Boscombe. In 1897, when Boscombe station was opened, the station was renamed again to "Pokesdown".

In the 1930s the Southern Railway made the platform facilities considerably larger, allowing the station to accommodate more trains. Although these facilities have since been removed, at the time they provided an asset for the fast non-stopping services because there was track to use as a loop line.

In the 1970s, there was no longer a need for four tracks and a signal box. Therefore, two of the tracks were removed and the signal box closed.

South West Trains units operating in multiple will only open the doors of the leading unit at the station due to short platform lengths although platform 2 does appear long enough to accommodate 8 or 10 coach trains the stop sign is positioned for trains of 5 coaches or less.