Meon Valley Railway
Encyclopedia
The Meon Valley Railway (MVR) was a cross-country railway in Hampshire
, England that ran for 22.5 miles (36.2 km) between Alton
and Fareham
, closely following the course of the River Meon
. At its northern (Alton) end, it joined with the Mid-Hants Railway
to Winchester
, the Alton Line
to Brookwood
and the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway
. At Fareham it linked with the Eastleigh to Fareham Line
, the West Coastway Line
and the line to Gosport
. The railway was authorised in 1896 and opened in 1903, making it one of the last railways of any size to be built to main-line standards in the United Kingdom.
The MVR was built by the London and South Western Railway
(LSWR), which had a virtual monopoly on railway services in southern Hampshire. It already operated services between London (from its Waterloo terminus) and Southampton
and Portsmouth
. The former destination was served by the South Western Main Line
and the latter by the Portsmouth Direct Line
, as well as the line from Eastleigh
via Fareham.
Despite this, the LSWR felt that it would be advantageous to build a more direct line between London and the Portsmouth area (especially Gosport). Alton was becoming an important railway junction and a thriving market town
, as was Fareham. A line between the two that ultimately connected London and Portsmouth was an attractive proposition. Like many, the LSWR anticipated a growth in tourist and holiday traffic to the Isle of Wight
, which had become a popular destination in the late 19th century. Steamer services to the Island departed from Stokes Bay
, and the LSWR already had a small station there, connected to Gosport railway station
by a short spur line. Since the 1880s Lee-on-the-Solent
had developed as a small but promising resort
, and the LSWR had constructed a branch line to the town from Gosport in the 1890s. A railway down the Meon Valley would allow a much shorter run to the Gosport peninsula – as things stood, services had to take either the South Western Main Line
, which ran out to the west, or come from the east via the busy junction at Havant
. There was also support from the military for another main-line from London to Portsmouth. During the late 19th century there was considerable unease between Britain
and France, with some in the British government fearing a large naval attack on Portsmouth or even an invasion. This led to the construction of numerous forts
and barracks
in the area around Portsmouth, and the Admiralty
openly supported any increase in railway capacity to ease the movement of troops and equipment to the South Coast if needed.
There was also an element of railway politics in the decision to build the railway. Throughout the mid- and late- 19th century the LSWR's strongest rival was the Great Western Railway
. The LSWR had extended its lines as far as Padstow
in Cornwall
, which was deep in GWR territory. The GWR had long sought to have its own line from the West Country to the booming ports of Southampton
and Portsmouth. To this end, it had acquired running rights over the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
in the 1880s. However, this did not provide a fully independent route. In 1895 the GWR had made a basic proposal for the Portsmouth, Basingstoke
and Godalming
Railway, a line to the south coast from Reading
, then south to Basingstoke, down the Meon Valley and then passing through Southwick
and Bedhampton
, where it would join the line into Portsmouth. Nothing came of this proposal, but the LSWR clearly believed that it should deny one of the last routes to the coast to its rivals. In 1896 the LSWR drew up plans for two railways- the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway
and the Meon Valley Railway, thus effectively blocking the entire length of the GWR's proposed route.
Compared to many cross-country lines, the Meon Valley Railway project had an easy birth. The necessary Act of Parliament
was quickly obtained, with the South Western (Meon Valley) Act receiving Royal Assent
on the 3rd June 1897. A contractor was hired to carry out the work: Relf & Son of Plymouth
. The LSWR's chief engineer of the works was W.R. Galbraith. T. P. Figgis
was the line's architect for stations and other non- permanent way
structures.
were to be built to take a single track, but all bridges and tunnels were to be built to dual-track standards. If the line proved successful, it would be upgraded to full-length dual track. As constructed, only the stations had dual tracks, so they were the only places trains could pass each other on the line. The design of the MVR also made much use of grade separation
to minimise the use of level crossing
s, which were coming to be seen as both dangerous and undesirable, especially on lines intended for faster services. Instead all public roads that crossed the route of the line were accommodated by bridges over the line or under the railway, even where this required extensive earthworks and realignment of roads (such as at Hedge Corner near Privett
and the site of Droxford station
). Whilst there were still 19 level crossings on the line, the majority were in fact crossing points for footpath
s, the remainder being for lightly used farm tracks, connecting land that had been cut in two by the construction of the railway. The LSWR's promotional material for the line showed the line as a direct London-Gosport
route for express services.
Due to both the requirements for gentle gradients and the hilly terrain of the Meon Valley the line required some impressive engineering works, including two tunnels and a 62 feet (19 m) high viaduct
at West Meon
. The summit of the line was at Privett, some 519 feet (158 m) above sea level
. As was not unusual with railway construction, due to the constraints of the landscape, a few of the stations were some distance from the settlements they claimed to serve (especially Privett
and East Tisted
). At the time, several commentators pointed out that these stations were in fact much better placed to serve the large country houses in the area (Basing Park and Rotherfield Park respectively). This point was further emphasised by the naming of the stations. Stations were usually named after the parish
they were built in, but the owner of Basing Park insisted the LSWR name the station Privett (instead of the intended name of 'West Tisted') after the much smaller village in the area, next to which his estate was sited.
As befitting a railway built to full standards, the stations were impressive. With leanings towards the Arts and Crafts movement
, the stations were built out of brick in a mock-Tudor
style, with Portland Stone
mullions and gables. The architecture included stained-glass door windows and tiled interiors. The lavatories were in outbuildings styled like Chinese pagoda
s. Goods yards were planned for Mislingford
(mainly to serve a local pumping station
) and Farringdon
, and all the stations had goods sidings, an ornate corrugated iron goods shed and hand-operated crane
s to allow parcels and goods to be picked up and dropped off as needed.
. An excellent review of the "New" railway is available in The Railway Magazine Vol 12 p499 http://books.google.com/books?id=kt3NAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:09VBjUEeDQWdJ6kPiP&lr=#v=snippet&q=alton&f=false. The photograph from this article - approximately a century ago - of Privett station, as its building was nearing completion, is almost identical to the modern photograph to the right of this paragraph. The first task was the laying out and excavating the cuttings to provide material for building up the embankments
. The embankments, tunnels, rails, stations, bridges and other structures were then built, with the construction teams starting at the Alton end of the line and moving south. Initially the terrain was easy, with only minimal earth-moving required (considering that the majority of work was done by manual labour
). The main problem was obtaining a water supply for both the men and the small steam locomotive
s used for hauling supplies, since the railway was passing along chalk
soil. The further south the railway came, the more undulating the terrain became and greater works of civil engineering
were required to maintain the strict gradient requirements of the railway.
After the construction of Privett station
, the contractors came to their biggest engineering work – the Privett Tunnel. At just over 1000 yards (914 m) in length, the tunnel also followed a vague 'S'-shape, so the centre of the tunnel was in total darkness. Steam shovel
s and horses were used to remove the spoil (the latter were lowered into the works down shafts). The ground the tunnel was being driven through was found to be solid enough that the tunnel did not have to be lined with brick- the inner walls of the tunnel are plain, unworked chalk rock. A collapse in the tunnel trapped two navvies – one of whom died of suffocation. The other managed to dig himself free with his pocket knife and was rescued after being trapped for over 24 hours. A second man was killed after being hit by a locomotive. These deaths caused some men to leave the works- enough to make the contractors bring in two steam shovel
s and a traction engine
to speed up progress. The tunnel was built by two teams working from opposite ends, and when the two met they were less than an inch from their planned course.
Between Privett and West Meon the railway had to be built on an embankment some 64 feet (20 m) high. This earthwork crossed the A272 road
to Petersfield
, which was accommodated by a short brick-lined tunnel through the embankment some 167 feet (51 m) long.
A second 600 yards (549 m) tunnel was built on the approach to West Meon, but before the railway could reach the site of West Meon Station
, it had to cross the River Meon
itself, which at this point ran through a narrow but deep valley. An 8-arch concrete viaduct
was planned, but the ground was not as strong as initial tests showed, and very soon after construction the foundations of the viaduct began to subside. A 4-arch iron design was used instead, with large chalk embankments on the approaches over the unstable ground. The viaduct dwarfed the surrounding village, standing over 62 feet (18.9 m) high. Despite being much lighter than the concrete design, the whole structure weighed over 700 LT (711 t; 784 ST) and cost £10,000 to build (£692,000 today). It is rumoured that 2 partially complete arches of the original viaduct are buried within the northern embankment.
West Meon station was the only point on the line where trains could take on water. A deep artesian well was sunk into the hills east of the station and piped to a tank in the station's goods yard to supply a water column
on each platform. West Meon was also chosen as the site of the temporary 'village' of wooden huts to provide accommodation for the navvies and their families. A smaller collection of huts had been built at Privett.
Having crossed the Meon Valley, the railway then passed through easier country, gradually descending through means of a series of embankments and cuttings. The chalk soil supported many streams and rivulets, so at several key points the builders provided culvert
s or narrow bridges to provide drainage.
