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:
On Sunday, there is 1 tph in each direction between Weymouth and London Waterloo.
The station is served by several bus routes, operated by Morebus; these include:[7]
50°43′41″N 1°55′08″W / 50.728°N 1.919°W / 50.728; -1.919