Hook railway station

Hook
The station building seen from the westbound platform
Location
Place	Hook
Local authority	District of Hart
Grid reference	SU725539
Operations
Station code	HOK
Managed by	South West Trains
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.510 million
2005/06	0.517 million
2006/07	0.593 million
2007/08	0.617 million
2008/09	0.651 million
2009/10	0.646 million
2010/11	0.673 million
2013/14	0.755 million
History
Key dates	Opened 2 July 1883 (2 July 1883)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Hook from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Hook station serves the town of Hook and surrounding villages in Hampshire, southern England. There are two platforms serving the outer pair of tracks while the centre pair of tracks have no platforms and are used by fast services between the South Coast and the West Country. There is a small coffee shop on Platform 1 and a private hire car office on Platform 2.

Most services to and from this station terminate at either Basingstoke or London Waterloo and run every half hour except on Sundays when there is only one service per hour in each direction. The railway station is situated next to a Tesco superstore and is located within a 5-minute walk of Hook.

File:Hook railway station in 2006.jpg

The eastbound platform at night

History

The railway that runs through Hook was built in 1839, but Hook only got its railway station in 1883 after a lengthy campaign by local landowners. It was built by London and South Western Railway in their typical style. It was built with two platforms and two tracks, but was expanded to four platforms and tracks in 1901-2 as Hook grew in size. The middle island platform was removed around the 1960s but its tracks still survive.

In 1940, a bomb landed on the tracks a little way from the station. Worried it could damage the tracks, six soldiers were called to dispose of the bomb. Unfortunately, the bomb went off killing the six soldiers and injuring their sergeant. A group of local people have arranged to have a memorial plaque to them displayed in the station.

References

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Winchfield		South West Trains South Western Main Line		Basingstoke