South of Droxford
, the workers encountered the Reading Beds – an area of clay and gravel that, as part of the larger Fareham Clay Beds, made the area a centre for brickmaking. However, the soil was highly unstable – when wet it was almost liquid, whilst in the summer it was as difficult to work as concrete. Huge amounts of chalk soil excavated from the two tunnels were brought in to stabilise the trackbed and to build embankments, but throughout the life of the railway subsidence was a problem along this stretch. The clay soil also led to standing water
and flooding during heavy rain, and a number large grilled drain
s were provided along the line between Mislingford and Knowle. The problem was so severe in a cutting just north of Wickham that a concrete retaining wall was needed to support the side of the cutting and to prevent flooding the cutting was deepened to allow the construction of foundations of large concrete blocks for trackbed, on top of which were piled bricks to allow drainage before the topsoil and ballast
could be laid. To improve the stability of the track itself the section between Wickham and Droxford used concrete sleepers
- an early adoption of these on a British railway.
The line then passed through the Forest of Bere
before heading across the water-meadows at Wickham
on an embankment. The embankment crossed the River Meon itself, requiring the river to be taken through a long brick skew tunnel
. The embankment also effectively divided the village of Wickham in two, with two new bridges providing the only means of crossing under the railway. This remains the case today. Just south of Wickham
, the Meon was crossed again on a steel bridge supported on 6 tubular steel pillars – this was the second biggest bridge on the line after the West Meon Viaduct. The meander
ing course of the Meon, the constraints of the landscape and the railway's ruling gradient meant that the railway required 5 under-bridges
within half a mile (1 kilometre)- 3 to cross the Meon (including the steel bridge near Wickham station) and the 2 to cross roads in Wickham.
Finally, the railway gradually dropped to the natural ground level to the south of Wickham, joining the Eastleigh to Fareham Line
just north of the Knowle Hatches Viaduct. Trains from the Meon Valley then passed down this line and into a newly built platform at Fareham station
.
The construction of the MVR also included the building of a 2 miles (3.2 km)stretch of line between Fareham
and Knowle Junction to bypass the Fareham Tunnel, which had suffered serious subsidence problems due to being built through the local clay beds. The tunnel frequently had to be closed for maintenance and shoring-up, so a bypass line was urgently required, especially given the anticipated increase in traffic caused by the new line. The double-track line ran through the north of Fareham and the village of Funtley
, re-joining the main line just south of Knowle Hospital. Construction of this line took place once the Meon Valley Railway was completed, starting in October 1904 and being completed in 1906.
The total cost of the Meon Valley Railway, including the Fareham tunnel by-pass, was £399,500, 2 shilling
s and 3 pence. This equates to about £27.7 million at today's prices. In all, the navvies (only minimally assisted by mechanical equipment) moved 340700 cu yd (260,484 m³) of earth in the course of the works.
engines. The lighter Alton-Fareham trains were worked by Adams 'Radial' and Adams O2 Class
tank engines (a 'Radial' hauled the first public train on the line). Twice a day the line was used by a London-Gosport fast express service, usually hauled by a Drummond T9 'Greyhound'
.
As was expected in such an agricultural region, the bulk of traffic came from shipping agricultural produce. On the MVR this included watercress
, wheat, fruit (especially strawberries
and apples), milk and cattle. The LSWR put on special market-day trains, with both passenger carriages and livestock cars, allowing farmers to accompany their livestock. There were local 'pick-up/set-down' goods services along the line, which called at every station to deliver and pick up any waiting goods. No shunting
engines were stationed on the MVR, so the locomotive working the train had to uncouple at each station and marshal wagons into and out of the train as required- standard practice for a rural line. Heavier freight services were often powered by locomotives such as the Drummond 700 Class
.
Local residents and businesses had high hopes for the railway. The 'Railway Inn' was built next to Droxford railway station
in the hope of accommodating tourists and travellers. A public house
was built next to Privett railway station
named 'The Privet
t Bush'. Coal merchants did good business – West Meon station employed no fewer than three different merchants, and one business supplied coal to 2 of the stations.
Many local newspapers were impressed by the line's speed, the scale of its engineering works, the high standards of the stations and other structures and the beauty of the scenery it passed through. Then, as now, the link between the Meon Valley and the famous figures of Gilbert White
and Jane Austen
was made several times. Some papers wrote articles describing the route and its scenery in great detail, pointing out places of interest along the line, such as the hill fort
at Old Winchester Hill
.
Following the opening of the Fareham Tunnel deviation line in 1906 (see above) the original route through the tunnels was closed to allow major repairs that ultimately led to the existing tunnels being stripped out and new linings being built. During this period all traffic north of Fareham used the new double-track bypass route. With the tunnels completed the track was relaid with a new layout. Knowle Junction ceased to be a true junction as the connection between the MVR and the Eastleigh to Fareham Line
was removed, although the signal box
was still used to hand over and collect the Tokens
to MVR trains. The MVR now had a totally separate but parallel single-track line across the Knowle Hatches Viaduct (which was widened to triple-track width) and through the tunnels. In true MVR style this route was laid out to allow conversion to double track in the future. The route from Eastleigh continued down the deviation line, joining the original track just north of Fareham Station
. This layout was intended to allow fast services from the MVR unrestricted access to Fareham and Gosport without the possibility of being held up at Knowle.
As part of these works in 1907 a halt was built at Knowle Hospital to serve both it and the village of Funtley
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/k/knowle_halt/index.shtml. This small station - little more than a platform and a shelter, became one of the first rural stations in Hampshire to be lit by electricity, since it took its power from the hospital's generators. Given the original track layout it was served only by local trains on the Meon Valley Railway, but following the reinstatement of Knowle Junction in 1921 (see below) certain trains on both routes used the stop.
Unfortunately, the expected London through-traffic never materialised, and after only a few years the London to Gosport services were cut back. Similarly, the tourist traffic to Stokes Bay
also failed to grow, with steamers preferring the more established ports at Portsmouth
and Southampton
. Even during the First World War, traffic was light compared to other lines, despite the line partly being built for military traffic. In fact, in 1915 the regular London traffic was suspended totally, and the services were never reinstated. From then on the MVR only handled regular traffic between Fareham and Alton. The only major troop movements were from local regiments. Droxford station
had a brief moment in the public eye when Admiral
Doveton Sturdee
arrived at the station on his way to his nearby home after his victory in the Battle of the Falkland Islands
in 1914).
Occasionally special trains from other parts of the network used the line, and the MVR did see infrequent use as a 'spare' mainline during periods of high traffic such as the summer holiday season or Christmas.
The most obvious signs of the railway not developing as expected were the series of changes made to the signalling arrangements in 1921. Privett signal box
was effectively closed and the line was changed from being worked as a single-track main line to operating as a single-track branch line, with longer signal blocks and fewer passing loops (the 'down' platform at Privett was closed, the second line through the station now being only used for shunting). At the southern end the rail connections at Knowle Junction were relaid. This allowed trains from Fareham heading to Eastleigh to use both the original and the deviation lines but the layout of the junctions meant that MVR trains could still only use the original single-track route. The LSWR's concerns about holding up express traffic no longer applied as such trains were not regular users of the MVR anymore.
in 1923. By then services had been reduced even further. There were now 6 or 8 services a day, mainly formed of 2- or 3-coach trains hauled by Drummond M7
tank engines, with T9s remaining for faster services. Goods services remained vital to the line, with a twice-daily service — one trip south-bound and one north-bound. Wagons and trucks would be shunted into the train at the three goods yards by the locomotive.
Winter of 1927 brought storms and heavy snowfall to the Meon Valley region. A special Waterloo-Gosport train running down the line at 5:40am on the 27th December became stuck in a huge snowdrift
near Tisted. Workmen took nearly a day to free the train and clear the line.
Since the railway opened, there had been calls for a station at Farringdon
, just south of Alton. A goods yard for loading agricultural produce was already sited there, and in 1930 a short wooden platform of one coach-length was built to serve the village. Requests for a similar platform and yard at Meonstoke
were not acted on, although the planners of the line had allowed for the future construction of a yard at that location. A single section of rail, dug vertically into the ground, marked the possible site for such a yard until after the railway closed- it was finally removed in the 1960s.
In 1931 a further down-grading of the MVR took place when the track at Butts Junction
(the approach to Alton station
) was re-laid. The signal box
was removed and the MVR's direct connection with the Alton Line
to London was removed, meaning that MVR trains now ran direct to a bay platform at Alton station. It also meant that trains could not run direct from the Alton Line to the Meon Valley as they had been able to- if this was required trains had to shunt from one line to the other. This change spelt the end of the MVR as an integrated part of the railway network- it was now simply handling stopping local traffic with none of the fast inter-city express traffic that the line was built to handle and that used the line in its early days.
The Alton Line
was converted to electric operation in 1937. It was decided that it was not viable to electrify the MVR, and with that decision went any realistic hope of the line being upgraded to the dual-track standards to which it was built (indeed, the railway would remain single-line for its whole existence).
