Alton Line

[ v t e ] Alton Line

Legend For canal icons used below, please refer to waterways legend instead. Deepcut Locks Basingstoke Canal South Western Main Line Brookwood Pirbright Junction Mytchett Lakes Foxhills Tunnel Ascot to Guildford line Brookwood Cemetery LNR Ash Vale Great Bottom Flash North Camp North Downs Line and Farnborough Airfield Ascot to Guildford Line Basingstoke Canal Aldershot Lock Aldershot Junction closed 1960 Tongham Farnham Ash Green Halt River Wey to North Downs Line Farnham Depot Bentley Bordon branch line Bordon Alton Basingstoke line Meon Valley line Watercress Line

The Alton Line is a railway line operated by South West Trains. Today Alton station is the terminus of a main line branch, although it was at one time the junction for three lines. The branch leaves the South Western Main Line at Pirbright Junction near Brookwood. The line was electrified (750 V DC third rail) during the interwar years by Southern Railway.

Freight trains operated by EWS and steam trains from the Watercress Line (see below) are often seen on the Alton Line.

History

The line from Farnham to Alton was opened on 28 July 1852. On 2 October 1865 the Alton, Aldershot & Winchester Railway opened between those three places; Alton station moved to new site. The section of this line between Alton and New Alresford is now the Watercress heritage railway, having been closed to passengers by British Rail in 1973. On 2 May 1870 connection from Farnham to Pirbright Junction opened. Alton became a junction station on 1 June 1901 when the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway opened. This line was closed from 1917 as the track was taken up for use in France during the First World War. Local pressure resulted in the reopening in 1924 but traffic was light and the line closed completely in 1933. On 1 June 1903 the Meon Valley Railway opened from Alton to Fareham. This line closed to passengers on 7 Feb 1955.

The line was closed briefly in August 2006 between Brookwood and Ash Vale by a landslip at Foxhills Tunnel, causing most commuter journeys to be via Guildford. It reopened on 19 August 2006.^[1]

Passenger services

The current terminus at Alton, taken in 1982

There are two trains per hour in each direction between Waterloo and Alton on Mondays to Saturdays. On Sundays, the service is hourly until the early afternoon when its becomes half-hourly. Peak time trains take between 67 and 71 minutes for the whole journey; off-peak trains take between 75 and 78 minutes for the journey and Sunday services take 79 to 85 minutes.

Passenger trains that serve this line during off-peak hours also stop at the following stations (from north to south):

• Clapham Junction
• Surbiton
• West Byfleet
• Woking

Peak hour trains skip Surbiton; some peak trains also skip Clapham junction, West Byfleet or Brookwood. On Sundays, the service also calls at Wimbledon.

Although timetables show the line as "Suburban", it is in practice a regional line, and for the purposes of South West Trains Passenger Charter discounts and Void Day refunds for season tickets it is a Mainline route. All journeys from Alton, Bentley and Farnham are Mainline journeys. Journeys from Aldershot and Ash Vale to London Terminals (i.e. all London stations) and Zone R1256 Zones (a journey to London with Underground included) are Mainline. All other journeys from these two stations are suburban.

Historical timetable perspective: From 1937 to 1967 Alton trains ran fast from Waterloo to Surbiton and then ran all stations to Alton. They formed the front (country) end of an 8 car train that split at Woking with the rear 4 cars running to Portsmouth. The trains ran throughout the day and left Waterloo at 27 and 57 minutes past the hour and took exactly 80 minutes to reach Alton ^[2]. Additionally, there were trains in the rush hours that ran fast to Woking and then all stations - at 16:17, 18:14, and 18:17 (also stopping at Surbiton) to Farnham, and at 16:47, 17:17, 17:47 to Alton taking between 72 and 76 minutes. Trains from Waterloo to Alton from 05:25 to 08:25 left two minutes earlier than the standard departures and called at Wimbledon. All trains took the fast line from Waterloo to Surbiton. The last train in the evening was the 22:57 to Farnham - it ran to Alton on Wednesday and Saturday nights only arriving at 00:17. On Sundays there was a 23:27 that only ran to Farnham. On weekdays the 17:27 and 19:27 had connections at Bentley to Bordon with a five minute connection at Bentley and a journey time to Bordon of 15 minutes. Interestingly, there was a very regular service on Sunday nights from Bentley to Bordon - presumably for servicemen returning to barracks.

On the upline the pattern was similar, with several departures from Farnham to Waterloo starting at 06:05 and then from Alton at 06:54, then every 30 minutes till 22:54 with three extra rush hour services in the morning. In those days the line from Farnham to Alton was double track.

Freight services

A daily service runs to Holybourne Oil Terminal between Alton and Bentley. As a result the 1023 service from Waterloo stops short at Farnham and does not continue to Alton; there is no 1214 return service from Alton to Farnham, this train beginning its journey from Farnham instead at 1228. This is because the line between Alton and Farnham is single, with a passing place at Bentley, and worked on the track circuit block system.^[3]

See also

• South West Trains
• Meon Valley line
• Watercress Line

References

Further reading

• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. 

External links

• Alton Line Users Association (ALUA)
• Ordnance Survey

v t e Railway lines in the South East Primary High Speed 1 · Great Western Main Line · West Coast Main Line Secondary Bexleyheath Line · Brighton Main Line · Caterham Line · Chatham Main Line · Chiltern Main Line · Crossrail (under construction)  · Dartford Loop Line · Epsom Downs Branch · London to Aylesbury Line · North Kent Line · Oxted Line · Shepperton Branch Line · South Eastern Main Line · South Western Main Line · Sutton & Mole Valley Lines · Tattenham Corner Line · Thameslink · Waterloo to Reading Line Local Alton Line · Arun Valley Line · Ascot to Guildford line · Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line · Cherwell Valley Line · Cotswold Line · East Coastway Line · Eastleigh to Fareham line · Eastleigh to Romsey Line · Hampton Court Branch Line · Hastings Line · Henley Branch Line · Hundred of Hoo Railway · Island Line, Isle of Wight · Kent Coast Line · Lymington Branch Line · Maidstone East Line · Marlow Branch Line · Marshlink Line · Marston Vale Line · Medway Valley Line · New Guildford Line · North Downs Line · Oxford to Bicester Line · Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway  · Portsmouth Direct Line · Princes Risborough to Aylesbury Line · Reading to Basingstoke Line · Reading to Taunton Line · Redhill to Tonbridge Line · Sheerness Line · Slough to Windsor & Eton Line · Staines to Weybridge Line · Staines to Windsor Line · Wessex Main Line · West Coastway Line · West of England Main Line

Coordinates: 51°9′56″N 0°57′58.48″W / 51.16556°N 0.9662444°W / 51.16556; -0.9662444