Beaulieu Road railway station


Beaulieu Road railway station is located at the point where the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth crosses the B3056 road from Beaulieu to Lyndhurst in Hampshire, England. It is down the line from Waterloo. Beaulieu Road is the least used station in Hampshire according to the official passenger statistics.

History

Opened by the Southampton and Dorchester Railway on 1 June 1847, the station was not originally intended to serve the village of Beaulieu, which lies some 3.5 miles distant. The railway company were obliged to open it as a 'personal' station for Lord Montagu, a concession to him for allowing the railway to be built over part of his Beaulieu Estate. A special signal would indicate to the train drivers that they should stop for Lord Montagu and his guests.
The station was closed by the London and South Western Railway on 1 March 1860, and reopened on 1 November 1895. It was destaffed in the early 1960s.

Services

Nowadays the station is served by London Waterloo to Poole stopping services operated by South Western Railway. As of the December 2007 timetable, on Mondays to Fridays trains call only during the morning peak and late afternoon. From May 2008, a late morning service has also been added in each direction. In 2013 there were down trains, towards Poole, every two or three hours on Monday to Friday, the last being 20:44, but only three up trains. On Saturdays there were five up and six down services. On Sundays, however, there was a better service, with trains to and from Poole calling hourly throughout the day.
The May 2016 timetable is essentially the same as that of 2013, though an extra weekday London-bound departure has been added at 13:38.
Even on Sundays, however, services to and from Brockenhurst are much more frequent than those to Beaulieu Road.
The New Forest Tour summer open top bus service stops adjacent to Beaulieu Road.