Sway railway station

Sway railway station serves the village of Sway in Hampshire, England. It is located on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth. It is 95 miles 45 chains (153.8 km) down the line from Waterloo.

Sway
Location
Place	Sway
Local authority	District of New Forest
Grid reference	SZ275984
Operations
Station code	SWY
Managed by	South Western Railway
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.104 million
2015/16	0.112 million
2016/17	0.114 million
2017/18	0.106 million
2018/19	0.103 million
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
6 March 1888	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Sway from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

The station is on the stretch of line opened on 6 March 1888 between Brockenhurst and Christchurch to provide a direct line from London to Bournemouth, bypassing the original "Castleman's Corkscrew" line via Ringwood.[1][2] The station had two platforms either side of a double track running line, there was a signal box and several sidings to the south east.[3] A camping coach was positioned here by the Southern Region from 1956 to 1959 then there were two coaches here until 1967, from 1962 to 1967 they were Pullman camping coaches.[4]

Facilities

The station is served by South Western Railway, who operate stopping services from London Waterloo to Poole throughout the day.

The station has two platforms:

• Platform 1 - for through services towards Southampton.
• Platform 2 - for through services towards Bournemouth and Weymouth.

Both platforms can only accommodate trains of up to five coaches, longer trains only open the doors in the first four or five coaches depending on the type of unit operating the service.

Services

A basic hourly service operates each way (including Sundays), with additional calls during the weekday business periods.[5]

References

1. Quick, Michael (2019) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 388.
2. Nock, Oswald Stevens (1965). The London and South Western Railway. Shepperton: Ian Allan. pp. 53–55.
3. "Sway station on OS 25 inch map Hampshire and Isle of Wight LXXIX.12 (Lymington; Rhinefield; Sway)". National Library of Scotland. 1897. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
4. McRae, Andrew (1998). British Railways Camping Coach Holidays: A Tour of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part Two). Foxline. p. 59. ISBN 1-870119-53-3.
5. Table 158 National Rail timetable, May 2016

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Brockenhurst		South Western Railway London-Poole stopping services		New Milton