Trains at Southampton Central, SWML, 21/05/25

Southampton Central (originally was known as Southampton West but later it became was known simply as Southampton) as it is a main line railway station serving the city of Southampton in Hampshire, southern England. It is on the South West Main Line and also serves the Wessex Main Line and the West Coastway Line. The station is approached from the London direction by passing through Southampton Tunnel and is 79 miles 19 chains (127.5 km) measured from London Waterloo and is the busiest station in Hampshire. This station is managed by South Western Railway who operate the majority of services, including frequent trains between here and London Waterloo, Weymouth and Portsmouth & Southsea. Other operators are CrossCountry (providing services between here and Bournemouth, Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly), Great Western Railway (between here and Portsmouth Harbour, Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central) and Southern (linking Southampton with Havant, Chichester, Worthing and Brighton). Southampton Central station was opened as Southampton West in 1895, to replace the smaller nearby West End station; this was originally named Blechynden when it opened in 1847. The station was on the seafront, specifically the stretch of water known as West Bay, with the water reaching right up to the southern edge of the platforms at high tide. A series of land reclamation projects to expand the docks, largely funded by the London and South Western Railway, culminated in the building of the vast New Docks (now Western Docks) between 1927 and 1934, which led to all of West Bay being reclaimed and the station becoming landlocked. The new land and the demand for new lines allowed the station to be enlarged and redeveloped in 1934–1935 (from two platforms to four) and it became Southampton Central. The new station buildings were largely constructed from concrete in the art deco style. At this point, it was renamed to Southampton, although it was once again renamed to Southampton Central in 1994. A partnership between Network Rail, South West Trains and Southampton City Council saw a £3 million investment in the refurbishment of the station entrances and improved passenger facilities which was completed in 2012. In December 2007, a number of changes were made to South West Trains, First Great Western and Southern services. The Waterloo to Southampton Central stopping service was extended to Poole, replacing in part the former Brockenhurst to Wareham stopping service which lead to the former Poole train was extended to Weymouth. The Totton to Romsey shuttle and the Salisbury to Southampton Central portion of the First Great Western Westbury to Southampton Central service were replaced by a South West Trains Salisbury to Romsey via Southampton Central and Chandlers Ford service, which calls at Romsey twice on its journey. Southern introduced a new service from Southampton Central to Brighton, and the service to London Victoria then operated via Horsham rather than via Hove. In December 2008, CrossCountry launched its new timetable with most trains operating between Bournemouth and Manchester Piccadilly, with one service originating at Nottingham and one service on Saturdays terminating at Newcastle. There were also around six trains per day in each direction on the Reading to Newcastle route, via Doncaster, which occasionally extended to Southampton Central, but no longer operates. Duration of the video: 13:19 - 14:54 We’ll be seeing services by South Western Railway, Cross Country, Great Western Railway, Southern and some freight as well. I hope you enjoyed this video if you did smash that like button and don’t forget to subscribe for more upcoming videos that’ll be featured and feel free to leave any comments or recommendations of stations that you would like for me to do in the comments below as I’ll try respond back to them as soon as possible. I really enjoyed my time session that was spent at Southampton Central in the time I was there for especially with amount of variety I saw plus it was bit of a bonus to see the pride South Western Railway 444 making an appearance, Ex Former Avanti West Cost voyager, Ex Gatwick Express and Ex c2c unit that are currently with Southern at the moment plus it was my 1st time visiting this station but it was worth visiting considering how much freight I had come through as well. My next station will be Basingstoke which is situated on the South Western Railway Network and is also another station I haven’t visited before but I’m sure it’ll be worth visiting so until then thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.