Holton Heath railway station serves the area of Holton Heath in Wareham St Martin,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, England. It is down the line from . It was opened to serve the

Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath The Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Heath (RNCF) was set up at Holton Heath, Dorset, England, in World War I to manufacture cordite for the Royal Navy. It was reactivated in World War II to manufacture gun propellants for the Admiralty and it ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It did not open to the public until 1924.

History

Holton Heath has been unstaffed since 1964, with the signal box removed on 3 November 1969. On 20 April 1989 a fatal accident occurred just beyond the siding on the London side of the station, when a light locomotive, which had just completed shunting duties at Winfrith nuclear power station, collided with the rear of a freight train. The driver of the light locomotive, Clive Brooker, died in the accident.

Description

The platforms are able to accommodate trains of up to five coaches. The station is one of the few remaining on the line not to be equipped with a self-service ticket machine, only a

Permit to Travel In the ticketing system of the British rail network, a Permit to Travel provisionally allows passengers to travel on a train when they have not purchased a ticket in advance and the ticket office of the station they are travelling from is close ...

machine, located on platform 1.

Services

The station is served hourly by London to Weymouth semi-fast trains during the day. This replaced the now-defunct hourly to

Brockenhurst Brockenhurst is the largest village by population within the New Forest in Hampshire, England. The nearest city is Southampton some to the North East, while Bournemouth is also nearby, South West. Surrounding towns and villages include Beaul ...

service in 2008. There are no services in the evening (after 20.00) or on Sundays. Until 1967, trains through the station were normally steam hauled. Between 1967 and 1988, passenger services were normally provided by Class 33/1 diesel locomotives with Class 438 coaching stock (also known as 4-TC units). The line was electrified in 1988, using the standard British Rail Southern Region direct current third rail at 750 volts. Class 442 electric multiple units were initially used following electrification, until being displaced by new Class 444 electric multiple units in 2007.

References

Railway stations in Dorset Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1916 Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations served by South Western Railway DfT Category F2 stations {{SouthWestEngland-railstation-stub