Brockenhurst Station is located at a key railway junction and on the main line from London to Bournemouth and has provided crucial transport services during both world wars. At the start of WW2 in 1939 special trains brought evacuated children from Portsmouth and Southampton to be billeted throughout the village in people’s homes.The preparations for the invasion in spring 1944 required the transport of thousands of tanks, vehicles and service personnel to key staging points including Brockenhurst. The rail traffic demand was so great that seven new storage sidings were built south of the main line to help relief the pressure on the main train depot at Eastleigh.