Place Bournemouth Grid reference SZ086925 1 November 1917 Closed | Area Borough of Bournemouth 1 March 1906 Opened Platforms in use 2 | |
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Original company London and South Western Railway Similar Farringdon Halt railway st, Durley Halt railway station, Kingsley Halt railway st, King's Worthy railway st, Knowle Halt railway st | ||
Meyrick Park Halt was a railway halt located just west of Bournemouth Central railway station in the county of Hampshire (now Dorset) in England.
Contents
History
In May 1905, the London and South Western Railway's (LSWR) board approved the expenditure of £167 on the construction of a halt comprising two short wooden platforms and huts in a cutting on the London to Bournemouth line. Situated 55 chains (1.1 km) to the west of Bournemouth Central, the halt lay between the Central and West stations at a point halfway between Gasworks Junction and Central. It was connected to the lower end of Meyrick Park Crescent in Bournemouth by two flights of steps. The new station would serve the expanding suburb of Winton and Meyrick Park, an area of open space where an extensive golf links had been laid out. The decision to provide the halt followed the recommendation of the LSWR's General Manager, Sir Charles Owens, in February 1905 to meet competition by trams in the Bournemouth area by introducing two steam rail motors which would supplement the existing local service. Around ten irregular-interval journeys were to be made between Bournemouth West and Christchurch, with certain services extended to New Milton and Ringwood. The station's opening coincided with the introduction of the service on 1 March 1906.
Trams were already well established in the area which led the Bournemouth Guardian to comment that, although the new station would be useful to golfers, the residents of Winton would most likely continue using the trams which were perceived as more flexible. Local residents had in fact petitioned the LSWR for a station as early as 1894, but it is thought that even if one had been provided, its patronage would have been mostly lost to the trams in any case. On 17 June 1914, 280 members of Boscombe's Salvation Army Band made the short 1-mile-72-chain (3.1 km) trip from Meyrick Park Halt to Boscombe on the 7:40pm service from Bournemouth West to Christchurch. This was probably the greatest number of people to ever board a train here and resulted not only in the replacement of the usual push-pull train by a locomotive and four coaches but also in the attendance of a member of staff from Bournemouth Central to supervise boarding.
The halt closed on 1 November 1917, ostensibly as a First World War austerity measure, but was never reopened. The halt was demolished in 1919.
Present day
Today the former site of the halt is shown by the width of the embankment just to the east of the line's bridge over Meyrick Park Central Drive. This can be seen from westbound trains leaving Bournemouth just after they pass though Cemetery Junction tunnel.