This period saw changes to the stock used on the MVR. The M7 tank engines remained the main type used, but goods services on the line was now being worked by types deemed redundant for main-line passenger working, such as a small number of Drummond L12s
, which had been the LSWR's cutting-edge express locomotives when the line was built. T9s also began to be used for freight services and shunting. Some newly built types were used during the summer for heavy agricultural trains or tourist services to the coast, such as the Maunsell U-Class.
By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, rural lines such as the MVR were all coming under threat from rural bus services, and even goods services were being threatened by local lorry
services. The bulk of passenger services were now being run by M7 tank engines with a 2-car 'push-pull' train (carriage sets where the locomotive can be controlled from the rearmost carriage, negating the need to turn the train). These trains looked decidedly lost against the long platforms designed to take up to 11-car expresses. The huge platforms were, in fact, deemed so unnecessary that at West Meon new access slopes were cut halfway along and a walkway constructed across the tracks- the remaining half of each platform was effectively abandoned and allowed to grass over.
). The only real change was an increase in goods traffic supplying the naval dockyard at Portsmouth. This saw new locomotive types running over the line, such as Drummond 700s
and the distinctive Bulleid Q1s
. Standard passenger services had a box van
added to cope with the near-constant stream of parcels and luggage to and from Portsmouth. A few troop trains used the line late at night. In 1941 a special military freight train, hauled by a Drummond 700
, was stabled for the night at Tisted, with the crew receiving instructions to stay with the engine and be ready to depart instantly in an emergency. Although unknown to both the locomotive crew and station staff, the train was carrying 48 mines
.
Despite this relatively light military traffic, the Meon Valley Railway did come under attack during the war. A Junkers Ju 88
dropped bombs at Droxford station during 1940. These missed the station building and tracks but destroyed two railway worker's cottages. The aircraft then dropped further bombs at Soberton
, but these also missed the railway. The bomber then turned around and headed up the line to the West Meon Tunnel, and a single bomb was dropped at the northern portal
. A direct hit was not achieved, but a short section of line, including several sleepers
, was destroyed and a crater was left in the ballast
. All trains were quickly halted and the line was repaired in a few days.
Despite what was, on the whole, a fairly quiet wartime career the MVR had a brief spell of intensive use during the build-up to D-Day
when huge amounts of men and equipment had to be moved to the south of England, kept in readiness and finally transported to ports. Large numbers of Tank
s were moved by rail to Mislingford goods yard where they were dispersed to numerous concrete hard-standings built in local lanes and fields for temporary storage. Mislingford was also the site of a temporary wooden platform to serve the large number of Canadian
troops who were encamped in the Forest of Bere
.
The MVR had one crucial role to play in the D-Day operations. On Thursday, June 2, 1944, Winston Churchill
, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower
, the Prime Ministers of Canada and South Africa, William Lyon Mackenzie King
and Jan Smuts
, and other Allied leaders
met in a special train at Droxford Station (the train was actually the Royal Train
from the London, Midland & Scottish Railway
). The station possessed the longest siding
in southern England (outside the railway works at Eastleigh
) and was close to a deep cutting. If threatened by an air raid
, the train could be pushed into the relative safety of the cutting. During this meeting, final decisions regarding the planning of Operation Overlord
were made.
was nationalised into British Railways in 1948. No immediate changes were made, with the standard 2-car 'push-pull' sets running around five services a day. However, the rise of private car ownership and a major shift of local goods traffic from rail to road saw the MVR become increasingly uneconomical to operate. Services were gradually run down. This led to even lower passenger numbers as the service became less and less frequent, and more people switched to using cars or buses.
During the early 1950s, British Railways drew up its 'Modernisation Plan'. This mainly concerned itself with the planned withdrawal of steam locomotives and the electrification
of its main trunk routes. However, the plan also listed several lines that could be closed either because they were redundant in a nationalised, competition-free network or because they were unsustainable to operate. The Meon Valley Railway fell into both these categories.
' of the 1960s, where many well-used but uneconomic railways were closed. There is little doubt that in 1955 the Meon Valley was unsustainable as a passenger railway.
The day after 'official' closure to passengers, a special train called 'The Hampshireman', organised by a rail enthusiasts' group, ran along the full length of the line - the last train to do so. It was hauled by two T9s 'double-heading'.
Goods services were to continue with a once-a-day service from Fareham to Droxford, and a similar service from the northern end only from Alton to Farringdon
. The section of line in between (including West Meon
, Privett
and East Tisted
stations) was lifted. This included the demolition of the West Meon Viaduct. The huge iron bridge had a high value in scrap, and thus was one of the first structures to be demolished (had it been built from concrete as originally planned it would probably still be standing). During the viaduct's demolition, it was found to be suffering from corrosion in several places which would have needed extensive and costly repairs in the near future if the railway were to remain open. This was seen as a further justification of the closure by some at BR.
Staff numbers at stations had been hugely cut, and even though the line was officially 'open', the station platforms were overgrown and much of the infrastructure neglected.
As British Railways was urged to cut costs throughout the 1960s, the southern goods service to Droxford was withdrawn in 1962. The last BR-scheduled passenger service on any part of the MVR had been the 'Solent Limited' railtour on the 30th April 1961 (a year to the day before the section was closed). A goods service to Farringdon was maintained until 1968, when the final part of Meon Valley Railway was closed to all traffic.
station and the right to run trains over the railway. He used it for testing a design of railbus
that he had developed called the Sadler Rail Coach or 'Pacerailer'. Like the similarly named British Rail 'Pacer
' of later years, this was essentially a bus-style vehicle. Unlike the later BR types, the Sadler Rail Coach used road-vehicle style pneumatic tyres on its drive wheels and flanged steel wheels at each end to guide it along the track. As well as the MVR itself, a special steep-gradient section of track was built for testing at Droxford. A company called Sadler Vectrail Ltd was established in 1966 to re-open the Ryde to Cowes railway on the Isle of Wight using Sadler Rail Coaches and the prototype vehicle appeared briefly at an Island Industries Fair but the scheme was unsuccessful.
Mr Ashby also purchased an LBSCR 'Terrier'
tank engine no. 32646, which he brought to Droxford but in May 1966 this was sold to Brickwoods, the Portsmouth-based brewer, for display outside a public house on Hayling Island.
The northern section of line to Farringdon was lifted almost immediately after closure. The two tunnels at West Meon and Privett
were sold to private users. West Meon Tunnel was used by a scrapdealer for breaking up ex-military vehicles and aircraft until the 1980s, whilst Privett Tunnel was used for growing mushroom
s.
The southern portion of the line also became home to a steam locomotive preservation society, which planned to operate the section as a preserved railway. To this end, they moved several locomotives (including a 'USA
' tank engine) as well as rolling stock, to Droxford. However, a fire at the site, and the fact that BR planned to sever the connection with the Eastleigh to Fareham line
, thus cutting off any preserved railway, meant that plans came to nothing.
Once the mainline connection was gone, Ashby used two small Ruston-Hornsby
diesel shunters and two ex-BR carriages to operate private-charter trains for a short time. The line south of Wickham
was lifted in 1974, and the last remaining section between Wickham and Droxford in 1975. The last vehicle to run on the MVR was an Austin Mini-based railcar
owned by Charles Ashby.
), the Meon Valley Trail
. On this section, all bridges, embankments and cuttings are intact and serviceable, except for two minor bridges north of Droxford which were removed in the 1960s to allow farm traffic to use the lanes they crossed. Along this part of the line, there are still occasional remains of trackside huts, signal
posts and telegraph lines. At Mislingford Goods Yard, sleepers
are still in the ground, a concrete loading gauge
remains in place and the cast iron base of the loading crane
still stands next to the remains of a coal bunker
.
The only remains of the West Meon Viaduct are the two huge embankments approaching either end and the concrete pedestals that formed the foundations for the cast iron
pillars.
West Meon Tunnel is currently used to store caravans and other building supplies together with a large amount of Cold War era
scrap left behind from the aircraft storage and breaking during the 1980s, whilst part of Privett Tunnel is used as a storage site by a local builders merchant. Both tunnels are home to large colonies of bat
s, and are thus protected from disturbance and are regularly surveyed.
North of the tunnels, the line is less well-preserved. The majority of the bridges have been removed, and on the section closed in 1955, much of the earthworks have been levelled and turned back into agricultural land. A cutting directly north of the West Meon Tunnel has been completely filled in, returning it to the natural ground level. This has had the effect of burying a brick over-bridge carrying a lane
, which is now visible only as two walls flanking the road seemingly in the middle of a field.
Between Farringdon and Chawton most of the trackbed survives and is used as a public footpath.
At the very northern end approaching Alton, there is little obvious evidence of the line's existence on the ground. The A31
Alton bypass
cuts through the course of the line and a large roundabout
occupies its route west of Chawton. The Mid-Hants Railway
has reinstated track on the formation of the Meon Valley line between Alton and Butts Junction
, partly as a running line and partly as a siding
.
