Alton Line

The Alton Line is a railway line operated by South West Trains. Today Alton station is the terminus of a main line branch, although it was at one time the junction for three lines. The branch leaves the South Western Main Line at "Pirbright Junction" near Brookwood. The line was electrified (750 V DC third rail) during the interwar years by Southern Railway.

The towns and villages served by the line are listed below.
* Ash Vale
* Aldershot
* Farnham
* Bentley
* Alton

Freight trains operated by EWS and steam trains from the Watercress Line (see below) are often seen on the Alton Line.

History

* 28 July 1852 first railway to Alton, from Farnham
* 2 October 1865 "Alton, Aldershot & Winchester Railway" opened between those three places; Alton station moved to new site. The section of this line between Alton and New Alresford is now the Watercress heritage railway
* 2 May 1870 connection from Farnham to Pirbright Junction opened.
* 1 June 1901 Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway opened; closed 1917-1924; closed completely 1933
* 1 June 1903 "Meon Valley line" from Alton to Fareham opened; closed to passengers 7 Feb 1955

ervices

There are two trains per hour in each direction between Waterloo and Alton at off-peak times during weekdays, each taking between 75 and 78 minutes for the journey. Passenger trains that serve this line during off-peak hours also stop at the following stations (from north to south):

* Clapham Junction
* Surbiton
* West Byfleet
* Woking

Although timetables show the line as "Suburban", for the purposes of South West Trains Passenger Charter discounts and Void Day refunds for season tickets, most journeys from this line fall into the Mainline group. All journeys from Alton, Bentley and Farnham are Mainline journeys. Journeys from Aldershot and Ash Vale to London Terminals (ie. all London stations) and Zone R1256 Zones (a journey to London with Underground included) are Mainline. All other journeys from these two stations are suburban.

ee also

* South West Trains
* Meon Valley line

References

Further reading

*

External links

* [http://www.altonlineusers.com/ Alton Line Users Association (ALUA)]
* [http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/ Ordnance Survey]