Hook railway station

Hook railway station serves the town of Hook and surrounding villages in Hampshire, southern England. There are two platforms serving the outer pair of tracks while the centre pair of tracks have no platforms and are used by through-services.

Hook
The station building seen from the westbound platform
Location
Place	Hook
Local authority	District of Hart
Grid reference	SU725539
Operations
Station code	HOK
Managed by	South Western Railway
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.810 million
2015/16	0.823 million
2016/17	0.765 million
2017/18	0.739 million
2018/19	0.728 million
History
Key dates	Opened 2 July 1883 (2 July 1883)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Hook from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

It is 42 miles 13 chains (67.9 km) down the main line from London Waterloo[note 1] and is situated between Winchfield and Basingstoke. Trains typically run every 30 minutes in each direction between Waterloo and Basingstoke. It is located within a five-minute walk of Hook.

The eastbound platform at night

History

The railway that runs through Hook was built in 1839, but Hook only got its railway station in 1883 after a lengthy campaign by local landowners. It was built by London and South Western Railway in their typical style. It was built with two platforms and two tracks, but was expanded to four platforms and tracks in 1901-2 as Hook grew in size. The middle island platform was removed around the 1960s but its tracks still survive.

In 1940, a bomb landed on the tracks a little way from the station. Worried it could damage the tracks, six soldiers were called to dispose of the bomb. Unfortunately, the bomb went off killing the six soldiers and injuring their sergeant. A group of local people have arranged to have a memorial plaque to them displayed in the station.[1][2]

Notes

1. Railways in the United Kingdom historically are measured in miles and chains. There are 80 chains to one mile.

References

1. "Group wants memorial plaque put up in station". Basingstoke Gazette.
2. "Hook Parish Council - Remembrance".

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Winchfield		South Western Railway South Western Main Line		Basingstoke