The line was to start from a junction near the LSWR Southampton station (later Southampton Terminus) and curve west through a tunnel; at this point the Act required a station to be built at Blechynden Terrace; this became the present-day Southampton station. From there the line was to run westerly, crossing the River Test at Eling, and then run south-west to Brockenhurst. The Commissioners of Woods and Forests intervened in the alignment of the route through the New Forest, and the intended route through Lyndhurst was not permitted, the line instead making a southward sweep near there. From Brockenhurst the line was to run westward through Ringwood and Wimborne, trending southwest through Broadstone and Wareham, and then west to Dorchester.