Alresford railway station ( or ) in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England, is the terminus of the

Watercress Line The Watercress Line is the marketing name of the Mid-Hants Railway, a heritage railway in Hampshire, England, running from New Alresford to Alton where it connects to the National Rail network. The line gained its popular name in the days w ...

from

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

. It is in the small town of

New Alresford New Alresford or simply Alresford ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. It is northeast of Winchester and southwest of the town of Alton. New Alresford has independent shops, a t ...

, 7½ miles (12 km) northeast of

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

, close to the town's market square, tea rooms, many small shops and museum. In official literature it is shown as Alresford (Hampshire) in order to distinguish it from the station of the same name in Essex.

History

In 1861, work started on the new

Alton, Alresford and Winchester Railway The Watercress Line is the marketing name of the Mid-Hants Railway, a heritage railway in Hampshire, England, running from New Alresford to Alton where it connects to the National Rail network. The line gained its popular name in the days ...

which changed its name to the Mid-Hants Railway in 1865 with the line opening in the October of that year. The was bought by the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

in 1884, having operated it from the start. It was absorbed as part of that into the Southern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the

Southern Region of British Railways The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the sout ...

upon nationalisation in 1948, and was then closed by the

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

in February 1973.

Preservation

The station reopened on 30 April 1977 as the western terminus of the Watercress Line, a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

. Alongside the station a

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...

was built which is now used as a shop, as well as meeting and tourist facilities for the railway. Adjacent to the station is a large warehouse which was built in 1873 as a mill, later used as a factory it is now used for offices and is Grade II

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

. The buffet building is the old station building from

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Herita ...

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 (unitary authority), Dors ...

, which was dismantled and rebuilt here. Following the closure of the route between and , the line from Alresford eastwards to Alton has been reopened in preservation, but the section west of Alresford has not. It is unlikely that the line will ever be re-extended towards Winchester, because the M3 motorway and new houses have been built at various points along the former route. Both platforms have been extended to hold four-coach trains plus the 'Cattle Dock' is used particularly during steam locomotive gala exhibitions as platform 1A, holding a two-coach train when not otherwise used.

References

Sources

* * *
Station on navigable O.S. map

External links

Watercress Railway site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alresford (Hampshire) Railway Station Heritage railway stations in Hampshire Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1865 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1973 Beeching closures in England Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1977 1865 establishments in England New Alresford