The Station
The station was opened on 1 July 1886 by the London and South Western Railway. It was originally named Boscombe, which was altered on 1 October 1891 to Pokesdown (Boscombe), since the station was closer to Pokesdown than Boscombe. On 1 May 1897, when Boscombe station was opened, the station was renamed again to just "Pokesdown".
In 1930, the station was again renamed, becoming Pokesdown for Eastern Bournemouth, although it reverted to Pokesdown under British Railways. In the 1930s the Southern Railway made the platform facilities considerably larger, allowing the station to accommodate longer trains. Although some facilities have since been removed, at the time they provided an asset for the non-stopping services because there were tracks to use as fast lines in the up and down direction.
In the 1970s, there was no longer a need for four tracks and a signal box. Therefore, two of the tracks were removed and the signal box closed.
On 16 May 2009 the station was renamed Pokesdown for Boscombe, and station signage was changed to reflect this. The station is a short bus ride or walk from Boscombe's main shopping area.
Most South West Trains services operated by units working in multiple cannot be accommodated fully by the platforms and only the doors of the leading unit are opened, the exception being occasional eight carriage trains which can open all doors when using the Bournemouth-direction Platform 2.
Read more about this topic: Pokesdown Railway Station
Famous quotes containing the word station:
“How soon country people forget. When they fall in love with a city it is forever, and it is like forever. As though there never was a time when they didn’t love it. The minute they arrive at the train station or get off the ferry and glimpse the wide streets and the wasteful lamps lighting them, they know they are born for it. There, in a city, they are not so much new as themselves: their stronger, riskier selves.”
—Toni Morrison (b. 1931)
“I introduced her to Elena, and in that life-quickening atmosphere of a big railway station where everything is something trembling on the brink of something else, thus to be clutched and cherished, the exchange of a few words was enough to enable two totally dissimilar women to start calling each other by their pet names the very next time they met.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)