Holton Heath railway station

Coordinates: 50°42′40″N 2°04′41″W / 50.711°N 2.078°W

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Holton Heath

General information

Location

Wareham St Martin, Dorset Council
England

Grid reference

SY945901

Managed by

South Western Railway

Platforms

Other information

Station code

HOL

Classification

DfT category F2

History

Pre-grouping

London and South Western Railway

Post-grouping

Southern Railway

Key dates

3 April 1916

opened for Admiralty staff use

14 July 1924

opened to public

Passengers

2019/20

30,270

2020/21

11,164

2021/22

23,432

2022/23

27,498

2023/24

31,700

Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Holton Heath railway station serves the area of Holton Heath in Wareham St Martin, Dorset, England. It is 118 miles 61 chains (191.1 km) down the line from London Waterloo. It was opened to serve the Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath during the First World War. 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.^[1]

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 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 Wareham to Brockenhurst service in 2008. There are no services in the evening (after 20.00) or on Sundays.^[2]

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.