Three of the stations have survived (Droxford
, East Tisted
and Privett
), and are used as private houses. Wickham and West Meon stations stood empty for many years and were eventually demolished in the 1970s, although at West Meon the long platforms are still very much in evidence, despite being overgrown, as is the site of the station buildings and the goods yard. There is almost no evidence of Wickham station, although one platform and the remains of some cattle pens remain in the undergrowth.
At Droxford station, a plaque
commemorates the crucial meeting of the Allied leaders in 1944.
The MVR closely followed the A32 road
between Gosport and Alton, and the line crossed the road frequently. Today the road still crosses over and under many of the former bridges of the line. At Hedge Corner, north of Privett
, the road was re-routed during the building of the railway to take a chicane
-like course under a bridge that carried the railway across the road at a diagonal angle. When the bridge and its embankments were levelled, the road was straightened. The two loops of the chicane now form redundant lay-bys. Small terraces of cottages built for railway workers still stand near Wickham, West Meon and Privett.
The A272 road
still passes through the tunnel under the embankment near West Meon, and the tunnel is a prominent local landmark.
and A31
roads show). To that end, a local society is exploring the possibility of constructing a or narrow gauge
railway from West Meon to Wickham
and perhaps as far as Knowle.
It is, however, unlikely that the whole length of the former line could be re-used. The northern end of the line has been completely levelled, and the majority of the bridges have been demolished. Also, parts of the former track-bed have been built on at Farringdon and East Tisted. The surviving stations are now private homes.
From an engineering point of view, it would be relatively simple to reinstate the line from Fareham as far as West Meon, and if the viaduct were rebuilt, as far as Privett. However, such a line, that did not connect to Alton, would be highly unlikely to be viable as a mainline route, and could only function effectively as a small commuter line or heritage railway.
The Act of Parliament that authorised the Meon Valley Railway had a 'perpetual service' clause imposing a legally binding requirement on the owner of the railway to run services to West Meon- this was a condition imposed on the L&SWR by the owners of the Warnford Park
estate in return for the sale of much of the estate's land to provide a route for the railway. Such a clause would make the closure of the MVR illegal, through the withdrawal of trains to West Meon. Clauses like these were often put in Railway Acts in the 19th century. Such a clause was invoked to delay the closure of the Bluebell Railway
in West Sussex
. However, since there was no protest at the time of the line's closure, any such clause exists today only as a technicality, as with similar cases of now-closed railways.
are all still very well preserved and stand in isolated countryside.
At the turn of the century, however, the conditions were different. The railways had a virtual monopoly on medium- and long-distance travel, and practically all goods traffic went by rail. Raw material, construction and labour costs were low, making it viable to not only build a railway, but to staff it. Cross-country railways were run mainly to make money from traffic going between the two termini of the route (in this case and ). Any other traffic picked up at intermediate stations along the line was simply a 'bonus'. At the time, it made business sense to build a line through an area of such low population. If, as detailed in the 'Background' section, above, the MVR was also a 'blocking line' to prevent the Great Western Railway
using the route to build an independent line to the south coast, then this could also be seen as a reason for the line's construction.
However, no source seems to be able to adequately explain why the MVR was built to such expensive main-line standards. Course (1976, see source list) cites the five stations on the MVR as the most expensive stations per head-of-population-served to be built in the United Kingdom. The stations are considered some of the finest rural stations of the late Victorian period, especially given the LSWRs usual lack of brilliance in this area of railway design. The decision to build the line to express standards (with a low ruling gradient and gentle curves) meant that vastly expensive earthworks had to be constructed, and the bridges and other associated structures were built on a large scale and a very high standard (despite going un-maintained for over 50 years, most are still in excellent condition).
It is possible that the LSWR genuinely believed that it was building a new, fast line to the South Coast that cut significant time and distance off its existing routes and served what was expected to become the booming resort at Stokes Bay
. The encouragement from the Army
and the Admiralty may have made the LSWR expect the line to be used for the significant military London-Portsmouth traffic, and as a major trunk route in the event of war. Whilst the line was never heavily used by tourists (Stokes Bay never developed as a resort) or high levels of military traffic, it also seems the LSWR never even tried to stimulate such use – almost from the day the MVR opened its express and fast services were cut back – only 12 years after the line's opening they were removed entirely.
went via Basingstoke was because of a planned connection with another line heading towards Bristol
. As such, there were several plans for railways in the Meon Valley in the middle and late 19th century.
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England that ran for 22.5 miles (36.2 km) between Alton
Alton, Hampshire
Alton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...
and Fareham
Fareham
The market town of Fareham lies in the south east of Hampshire, England, between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, roughly in the centre of the South Hampshire conurbation.It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area...
, closely following the course of the River Meon
River Meon
The River Meon is a river that flows through an area of Hampshire in southern England known as the Meon Valley, it flows generally southwards from the South Downs to the Solent. For most of its route it is a chalk stream, with a length of 21 miles .The River Meon rises approximately...
. At its northern (Alton) end, it joined with the Mid-Hants Railway
Watercress Line
The Watercress Line is the marketing name of the Mid-Hants Railway, a heritage railway in Hampshire, England, running from New Alresford to Alton where it connects to the National Rail network. The line gained its popular name in the days that it was used to transport locally grown watercress to...
to Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
, the Alton Line
Alton Line
The Alton Line is a railway line operated by South West Trains. Today Alton station is the terminus of a main line branch, although it was at one time the junction for three lines. The branch leaves the South Western Main Line at Pirbright Junction near Brookwood...
to Brookwood
Brookwood, Surrey
Brookwood is a village in Surrey, located about 5 km west of Woking, in a semi-rural location. It lies on the western border of the Woking Borough ....
and the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway
Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway
The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway was a railway in Hampshire, UK, opened on Saturday, 1 June 1901, with no formal ceremony.It was the first railway to be enabled by an Order of the Light Railway Commission under the Light Railways Act of 1896...
. At Fareham it linked with the Eastleigh to Fareham Line
Eastleigh to Fareham Line
The Eastleigh-Fareham Line is the railway line from Eastleigh to Fareham in the United Kingdom. At Eastleigh, trains join the South Western Main Line for onward travel to Basingstoke, Reading or to London Waterloo. At Fareham trains join the West Coastway line for onward travel to Portsmouth or...
, the West Coastway Line
West Coastway Line
The West Coastway Line is a railway line in England, along the south coast of West Sussex and Hampshire, between Brighton and Southampton, plus the short branches to Littlehampton and Bognor Regis....
and the line to Gosport
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
. The railway was authorised in 1896 and opened in 1903, making it one of the last railways of any size to be built to main-line standards in the United Kingdom.
Background
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
(LSWR), which had a virtual monopoly on railway services in southern Hampshire. It already operated services between London (from its Waterloo terminus) and Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
and Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
. The former destination was served by the South Western Main Line
South Western Main Line
The South Western Main Line is a railway line between London Waterloo and Weymouth on the Dorset coast, in the south of England. It is a major railway which serves many important commuter areas, as well as the major settlements of Southampton and Bournemouth...
and the latter by the Portsmouth Direct Line
Portsmouth Direct Line
The Portsmouth Direct Line is the route of a railway service operated by South West Trains which runs between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour, England...
, as well as the line from Eastleigh
Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a railway town in Hampshire, England, and the main town in the Eastleigh borough which is part of Southampton Urban Area. The town lies between Southampton and Winchester, and is part of the South Hampshire conurbation...
via Fareham.
Despite this, the LSWR felt that it would be advantageous to build a more direct line between London and the Portsmouth area (especially Gosport). Alton was becoming an important railway junction and a thriving market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
, as was Fareham. A line between the two that ultimately connected London and Portsmouth was an attractive proposition. Like many, the LSWR anticipated a growth in tourist and holiday traffic to the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, which had become a popular destination in the late 19th century. Steamer services to the Island departed from Stokes Bay
Stokes Bay
Stokes Bay is an area of the Solent that lies just south of Gosport, between Portsmouth and Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire. There is a shingle beach that has a great view of Ryde and East Cowes on the Isle of Wight to the south and also Fawley in the south west. The village of Alverstoke is close by...
, and the LSWR already had a small station there, connected to Gosport railway station
Gosport railway station
Gosport railway station was a terminus station designed by William Tite and opened to passenger and freight trains in 1841 by the London and South Western Railway . It was closed in 1953 to passenger trains, and in 1969 to the remaining freight services...
by a short spur line. Since the 1880s Lee-on-the-Solent
Lee-on-the-Solent
Lee-on-the-Solent, often referred to as Lee-on-Solent, is a small seaside town in Hampshire, England about five miles west of Portsmouth. The town is located on the coast of the Solent and forms part of the borough of Gosport...
had developed as a small but promising resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
, and the LSWR had constructed a branch line to the town from Gosport in the 1890s. A railway down the Meon Valley would allow a much shorter run to the Gosport peninsula – as things stood, services had to take either the South Western Main Line
South Western Main Line
The South Western Main Line is a railway line between London Waterloo and Weymouth on the Dorset coast, in the south of England. It is a major railway which serves many important commuter areas, as well as the major settlements of Southampton and Bournemouth...
