Winchester railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Winchester
code = WIN


manager = South West Trains
locale = Winchester
borough = City of Winchester
usage0405 = 3.160
usage0506 = 3.288
usage0607 = 3.465
platforms = 2
start = 10 June 1839

Winchester railway station is a railway station located in Winchester in the county of Hampshire in England. It is located on the South Western Main Line and was originally known as Winchester City to distinguish it from other stations.

Despite its prominence (every passenger train that passes through stops there), the station only has two platforms. One is on the western side, with the line running in the northern direction via Basingstoke, Woking and Clapham Junction, towards the terminal of London Waterloo. The other is on the eastern side, with the line running in the southern direction, towards Eastleigh, where it splits and runs towards Southampton Central and Bournemouth or Portsmouth.

History

The station was built in 1839 by the London and South Western Railway (then the London and Southampton Railway). It became a temporary terminus for the Winchester to Southampton section. It was opened on the 10th June 1839. On the same day, another station was opened at Basingstoke, which was a temporary terminus of the London to Basingstoke section.

The following year, a line was built joined Winchester and Basingstoke, and the line was complete. This line was the trickiest to construct and had four tunnels, and a single station called (rather optimistically given Andover lay 13 miles west) Andover Road (now Micheldever). Winchester became a through station on the 30th March 1840.

As the line bypassed Kingston upon Thames, Winchester was the only major settlement between London and Southampton. Since the original Southampton line ran via the then small market town of Basingstoke (where lines to the west would be built), it was not very direct. Another line was constructed to run via Guildford, Farnham and Alton, which joined the main line north of Winchester. The present day line runs via Aldershot instead of Guildford, and the line finishes at Alton. A section from Alton to Alresford is preserved as the Watercress Line, but the final gap from Alresford to Winchester is unlikely to ever be completed due to housing built on the trackbed.

Later, the Great Western Railway built the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway. This passed at a separate station on the eastern side of Winchester called "Winchester Cheesehill". In 1949, it was renamed Winchester Chesil, whilst Winchester's main station was renamed Winchester City. This did not last long: In 1966 Chesil closed and the following year, City station was changed back to simply 'Winchester'.

Renovations in summer 2004 gave the western side a refurbished entrance and second ticket office; albeit with shorter opening hours than that on the eastern side.

ervices

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There is also a rail-bus link operated by South West Trains linking the station with Romsey via Ampfield, although this is due to close, despite a protest group having formed and collected a petition of over 1,000 signatures to oppose the closure. [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=1,000 sign petition to save rail station bus link | date=3:21pm Thursday 25 October 2007 | publisher=Newsquest | url =http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/district/display.var.1786800.0.1_000_sign_petition_to_save_rail_station_bus_link.php | work =Southern Daily Echo | pages = | accessdate = 2007-12-21 | language = ]

External links

[http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cj.tolley/cjt-brhl.htm| History of the Line]

References