Branksome railway station

Branksome
General information
Location	Branksome, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole England
Grid reference	SZ057919
Managed by	South Western Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	BSM
Classification	DfT category E
History
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
1 June 1893	Opened
Passengers
2018/19	0.286 million
2019/20	0.291 million
2020/21	56,690
2021/22	0.150 million
2022/23	0.202 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Branksome railway station serves the Branksome and Branksome Park areas of Poole in Dorset, England. It is on the South West Main Line, 110 miles 51 chains (178.1 km) down the line from London Waterloo.

The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened its line from Bournemouth to Poole in 1874,^[1] but the station was not opened until 1 June 1893.^[2] The S&DJR opened a locomotive depot at the station in 1895 which operated until closure of the line into Bournemouth West in 1965,^[3] after which the S&D trains ran, for the remaining few months of operation, into Bournemouth Central railway station, which had its own locomotive shed.^[4]

The line between Bournemouth Central to Branksome and Bournemouth Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot was electrified in 1967 to enable stock to access Bournemouth Depot.^[5] The route west of Branksome to Weymouth was electrified in 1988 using the standard British Rail Southern Region system of a third rail with 750 volts direct current.

The station has two platforms which are able to accommodate trains of up to five coaches; longer trains only open the doors in the first four or five coaches depending on the type of unit operating the service.

To the east of the station is the junction leading to Bournemouth Traincare Depot, built on part of the site of Bournemouth West carriage sidings. Trains can often be seen arriving on platform 2 and then reversing into the depot.

The station is managed and served by South Western Railway.^[6]

The typical off-peak service on Mondays-Saturdays in trains per hour is:

• 1 tph in each direction between Poole and London Waterloo
• 1 tph in each direction between Weymouth and London Waterloo

On Sunday, there is 1 tph in each direction between Weymouth and London Waterloo.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Bournemouth		South Western Railway South West Main Line		Parkstone
	Disused railways
Bournemouth West Line and station closed		Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway LSWR and Midland Railways		Parkstone

The station is served by several bus routes, operated by Morebus; these include:^[7]

• m1: Poole - Bournemouth Hospital via Bournemouth
• m2: Poole - Southbourne via Bournemouth
• 18: Bournemouth - Broadstone^[8]

• Atthill, Robin; Nock, O. S. (1970) [1967]. The Somerset & Dorset Railway. London: Pan Books. ISBN 978-0-330-02478-5. OCLC 1345653021.
• Hawkins, Chris; Reeve, George (1979). An historical survey of Southern sheds. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0-86093-020-3.
• Quick, Michael (2023) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF). version 5.05. Railway & Canal Historical Society.
• White, H. P. (1992). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. Vol. 2 Southern England (5th ed.). Nairn, Scotland: David St John Thomas. ISBN 0-946537-77-1.

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