Sway railway station

Sway
Station platforms looking towards London
General information
Location	Sway, District of New Forest England
Grid reference	SZ275984
Managed by	South Western Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	SWY
Classification	DfT category E
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
6 March 1888	Opened
Passengers
2019/20	91,274
2020/21	17,908
2021/22	50,164
2022/23	65,906
2023/24	74,624
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

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

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

All passenger train services calling here are operated by South Western Railway.

As of February 2022, the following services call here in both directions:

• Monday - Friday
  • peak hours: 2 trains per hour on Poole - London Waterloo service, which some of them join / split at Southampton Central with a fast train for Weymouth
  • off-peak: 1 train per hour on Bournemouth - Winchester stopping service
• Saturday
  • 1 train per hour on Poole - Winchester stopping service
• Sunday
  • 1 train per hour on Poole - London Waterloo stopping service

References

1. Quick, Michael (2022) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF). version 5.04. Railway & Canal Historical Society. p. 437. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2022.
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. Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part Two). Foxline. p. 59. ISBN 1-870119-53-3.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Brockenhurst		South Western Railway London-Weymouth		New Milton

50.785°N 1.610°W / 50.785; -1.610