, which ran out to the west, or come from the east via the busy junction at Havant
Havant
Havant is a town in south east Hampshire on the South coast of England, between Portsmouth and Chichester. It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area. The town has rapidly grown since the end of the Second World War.It has good railway connections to London,...
. There was also support from the military for another main-line from London to Portsmouth. During the late 19th century there was considerable unease between Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and France, with some in the British government fearing a large naval attack on Portsmouth or even an invasion. This led to the construction of numerous forts
Palmerston Forts
The Palmerston Forts are a group of forts and associated structures, around the coast of Britain.The forts were built during the Victorian period on the recommendations of the 1860 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, following concerns about the strength of the French Navy, and...
and barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
in the area around Portsmouth, and the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
openly supported any increase in railway capacity to ease the movement of troops and equipment to the South Coast if needed.
There was also an element of railway politics in the decision to build the railway. Throughout the mid- and late- 19th century the LSWR's strongest rival was the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
. The LSWR had extended its lines as far as Padstow
Padstow
Padstow is a town, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary approximately five miles northwest of Wadebridge, ten miles northwest of Bodmin and ten miles northeast of Newquay...
in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, which was deep in GWR territory. The GWR had long sought to have its own line from the West Country to the booming ports of Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
and Portsmouth. To this end, it had acquired running rights over the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway was a cross-country railway running north-south between Didcot, Newbury and Southampton although it actually reached the latter by running over the London and South Western Railway tracks from Shawford Junction, south of Winchester...
in the 1880s. However, this did not provide a fully independent route. In 1895 the GWR had made a basic proposal for the Portsmouth, Basingstoke
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...
and Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
Railway, a line to the south coast from Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, then south to Basingstoke, down the Meon Valley and then passing through Southwick
Southwick, Hampshire
Southwick is a village in the English county of Hampshire, situated north of Portsmouth, and is occupied entirely by tenants in the style of the Middle Ages, where the entirety is wholly owned by the Southwick Estate. Oddly, there is one exception to this and that is Church Lodge which is in...
and Bedhampton
Bedhampton
Bedhampton is a former village, and now suburb, located in the Borough of Havant, Hampshire, England. It is located at the northern end of Langstone Harbour and at the foot of the eastern end of Portsdown Hill....
, where it would join the line into Portsmouth. Nothing came of this proposal, but the LSWR clearly believed that it should deny one of the last routes to the coast to its rivals. In 1896 the LSWR drew up plans for two railways- the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway
Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway
The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway was a railway in Hampshire, UK, opened on Saturday, 1 June 1901, with no formal ceremony.It was the first railway to be enabled by an Order of the Light Railway Commission under the Light Railways Act of 1896...
and the Meon Valley Railway, thus effectively blocking the entire length of the GWR's proposed route.
Compared to many cross-country lines, the Meon Valley Railway project had an easy birth. The necessary Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
was quickly obtained, with the South Western (Meon Valley) Act receiving Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
on the 3rd June 1897. A contractor was hired to carry out the work: Relf & Son of Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
. The LSWR's chief engineer of the works was W.R. Galbraith. T. P. Figgis
T. P. Figgis
T. P. Figgis was a British architect working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work included private houses as well as public buildings.T...
was the line's architect for stations and other non- permanent way
Permanent way
The permanent way is the elements of railway lines: generally the pairs of rails typically laid on the sleepers embedded in ballast, intended to carry the ordinary trains of a railway...
structures.
Design
The decision had been taken to build the line to main-line standards, with a ruling gradient of 1-in-100 (1%) and only gentle curves. Stations would be constructed with 600 feet (183 m) long platforms capable of taking 11-coach express trains. The earthworksEarthworks (engineering)
Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving or processing of quantities of soil or unformed rock.- Civil engineering use :Typical earthworks include roads, railway beds, causeways, dams, levees, canals, and berms...
were to be built to take a single track, but all bridges and tunnels were to be built to dual-track standards. If the line proved successful, it would be upgraded to full-length dual track. As constructed, only the stations had dual tracks, so they were the only places trains could pass each other on the line. The design of the MVR also made much use of grade separation
Grade separation
Grade separation is the method of aligning a junction of two or more transport axes at different heights so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other transit routes when they cross each other. The composition of such transport axes does not have to be uniform; it can consist of a...
to minimise the use of level crossing
Level crossing
A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...
s, which were coming to be seen as both dangerous and undesirable, especially on lines intended for faster services. Instead all public roads that crossed the route of the line were accommodated by bridges over the line or under the railway, even where this required extensive earthworks and realignment of roads (such as at Hedge Corner near Privett
Privett
Privett is a small village and conservation area in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is northwest of Petersfield, just off the A272 road. Its principal feature is Holy Trinity Church, designed by Arthur Blomfield and built at the expense of local landowner, businessman and...
and the site of Droxford station
Droxford railway station
Droxford railway station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from Alton to Fareham during the first half of the 20th century. Opened on 1 June 1903, it has a place in every history book as the location where Churchill and Eisenhower put the finishing touches to the D Day...
). Whilst there were still 19 level crossings on the line, the majority were in fact crossing points for footpath
Footpath
A Footpath is a thoroughfare intended for by pedestrians but not by motorized vehicles. The term is often for paths within an urban area that offer shorter quieter routes for pedestrians, they may also provide access to the surrounding countryside or parks...
s, the remainder being for lightly used farm tracks, connecting land that had been cut in two by the construction of the railway. The LSWR's promotional material for the line showed the line as a direct London-Gosport
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
route for express services.
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
at West Meon
West Meon
West Meon is a small village in Hampshire, England, with a population of 690.It is situated near to Petersfield and East Meon, on the headwaters of the River Meon....
. The summit of the line was at Privett, some 519 feet (158 m) above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
. As was not unusual with railway construction, due to the constraints of the landscape, a few of the stations were some distance from the settlements they claimed to serve (especially Privett
Privett railway station
Privett station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from to during the first half of the 20th century. Named after the hamlet of Privett, the station was in fact over half a mile from its namesake and was built in largely uninhabited countryside.-History:Opened on 1...
and East Tisted
East Tisted railway station
Tisted was a railway station on the Meon Valley line which served the village of East Tisted.The last train, pulled by two T9 class locomotives , left on 6 February, 1955....
). At the time, several commentators pointed out that these stations were in fact much better placed to serve the large country houses in the area (Basing Park and Rotherfield Park respectively). This point was further emphasised by the naming of the stations. Stations were usually named after the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
they were built in, but the owner of Basing Park insisted the LSWR name the station Privett (instead of the intended name of 'West Tisted') after the much smaller village in the area, next to which his estate was sited.
As befitting a railway built to full standards, the stations were impressive. With leanings towards the Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
, the stations were built out of brick in a mock-Tudor
Tudorbethan architecture
The Tudor Revival architecture of the 20th century , first manifested itself in domestic architecture beginning in the United Kingdom in the mid to late 19th century based on a revival of aspects of Tudor style. It later became an influence in some other countries, especially the British colonies...
style, with Portland Stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
mullions and gables. The architecture included stained-glass door windows and tiled interiors. The lavatories were in outbuildings styled like Chinese pagoda
Pagoda
A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist,...
s. Goods yards were planned for Mislingford
Mislingford
Mislingford is a small village in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Fareham, which lies approximately south-east from the village....
(mainly to serve a local pumping station
Pumping station
Pumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites.A pumping station...
) and Farringdon
Farringdon, Hampshire
Farringdon is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire in England. The village is 2.8 miles south of Alton, on the A32 road, close to a source of the River Wey....
, and all the stations had goods sidings, an ornate corrugated iron goods shed and hand-operated crane
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
s to allow parcels and goods to be picked up and dropped off as needed.
Construction
Construction began in 1898, with the first soil being cut just south-east of FarringdonFarringdon
Farringdon is a historic area of the City of London, represented today by the Wards of Farringdon Within and Farringdon Without. Farringdon is also used informally to refer to the area around Farringdon Station in the London Borough of Islington, some distance north of the historic locality.-City...
. An excellent review of the "New" railway is available in The Railway Magazine Vol 12 p499 http://books.google.com/books?id=kt3NAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:09VBjUEeDQWdJ6kPiP&lr=#v=snippet&q=alton&f=false. The photograph from this article - approximately a century ago - of Privett station, as its building was nearing completion, is almost identical to the modern photograph to the right of this paragraph. The first task was the laying out and excavating the cuttings to provide material for building up the embankments
Embankment (transportation)
To keep a road or railway line straight or flat, and where the comparative cost or practicality of alternate solutions is prohibitive, the land over which the road or rail line will travel is built up to form an embankment. An embankment is therefore in some sense the opposite of a cutting, and...
