Lymington Branch Line
Encyclopedia
Brockenhurst railway station
Brockenhurst railway station is a railway station serving the village of Brockenhurst in Hampshire, England. It is located on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth...
to Lymington Pier
Lymington Pier railway station
Lymington Pier railway station is a railway station serving the harbour area of Lymington in Hampshire, England. It the terminus of the Lymington Branch Line from Brockenhurst, and provides a connection with the ferry service to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. It has only one platform.The station is...
, both in the New Forest
New Forest (district)
New Forest is a local government district in Hampshire, England. It is named after the New Forest.It was created on 1 April 1974, and was a merger of the borough of Lymington, New Forest Rural District and part of Ringwood and Fordingbridge Rural District....
. The railway line is around 9 km (5.6 mi) long, and is single track throughout its length. It diverges from the South Western Main Line
South Western Main Line
The South Western Main Line is a railway line between London Waterloo and Weymouth on the Dorset coast, in the south of England. It is a major railway which serves many important commuter areas, as well as the major settlements of Southampton and Bournemouth...
at Lymington Junction; and, at Lymington Pier, trains connect with Wightlink
Wightlink
Wightlink is a ferry company operating routes between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in southern England.Their core routes are car ferries from Lymington to Yarmouth and Portsmouth to Fishbourne...
ferry services to Yarmouth
Yarmouth, Isle of Wight
Yarmouth is a port and civil parish in the western part of the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of mainland England. The town is named for its location at the mouth of the small Western Yar river...
, on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
. The Lymington Branch Line is electrified
Railway electrification in Great Britain
Railway electrification in Great Britain started towards of the 19th century. A great range of voltages have been used in the intervening period using both overhead lines and third rails, however the most common standard for mainline services is now 25 kV AC using overhead lines and the...
using the 750 V DC third rail
Third rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...
system—common in the ex-Southern Region
Southern Region of British Railways
The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992. The region covered south London, southern England and the south coast, including the busy commuter belt areas of Kent, Sussex...
. The branch line celebrated the 150th anniversary of its opening in July 2008.
However, despite still part of the UK network, the line is also a Heritage Railway on weekends (as well as part of the rail network on weekdays). This is a partnership between rail companies, local businesses and the community. This sounds a little unusual as the line is operated on weekdays by modern "non-slam door" trains whilst on weekends it's a Heritage line operated by preserved/refurbished Slam-Door trains used to possibly boost trade and tourism.
Rolling stock
Services on the line are currently operated by South West TrainsSouth West Trains
South West Trains is a British train operating company providing, under franchise, passenger rail services, mostly out of Waterloo station, to the southwest of London in the suburbs and in the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Berkshire, and Wiltshire and on the Isle of Wight...
using stock outbased at Bournemouth depot. Previously, rolling stock had been restricted to Classes 411
British Rail Class 411
The British Rail Class 411 electrical multiple units were built at Eastleigh works from 1956-63 for the newly electrified main lines in Kent. These units were based on the earlier Southern Railway 4Cor design, built in 1937. They were replaced by Juniper units.-Description:A total of 133 units...
, 412
British Rail Class 411
The British Rail Class 411 electrical multiple units were built at Eastleigh works from 1956-63 for the newly electrified main lines in Kent. These units were based on the earlier Southern Railway 4Cor design, built in 1937. They were replaced by Juniper units.-Description:A total of 133 units...
, 421
British Rail Class 421
The British Rail Class 421 electrical multiple units were built at BR York Works between 1964 and 1972. Units were built in two batches, and were initially introduced on services on the Brighton Main Line. Later units were introduced on services to Portsmouth. These units replaced older Southern...
and 423
British Rail Class 423
The British Rail Class 423 electrical multiple units were built by BR at York Works from 1967 to 1974, although the MBSOs and TSOs of the first 20, 7701-7720, were constructed at Derby Works. They feature manually-opening doors next to every seating row and were the last coaching stock built in...
.
Following the withdrawal of slamdoor stock from the rest of the SWT network in 2005 it was expected that by May 2005 at the latest the operation of the line would have been taken over by the new Class 450
British Rail Class 450
The British Rail Class 450 third-rail DC EMU began service during 2003. They are a part of the Siemens Desiro modular train family and are more commonly known as the 'Blue Desiro'...
"Desiro
Desiro
The Siemens Desiro is a family of diesel or electric multiple unit passenger trains. The main variants are the Desiro Classic, Desiro ML, Desiro UK and the future Desiro City and Desiro RUS. The trains are mostly used for commuter and regional services, and their rapid acceleration makes them...
" units. However, SWT considered that due to the self contained nature of the branch it would be more cost effective to continue Mk 1 operation. On this basis SWT bought and refurbished two British Rail Class 421
British Rail Class 421
The British Rail Class 421 electrical multiple units were built at BR York Works between 1964 and 1972. Units were built in two batches, and were initially introduced on services on the Brighton Main Line. Later units were introduced on services to Portsmouth. These units replaced older Southern...
units to exclusively operate services on the line. Work carried out on the units included the fitting of central door locking and other safety features to allow them to remain in service beyond the November 2005 deadline for the withdrawal of slam-door stock and the reduction of the 4 carriage units to 3 carriages (3Cig) to address the extreme height difference between the train and the platform at Lymington Town.
The final two units of this type to work the line were numbered 1497 and 1498 and officially named Freshwater and Farringford respectively at a ceremony at Brockenhurst railway station
Brockenhurst railway station
Brockenhurst railway station is a railway station serving the village of Brockenhurst in Hampshire, England. It is located on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth...
on 12 May 2005. They were also repainted into an approximation of their original liveries. The "heritage" service commenced on 12 May 2005 and an exemption was obtained to enable the use of the 3Cig units until 2013, at which point they were estimated to be life expired.
A Lymington Flyer headboad was made by Malcolm Ellis of Parkstone station, for use on the slam-door stock by local traincrew.
In Summer 2009 South West Trains announced plans to replace the heritage EMUs with more modern units; Class 158
British Rail Class 158
British Rail Class 158 Express Sprinter is a diesel multiple-unit train, built for British Rail between 1989 and 1992 by BREL at its Derby Works. They were built to replace many locomotive-hauled passenger trains, and allowed cascading of existing Sprinter units to replace elderly 'heritage' DMUs...
Sprinters on weekdays and Class 450
British Rail Class 450
The British Rail Class 450 third-rail DC EMU began service during 2003. They are a part of the Siemens Desiro modular train family and are more commonly known as the 'Blue Desiro'...
on weekends (the latter were also used on occasion when the 3Cigs were unavailable, with the 4th carriage locked out of use to overcome the platform height issue at Lymington Town). This change took place on the 23 May 2010, with the final 3Cig service departing from Lymington Pier on the 22 May 2010 at 22:14 and arriving at Brockenhurst
Brockenhurst
Brockenhurst is a village situated in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. The New Forest is a national park and Brockenhurst is therefore surrounded by woodland that attracts thousands of visitors all year round. The nearby towns surrounding Brockenhurst are Lymington and Lyndhurst. Brockenhurst...
at 22:24..
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