Another factor that has played a large part in the rapid development of the town is the excellence of the railway services from all parts of the country, and particularly from London. During the summer months several trains run daily from Waterloo to Bournemouth without a stop, doing the journey in two hours; so that if the London and South Western Railway Company are fortunate in having a monopoly of this traffic, the town is equally fortunate in being served by a railway company which has made it almost a marine suburb of London. Bournemouth West Railway Station, situated on Poole Hill, was completed and the line opened in the summer of 1874. In 1884-5 the Central Station, or Bournemouth East as it was then called, was built, and the two stations connected by a loop-line. The whole of the Bournemouth district lies in the western part of the great valley or depression which stretches from Shoreham, in Sussex, to near Dorchester, occupying the whole of South Hampshire and the greater part of the south of Sussex and Dorset. The valley is known as the chalk basin of Hampshire, and is formed by the high range of hills extending from Beachy Head to Cerne Abbas. To the north the chain of hills remains intact, whilst the southern portion of the valley has been encroached upon, and two great portions of the wall of chalk having been removed, one to the east and one to the west, the Isle of Wight stands isolated and acts as a kind of breakwater to the extensive bays, channels, and harbours which have been scooped out of the softer strata by the action of the sea. Sheltered by the Isle of Wight are the Solent and Southampton Water; westward are the bays and harbours of Christchurch, Bournemouth, Poole, Studland, and Swanage. The great bay between the promontories of the Needles and Ballard Down, near Swanage, is subdivided by the headland of Hengistbury Head into the smaller bays of Christchurch and Bournemouth. [Illustration: THE WINTER GARDENS, BOURNEMOUTH The famous Winter Gardens and spacious glass Pavilion where concerts are held are under the management of the Corporation. Bournemouth spends a sum of _L_6000 annually in providing band music for her visitors.] The site of the town is an elevated tableland formed by an extensive development of Bagshot sands and clays covered with peat or turf, and partly, on the upland levels, with a deep bed of gravel. The sea-board is marked with narrow ravines, gorges, or glens, here called "Chines", but in the north of England designated "Denes".