. The embankments, tunnels, rails, stations, bridges and other structures were then built, with the construction teams starting at the Alton end of the line and moving south. Initially the terrain was easy, with only minimal earth-moving required (considering that the majority of work was done by manual labour
Navvy
Navvy is a shorter form of navigator or navigational engineer and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects...
). The main problem was obtaining a water supply for both the men and the small steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s used for hauling supplies, since the railway was passing along chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
soil. The further south the railway came, the more undulating the terrain became and greater works of civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
were required to maintain the strict gradient requirements of the railway.
After the construction of Privett station
Privett railway station
Privett station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from to during the first half of the 20th century. Named after the hamlet of Privett, the station was in fact over half a mile from its namesake and was built in largely uninhabited countryside.-History:Opened on 1...
, the contractors came to their biggest engineering work – the Privett Tunnel. At just over 1000 yards (914 m) in length, the tunnel also followed a vague 'S'-shape, so the centre of the tunnel was in total darkness. Steam shovel
Steam shovel
A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil. It is the earliest type of power shovel or excavator. They played a major role in public works in the 19th and early 20th century, being key to the construction of railroads...
s and horses were used to remove the spoil (the latter were lowered into the works down shafts). The ground the tunnel was being driven through was found to be solid enough that the tunnel did not have to be lined with brick- the inner walls of the tunnel are plain, unworked chalk rock. A collapse in the tunnel trapped two navvies – one of whom died of suffocation. The other managed to dig himself free with his pocket knife and was rescued after being trapped for over 24 hours. A second man was killed after being hit by a locomotive. These deaths caused some men to leave the works- enough to make the contractors bring in two steam shovel
Steam shovel
A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil. It is the earliest type of power shovel or excavator. They played a major role in public works in the 19th and early 20th century, being key to the construction of railroads...
s and a traction engine
Traction engine
A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
to speed up progress. The tunnel was built by two teams working from opposite ends, and when the two met they were less than an inch from their planned course.
Between Privett and West Meon the railway had to be built on an embankment some 64 feet (20 m) high. This earthwork crossed the A272 road
A272 road
The A272 is a road in South-East England. It follows an approximate East-West route from near Heathfield, East Sussex to the city of Winchester, Hampshire. It has achieved somewhat unlikely fame in recent years by being the subject of a book by the Dutch author, Pieter Boogaart...
to Petersfield
Petersfield, Hampshire
Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth, on the A3 road. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct Line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth and London. The town is situated on the...
, which was accommodated by a short brick-lined tunnel through the embankment some 167 feet (51 m) long.
A second 600 yards (549 m) tunnel was built on the approach to West Meon, but before the railway could reach the site of West Meon Station
West Meon railway station
West Meon railway station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from Alton to Fareham during the first half of the 20th century. Opened on 1 June 1903, it formed part of a comprehensive set of transport links serving the village. A particularly difficult line to construct...
, it had to cross the River Meon
River Meon
The River Meon is a river that flows through an area of Hampshire in southern England known as the Meon Valley, it flows generally southwards from the South Downs to the Solent. For most of its route it is a chalk stream, with a length of 21 miles .The River Meon rises approximately...
itself, which at this point ran through a narrow but deep valley. An 8-arch concrete viaduct
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
was planned, but the ground was not as strong as initial tests showed, and very soon after construction the foundations of the viaduct began to subside. A 4-arch iron design was used instead, with large chalk embankments on the approaches over the unstable ground. The viaduct dwarfed the surrounding village, standing over 62 feet (18.9 m) high. Despite being much lighter than the concrete design, the whole structure weighed over 700 LT (711 t; 784 ST) and cost £10,000 to build (£692,000 today). It is rumoured that 2 partially complete arches of the original viaduct are buried within the northern embankment.
Water crane
A water crane or standpipe is a device used for delivering a large volume of water into the tank or tender of a steam locomotive. As a steam locomotive consumes large quantities of water, water cranes were a vital part of railway station equipment, often situated at the end of a platform, so that...
on each platform. West Meon was also chosen as the site of the temporary 'village' of wooden huts to provide accommodation for the navvies and their families. A smaller collection of huts had been built at Privett.
Having crossed the Meon Valley, the railway then passed through easier country, gradually descending through means of a series of embankments and cuttings. The chalk soil supported many streams and rivulets, so at several key points the builders provided culvert
Culvert
A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...
s or narrow bridges to provide drainage.
Droxford
Droxford is a village in Hampshire, England, lying in the Meon valley, and lies around 3¾ miles east of Bishop's Waltham within the new South Downs National Park. The A32 passes through the village between Gosport and Alton...
, the workers encountered the Reading Beds – an area of clay and gravel that, as part of the larger Fareham Clay Beds, made the area a centre for brickmaking. However, the soil was highly unstable – when wet it was almost liquid, whilst in the summer it was as difficult to work as concrete. Huge amounts of chalk soil excavated from the two tunnels were brought in to stabilise the trackbed and to build embankments, but throughout the life of the railway subsidence was a problem along this stretch. The clay soil also led to standing water
Water stagnation
Water stagnation occurs when water stops flowing. Stagnant water can be a major environmental hazard.-Dangers:Malaria and dengue are among the main dangers of stagnant water, which can become a breeding ground for the mosquitoes that transmit these diseases.Stagnant or Stailment water can be...
and flooding during heavy rain, and a number large grilled drain
Drain
A drain is a plumbing fixture that provides an exit-point for waste water or water that is to be re-circulatedDrain may also refer to:* Drainage, the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from a given area...
s were provided along the line between Mislingford and Knowle. The problem was so severe in a cutting just north of Wickham that a concrete retaining wall was needed to support the side of the cutting and to prevent flooding the cutting was deepened to allow the construction of foundations of large concrete blocks for trackbed, on top of which were piled bricks to allow drainage before the topsoil and ballast
Track ballast
Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railway sleepers or railroad ties are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to facilitate drainage of water, to distribute the load from the railroad ties, and also to keep down vegetation that might interfere with the track...
could be laid. To improve the stability of the track itself the section between Wickham and Droxford used concrete sleepers
Railroad tie
A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...
- an early adoption of these on a British railway.
Forest of Bere
The Forest of Bere lies north of Fareham. A mixture of woodland, open space, ponds, streams, heathland, farmland and downland it provides countryside access to the residents of South-East Hampshire having a number of paths and bridleways for walking and cycling...
before heading across the water-meadows at Wickham
Wickham
Wickham, formerly spelled Wykeham, is a small historic village and civil parish in Hampshire, southern England, located about three miles north of Fareham. It is within the City of Winchester local government district, although it is considerably closer to Fareham than to Winchester...
on an embankment. The embankment crossed the River Meon itself, requiring the river to be taken through a long brick skew tunnel
Skew arch
A skew arch is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its plan view being a parallelogram, rather than the rectangle that is the plan view of...
. The embankment also effectively divided the village of Wickham in two, with two new bridges providing the only means of crossing under the railway. This remains the case today. Just south of Wickham
Wickham (Hants) railway station
Wickham railway station served the village of Wickham in Hampshire, England between 1903 and 1955.-History:The station was opened by the London and South Western Railway on 1 June 1903. It was on the Meon Valley line between and ; , between Wickham and Fareham, opened in 1907...
, the Meon was crossed again on a steel bridge supported on 6 tubular steel pillars – this was the second biggest bridge on the line after the West Meon Viaduct. The meander
Meander
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...
ing course of the Meon, the constraints of the landscape and the railway's ruling gradient meant that the railway required 5 under-bridges
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
within half a mile (1 kilometre)- 3 to cross the Meon (including the steel bridge near Wickham station) and the 2 to cross roads in Wickham.
Finally, the railway gradually dropped to the natural ground level to the south of Wickham, joining the Eastleigh to Fareham Line
Eastleigh to Fareham Line
The Eastleigh-Fareham Line is the railway line from Eastleigh to Fareham in the United Kingdom. At Eastleigh, trains join the South Western Main Line for onward travel to Basingstoke, Reading or to London Waterloo. At Fareham trains join the West Coastway line for onward travel to Portsmouth or...
just north of the Knowle Hatches Viaduct. Trains from the Meon Valley then passed down this line and into a newly built platform at Fareham station
Fareham railway station
Fareham railway station is a railway station on the West Coastway Line situated about from the town of Fareham in Hampshire.- History :Fareham station was first opened by the London and South Western Railway in 1841 on the line from Eastleigh to Gosport. Later additions connected Fareham station...
.
The construction of the MVR also included the building of a 2 miles (3.2 km)stretch of line between Fareham
Fareham
The market town of Fareham lies in the south east of Hampshire, England, between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, roughly in the centre of the South Hampshire conurbation.It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area...
and Knowle Junction to bypass the Fareham Tunnel, which had suffered serious subsidence problems due to being built through the local clay beds. The tunnel frequently had to be closed for maintenance and shoring-up, so a bypass line was urgently required, especially given the anticipated increase in traffic caused by the new line. The double-track line ran through the north of Fareham and the village of Funtley
Funtley
Funtley – from the Anglo-Saxon, "Funtaleg", meaning "Springs", formerly known as Fontley – is a village located to the north of Fareham, Hampshire, England, within the borough of Fareham. Originally it grew due to the development of a quarry there, used to extract the clay that was...
