Hamworthy railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hamworthy
Location
Place	Hamworthy
Local authority	Poole
Operations
Station code	HAM
Managed by	South West Trains
Platforms in use	2
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Passenger Usage
2004/05 **	0.096 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1847
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
Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Hamworthy (source)   * 2002/03 Disclaimer  ** 2004/05 Disclaimer
UK Rail Portal

Hamworthy railway station serves Hamworthy, an area of Poole in Dorset.

The station opened with the Southampton & Dorchester Railway, which later became part of the London and South Western Railway, in 1847 as Poole Junction. At that time the line to London then went via Broadstone Junction, Wimborne and Ringwood before joining what is now the South Western Main Line at Brockenhurst. The station was known as Hamworthy Junction until the 1970's. A causeway across Holes Bay opened later when the line through Poole to Bournemouth and Christchurch was built.

The station is served by South West Trains who currently operate an average of two trains per hour in each direction with trains going to London, Brockenhurst, Wareham and Weymouth. With a journey time of around 5 minutes the train is the fastest method of travel between Poole town centre and the area surrounding the station compared to the Wilts and Dorset bus service which takes around 14 minutes (not including delays caused by Poole Lifting Bridge)[1]. It is planned that Hamworthy will retain its two services per hour in each direction with the major December 2007 timetable change. The current Weymouth service will become a semi-fast service between Poole and Weymouth and the current Brockenhurst - Wareham stopping service will be replaced by a London Waterloo - Weymouth stopping service, an extension of the service that currently terminates at Poole[2].

The platforms are able to accommodate trains of up to 5 coaches, longer passenger trains are rarely seen past Poole. The station does not have a footbridge but has an underpass that also serves as a public footpath from Turlin Moor to Hamworthy. There was a foot crossing at the Poole end of the station for passenger in wheelchairs or with heavy luggage but this has been removed and access to the platform end fenced off. A light indicating if it is safe to cross remains at the end of platform 1 but is permanently switched off.

Hamworthy is one of two South West Trains stations not to receive a new style Scheidt & Bachmann Ticket XPress self service ticket machine to replace the former "Quickfare" (Ascom B8050) machine installed during the Network SouthEast era, although tickets can be brought from the ticket office at certain times of the day and a permit to travel can be purchased at all times. The Quickfare machine was removed in October 2006.

Hamworthy is the junction where a freight branch to Poole docks joins the main line. There is a disused third platform at the station facing the Poole docks line. The signal box which controls the branch is at the Poole end of platform 2.

Hamworthy boasts the only remaining semaphore signal on the South Western Main Line.

[edit] External links

• Train times and station information for Hamworthy railway station from National Rail
• Map and aerial photo of Hamworthy railway station from Multimap.com

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Poole		South West Trains London-Weymouth services		Holton Heath or Wareham
Poole		South West Trains Brockenhurst-Wareham local services		Holton Heath