Southampton Central

Slightly to the east of was the city’s original station called ‘Blechynden’, which opened in 1847. It was renamed ‘Southampton West’ in 1858 because the main station at the Southampton Central Station time was called ‘Southampton Docks’, (later to become ‘Southampton Terminus’), of which some parts still remain today – alongside the South Western Hotel on Canute Road.

In 1895 a new larger station was built on the current site, which was further enhanced in 1935. Prior to major land reclamation when the Western Docks were built in the 1930s, the came right up to, and sometimes flooded over the railway here! The original Southern Railway built a wonderful Art Deco style south-side entrance. Parts of the original building still remain, as does a redundant 1930s signal box at the west end of the station. The booking hall once had a huge notice board showing passengers the position of all the ships in the docks, and had the wording ‘The Gateway of the World’ proudly mounted over the information. Prior to air travel, sea voyages were the main way of reaching distant destinations, and the station played an important part in handling this business. This grand entrance area was bombed during WWII and the current entrance is a modern addition.

A whole new office block was constructed in 1966 as part of the modernisation of the route, which included the replacement of steam traction with electric trains in 1967.

The word ‘Central’ was dropped from the station’s title after the Terminus station closed, but was reinstated to avoid confusion with ‘Southampton Airport (Parkway)’.