, re-joining the main line just south of Knowle Hospital. Construction of this line took place once the Meon Valley Railway was completed, starting in October 1904 and being completed in 1906.
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
s and 3 pence. This equates to about £27.7 million at today's prices. In all, the navvies (only minimally assisted by mechanical equipment) moved 340700 cu yd (260,484 m³) of earth in the course of the works.
Early history
The various delays during construction (such as the need to re-design the West Meon Viaduct and the ongoing problems with stabilising the track through the clay beds) caused the LSWR to delay opening of the MVR by a year. There were further delays in installing the signalling equipment. The line finally opened on 1 June 1903. There were between 8 and 11 services a day, running 4- and 6-coach trains. London-Gosport services were hauled by Adams 'Jubilee'LSWR A12 Class
The A12 locomotives of the London and South Western Railway were built between the years 1887 and 1895 to the design of William Adams. Ninety of the locomotives were built; numbered 527-556 ; 607-646 The A12 locomotives of the London and South Western Railway were built between the years 1887 and...
engines. The lighter Alton-Fareham trains were worked by Adams 'Radial' and Adams O2 Class
LSWR O2 Class
The LSWR O2 Class is a class of 0-4-4T steam locomotive designed for the London and South Western Railway by William Adams. Sixty were constructed during the late nineteenth century.-Background:...
tank engines (a 'Radial' hauled the first public train on the line). Twice a day the line was used by a London-Gosport fast express service, usually hauled by a Drummond T9 'Greyhound'
LSWR Class T9
The London and South Western Railway T9 class was a class of 66 4-4-0 steam locomotive designed for express passenger work by Dugald Drummond and introduced to services on the LSWR in 1899...
.
As was expected in such an agricultural region, the bulk of traffic came from shipping agricultural produce. On the MVR this included watercress
Watercress
Watercresses are fast-growing, aquatic or semi-aquatic, perennial plants native from Europe to central Asia, and one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by human beings...
, wheat, fruit (especially strawberries
Strawberry
Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...
and apples), milk and cattle. The LSWR put on special market-day trains, with both passenger carriages and livestock cars, allowing farmers to accompany their livestock. There were local 'pick-up/set-down' goods services along the line, which called at every station to deliver and pick up any waiting goods. No shunting
Shunting
Shunting is an event in the neuron which occurs when an excitatory postsynaptic potential and an inhibitory postsynaptic potential are occurring close to each other on a dendrite, or are both on the soma of the cell....
engines were stationed on the MVR, so the locomotive working the train had to uncouple at each station and marshal wagons into and out of the train as required- standard practice for a rural line. Heavier freight services were often powered by locomotives such as the Drummond 700 Class
LSWR 700 Class
The London and South Western Railway 700 class was a class of 30 0-6-0 steam locomotive designed for freight work. The class was designed by Dugald Drummond in 1897 and built by Dübs and Company at that company's Queen's Park works at Polmadie, Glasgow....
.
Droxford railway station
Droxford railway station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from Alton to Fareham during the first half of the 20th century. Opened on 1 June 1903, it has a place in every history book as the location where Churchill and Eisenhower put the finishing touches to the D Day...
in the hope of accommodating tourists and travellers. A public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
was built next to Privett railway station
Privett railway station
Privett station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from to during the first half of the 20th century. Named after the hamlet of Privett, the station was in fact over half a mile from its namesake and was built in largely uninhabited countryside.-History:Opened on 1...
named 'The Privet
Privet
Privet was originally the name for the European semi-evergreen shrub Ligustrum vulgare, and later also for the more reliably evergreen Ligustrum ovalifolium , used extensively for privacy hedging. It is often suggested that the name privet is related to private, but the OED states that there is no...
t Bush'. Coal merchants did good business – West Meon station employed no fewer than three different merchants, and one business supplied coal to 2 of the stations.
Many local newspapers were impressed by the line's speed, the scale of its engineering works, the high standards of the stations and other structures and the beauty of the scenery it passed through. Then, as now, the link between the Meon Valley and the famous figures of Gilbert White
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS was a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist.-Life:White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated at the Holy Ghost School and by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...
and Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
was made several times. Some papers wrote articles describing the route and its scenery in great detail, pointing out places of interest along the line, such as the hill fort
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
at Old Winchester Hill
Old Winchester Hill
Old Winchester Hill is a chalk hill in Hampshire, England surmounted by an Iron Age hill fort and a Bronze Age cemetery. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve. The hill fort has never been fully excavated.-Location:...
.
Following the opening of the Fareham Tunnel deviation line in 1906 (see above) the original route through the tunnels was closed to allow major repairs that ultimately led to the existing tunnels being stripped out and new linings being built. During this period all traffic north of Fareham used the new double-track bypass route. With the tunnels completed the track was relaid with a new layout. Knowle Junction ceased to be a true junction as the connection between the MVR and the Eastleigh to Fareham Line
Eastleigh to Fareham Line
The Eastleigh-Fareham Line is the railway line from Eastleigh to Fareham in the United Kingdom. At Eastleigh, trains join the South Western Main Line for onward travel to Basingstoke, Reading or to London Waterloo. At Fareham trains join the West Coastway line for onward travel to Portsmouth or...
was removed, although the signal box
Signal box
On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...
was still used to hand over and collect the Tokens
Token (railway signalling)
In railway signalling, a token is a physical object which a locomotive driver is required to have or see before entering onto a particular section of single track. The token is clearly endorsed with the name of the section it belongs to...
to MVR trains. The MVR now had a totally separate but parallel single-track line across the Knowle Hatches Viaduct (which was widened to triple-track width) and through the tunnels. In true MVR style this route was laid out to allow conversion to double track in the future. The route from Eastleigh continued down the deviation line, joining the original track just north of Fareham Station
Fareham railway station
Fareham railway station is a railway station on the West Coastway Line situated about from the town of Fareham in Hampshire.- History :Fareham station was first opened by the London and South Western Railway in 1841 on the line from Eastleigh to Gosport. Later additions connected Fareham station...
. This layout was intended to allow fast services from the MVR unrestricted access to Fareham and Gosport without the possibility of being held up at Knowle.
As part of these works in 1907 a halt was built at Knowle Hospital to serve both it and the village of Funtley
Funtley
Funtley – from the Anglo-Saxon, "Funtaleg", meaning "Springs", formerly known as Fontley – is a village located to the north of Fareham, Hampshire, England, within the borough of Fareham. Originally it grew due to the development of a quarry there, used to extract the clay that was...
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/k/knowle_halt/index.shtml. This small station - little more than a platform and a shelter, became one of the first rural stations in Hampshire to be lit by electricity, since it took its power from the hospital's generators. Given the original track layout it was served only by local trains on the Meon Valley Railway, but following the reinstatement of Knowle Junction in 1921 (see below) certain trains on both routes used the stop.
Unfortunately, the expected London through-traffic never materialised, and after only a few years the London to Gosport services were cut back. Similarly, the tourist traffic to Stokes Bay
Stokes Bay
Stokes Bay is an area of the Solent that lies just south of Gosport, between Portsmouth and Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire. There is a shingle beach that has a great view of Ryde and East Cowes on the Isle of Wight to the south and also Fawley in the south west. The village of Alverstoke is close by...
also failed to grow, with steamers preferring the more established ports at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
and Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
. Even during the First World War, traffic was light compared to other lines, despite the line partly being built for military traffic. In fact, in 1915 the regular London traffic was suspended totally, and the services were never reinstated. From then on the MVR only handled regular traffic between Fareham and Alton. The only major troop movements were from local regiments. Droxford station
Droxford railway station
Droxford railway station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from Alton to Fareham during the first half of the 20th century. Opened on 1 June 1903, it has a place in every history book as the location where Churchill and Eisenhower put the finishing touches to the D Day...
had a brief moment in the public eye when Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Doveton Sturdee
Doveton Sturdee
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1st Baronet, GCB, KCMG, CVO was a British admiral.-Naval career:...
arrived at the station on his way to his nearby home after his victory in the Battle of the Falkland Islands
Battle of the Falkland Islands
The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a British naval victory over the Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 during the First World War in the South Atlantic...
in 1914).
Occasionally special trains from other parts of the network used the line, and the MVR did see infrequent use as a 'spare' mainline during periods of high traffic such as the summer holiday season or Christmas.
