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Gillingham railway station is in Gillingham,
On 3 April 1856 Miss Seymour, sister of the company’s chairman, dug the first ceremonial sod for the Salisbury and Yeovil Railway (S&YR) at Gillingham. Three years later, on 2 May 1859, the railway from opened to Gillingham, and was completed to station at Yeovil on 1 June 1860. The station was close to the town centre. The main offices and
South Western Railway operate hourly services between
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 on the West of England Main Line, down the line from . Today it is managed by South Western Railway. The main offices, designed by Sir William Tite, stand on the north side of the line.
It is commonly suffixed as ''Gillingham (Dorset)'' to distinguish it from the station of the same name in Kent.
History
On 3 April 1856 Miss Seymour, sister of the company’s chairman, dug the first ceremonial sod for the Salisbury and Yeovil Railway (S&YR) at Gillingham. Three years later, on 2 May 1859, the railway from opened to Gillingham, and was completed to station at Yeovil on 1 June 1860. The station was close to the town centre. The main offices and 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 ...
were on the north side of the line, further sidings to serve a brickworks were added on the other side of the line, and a signal box
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The '' IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing' ...
opened in 1875. Trains were provided for the S&YR by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), which bought out the smaller company in 1878. In the twentieth century the LSWR operated motor bus services from Gillingham station to Mere, Zeals and Shaftesbury.
In 1923 the LSWR became part of the Southern Railway, which in turn was nationalised in 1948 to become the Southern Region of British Railways. A new signal box was opened on 28 April 1957, but on 5 April 1965 public goods services were withdrawn. Three years later a fertiliser distribution depot was opened in the old goods yard (it closed in 1993). The line had been transferred to the Western Region in 1963, and through trains beyond were soon diverted along other routes. The line was reduced to just a single track on 1 April 1967 with a passing loop
A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...
retained at Gillingham. Initially the single-track sections were westwards to and eastwards to Wilton, but the latter was shortened to in 1986. The former signal box (now reduced to ground frame status following the 2012 resignalling) is at the west end of the station by the end of this platform.
Platform layout
The track serving the northern platform is signalled for trains to run in either direction so most trains use this platform unless two need to pass. The southern platform, which is reached by a footbridge, is then used for the westbound train.Services
South Western Railway operate hourly services between London Waterloo
Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station o ...
and Exeter St Davids and a service once on a Saturday between London Waterloo and Weymouth operating from late May to early September.
See also
*Southern Railway routes west of Salisbury
This article describes the history and operation of the railway routes west of Salisbury built by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and allied companies, which ultimately became part of the Southern Railway in the United Kingdom. Salis ...
References
{{SWT Stations, Salisbury=y, Suburban None=y, IL None=y Railway stations in Dorset DfT Category D stations Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1859 Railway stations served by South Western Railway William Tite railway stations Gillingham, Dorset