Botley railway station serves Botley and the surrounding areas in the English county of

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 ...

. The station is on the railway line between Eastleigh and Fareham, from . Although named after the nearby village of Botley, which is within the boundaries of the

Borough of Eastleigh The Borough of Eastleigh is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England, bordering the unitary authority of Southampton, Test Valley, the City of Winchester and the Borough of Fareham. Eastleigh is separated from the New ...

, the station is actually located in the civil parish of

Curdridge Curdridge is a village and civil parish within the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. The parish also contains the similarly-named village of Curbridge. The village has a small school. The parish is located eight miles to the ea ...

, which falls within the boundaries of the

City of Winchester The City of Winchester () is a local government district in Hampshire, England, with a city status. The district covers the ancient settlement of the city of Winchester itself, but also covers a large area of central Hampshire including ...

History

Botley Railway Station (geograph 5659651)

Botley station was first opened on 29 November 1841 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 ...

(LSWR). However it closed again on 3 December that year, due to an

earthslip Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...

, before reopening on 7 February 1842. Botley was once the junction for the

Bishops Waltham branch The Bishop's Waltham branch was a railway line in Hampshire, England. It was made by a locally promoted independent company, the Bishop's Waltham Railway company. It ran from Bishop's Waltham to Botley on the Eastleigh–Fareham line of the ...

which was opened in 1863 and finally closed to freight in 1962. Some of the track from the branch still exists as a long siding and is used by

Aggregate Industries Aggregate Industries, a member of the Holcim Group, is a company based in the United Kingdom with headquarters at Bardon Hill, Coalville, Leicestershire. Aggregate Industries manufactures and supplies a range of heavy building materials, prima ...

which operate an aggregate railhead depot and coated roadstone plant at Botley. The station was a major loading point for

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...

traffic until about 1940, with trains taking the local produce up to London. The station possessed an extensive network of sidings and loading bays for this seasonal traffic and for storing the special ventilated vans that transported the fruit. The goods yard is now occupied by the Aggregate Industries stone plant. All traffic declined from 1950 onwards, but passenger numbers began to build again in the 1990s with the re-introduction of direct services to London for the first time since before the war. The line was electrified, on the 3rd rail system, in the 1990s. The station and route was again closed due to a land slip on 31 January 2014. The line reopened on 15 March 2014. The station was refurbished in Summer 2015. New lighting, barriers and repainting took place. The platforms were also resurfaced.

Services

South Western Railway operate all off-peak services at Botley using and

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to via * 1 tph to During the weekday peak hours, the service is increased to 2 tph. The station is also served by a single

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

service from to Portsmouth Harbour on weekdays only. This service is operated using and

DMUs A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

References

External links

{{Hampshire railway stations Railway stations in Hampshire DfT Category F2 stations Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1841 Railway stations served by South Western Railway 1841 establishments in England Railway stations served by Great Western Railway