The most obvious signs of the railway not developing as expected were the series of changes made to the signalling arrangements in 1921. Privett signal box
Signal box
On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...
was effectively closed and the line was changed from being worked as a single-track main line to operating as a single-track branch line, with longer signal blocks and fewer passing loops (the 'down' platform at Privett was closed, the second line through the station now being only used for shunting). At the southern end the rail connections at Knowle Junction were relaid. This allowed trains from Fareham heading to Eastleigh to use both the original and the deviation lines but the layout of the junctions meant that MVR trains could still only use the original single-track route. The LSWR's concerns about holding up express traffic no longer applied as such trains were not regular users of the MVR anymore.
Southern Railway
The LSWR was merged into the Southern RailwaySouthern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
in 1923. By then services had been reduced even further. There were now 6 or 8 services a day, mainly formed of 2- or 3-coach trains hauled by Drummond M7
LSWR M7 Class
The LSWR M7 class is a class of 0-4-4 passenger tank locomotive built between 1897 and 1911. The class was designed by Dugald Drummond for use on the intensive London network of the London and South Western Railway , and performed well in such tasks. Because of their utility, 105 were built and the...
tank engines, with T9s remaining for faster services. Goods services remained vital to the line, with a twice-daily service — one trip south-bound and one north-bound. Wagons and trucks would be shunted into the train at the three goods yards by the locomotive.
Winter of 1927 brought storms and heavy snowfall to the Meon Valley region. A special Waterloo-Gosport train running down the line at 5:40am on the 27th December became stuck in a huge snowdrift
Snowdrift
A snowdrift is a deposit of snow sculpted by wind into a mound during a snowstorm. Snowdrifts resemble sand dunes and are formed in a similar manner, namely, by wind moving light snow and depositing it when the wind is slowed, usually against a stationary object. Snow normally crests and slopes...
near Tisted. Workmen took nearly a day to free the train and clear the line.
Since the railway opened, there had been calls for a station at Farringdon
Farringdon, Hampshire
Farringdon is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire in England. The village is 2.8 miles south of Alton, on the A32 road, close to a source of the River Wey....
, just south of Alton. A goods yard for loading agricultural produce was already sited there, and in 1930 a short wooden platform of one coach-length was built to serve the village. Requests for a similar platform and yard at Meonstoke
Meonstoke
Meonstoke is a village in Hampshire, England. Meonstoke lies in the Meon Valley where it cuts through the Middle Chalk of the South Downs. Old Winchester Hill is at the edge of the parish to the east....
were not acted on, although the planners of the line had allowed for the future construction of a yard at that location. A single section of rail, dug vertically into the ground, marked the possible site for such a yard until after the railway closed- it was finally removed in the 1960s.
In 1931 a further down-grading of the MVR took place when the track at Butts Junction
Butts Junction
Butts Junction was a railway junction, located just west of Alton in Hampshire, England. It was where the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway which closed in 1932, and the Meon Valley Railway diverged from the Mid-Hants line from Alton to Winchester....
(the approach to Alton station
Alton railway station
Alton railway station is a railway station in the town of Alton, in the English county of Hampshire. The station is the terminus for two railway lines; the Alton Line which runs to Brookwood and onto London Waterloo and the Mid Hants Watercress Railway, which runs to Alresford. The latter once ran...
) was re-laid. The signal box
Signal box
On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...
was removed and the MVR's direct connection with the Alton Line
Alton Line
The Alton Line is a railway line operated by South West Trains. Today Alton station is the terminus of a main line branch, although it was at one time the junction for three lines. The branch leaves the South Western Main Line at Pirbright Junction near Brookwood...
to London was removed, meaning that MVR trains now ran direct to a bay platform at Alton station. It also meant that trains could not run direct from the Alton Line to the Meon Valley as they had been able to- if this was required trains had to shunt from one line to the other. This change spelt the end of the MVR as an integrated part of the railway network- it was now simply handling stopping local traffic with none of the fast inter-city express traffic that the line was built to handle and that used the line in its early days.
The Alton Line
Alton Line
The Alton Line is a railway line operated by South West Trains. Today Alton station is the terminus of a main line branch, although it was at one time the junction for three lines. The branch leaves the South Western Main Line at Pirbright Junction near Brookwood...
was converted to electric operation in 1937. It was decided that it was not viable to electrify the MVR, and with that decision went any realistic hope of the line being upgraded to the dual-track standards to which it was built (indeed, the railway would remain single-line for its whole existence).
This period saw changes to the stock used on the MVR. The M7 tank engines remained the main type used, but goods services on the line was now being worked by types deemed redundant for main-line passenger working, such as a small number of Drummond L12s
LSWR L12 Class
The London and South Western Railway L12 class was a class of 20 4-4-0 steam locomotives designed for express passenger work by Dugald Drummond. They were introduced to the London and South Western Railway network in 1904. Despite the class being an unremarkable continuation of the Drummond...
, which had been the LSWR's cutting-edge express locomotives when the line was built. T9s also began to be used for freight services and shunting. Some newly built types were used during the summer for heavy agricultural trains or tourist services to the coast, such as the Maunsell U-Class.
By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, rural lines such as the MVR were all coming under threat from rural bus services, and even goods services were being threatened by local lorry
Lorry
-Transport:* Lorry or truck, a large motor vehicle* Lorry, or a Mine car in USA: an open gondola with a tipping trough* Lorry , a horse-drawn low-loading trolley-In fiction:...
services. The bulk of passenger services were now being run by M7 tank engines with a 2-car 'push-pull' train (carriage sets where the locomotive can be controlled from the rearmost carriage, negating the need to turn the train). These trains looked decidedly lost against the long platforms designed to take up to 11-car expresses. The huge platforms were, in fact, deemed so unnecessary that at West Meon new access slopes were cut halfway along and a walkway constructed across the tracks- the remaining half of each platform was effectively abandoned and allowed to grass over.
Wartime
During the Second World War the line was yet again used lightly compared to other railways in the region (such as the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton RailwayDidcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway was a cross-country railway running north-south between Didcot, Newbury and Southampton although it actually reached the latter by running over the London and South Western Railway tracks from Shawford Junction, south of Winchester...
). The only real change was an increase in goods traffic supplying the naval dockyard at Portsmouth. This saw new locomotive types running over the line, such as Drummond 700s
LSWR 700 Class
The London and South Western Railway 700 class was a class of 30 0-6-0 steam locomotive designed for freight work. The class was designed by Dugald Drummond in 1897 and built by Dübs and Company at that company's Queen's Park works at Polmadie, Glasgow....
and the distinctive Bulleid Q1s
SR Class Q1
The SR Q1 class is a type of austerity steam locomotive constructed during the Second World War. The class was designed by Oliver Bulleid for use on the intensive freight turns experienced during wartime on the Southern Railway network. A total of 40 locomotives were built. Bulleid...
. Standard passenger services had a box van
Boxcar
A boxcar is a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry general freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is probably the most versatile, since it can carry most loads...
added to cope with the near-constant stream of parcels and luggage to and from Portsmouth. A few troop trains used the line late at night. In 1941 a special military freight train, hauled by a Drummond 700
LSWR 700 Class
The London and South Western Railway 700 class was a class of 30 0-6-0 steam locomotive designed for freight work. The class was designed by Dugald Drummond in 1897 and built by Dübs and Company at that company's Queen's Park works at Polmadie, Glasgow....
, was stabled for the night at Tisted, with the crew receiving instructions to stay with the engine and be ready to depart instantly in an emergency. Although unknown to both the locomotive crew and station staff, the train was carrying 48 mines
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
.
Despite this relatively light military traffic, the Meon Valley Railway did come under attack during the war. A Junkers Ju 88
Junkers Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 was a World War II German Luftwaffe twin-engine, multi-role aircraft. Designed by Hugo Junkers' company through the services of two American aviation engineers in the mid-1930s, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early...
dropped bombs at Droxford station during 1940. These missed the station building and tracks but destroyed two railway worker's cottages. The aircraft then dropped further bombs at Soberton
Soberton
Soberton is a village in the Meon Valley, Hampshire, England and is bordered by villages such as Newtown and Droxford. It is listed in the Domesday Book under its original name, 'Sudbertone'/'Sudbertune', and comes under Winchester City Council....
, but these also missed the railway. The bomber then turned around and headed up the line to the West Meon Tunnel, and a single bomb was dropped at the northern portal
Portal (architecture)
Portal is a general term describing an opening in the walls of a building, gate or fortification, and especially a grand entrance to an important structure. Doors, metal gates or portcullis in the opening can be used to control entry or exit. The surface surrounding the opening may be made of...
. A direct hit was not achieved, but a short section of line, including several sleepers
Railroad tie
A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...
, was destroyed and a crater was left in the ballast
Track ballast
Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railway sleepers or railroad ties are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to facilitate drainage of water, to distribute the load from the railroad ties, and also to keep down vegetation that might interfere with the track...
. All trains were quickly halted and the line was repaired in a few days.
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
when huge amounts of men and equipment had to be moved to the south of England, kept in readiness and finally transported to ports. Large numbers of Tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s were moved by rail to Mislingford goods yard where they were dispersed to numerous concrete hard-standings built in local lanes and fields for temporary storage. Mislingford was also the site of a temporary wooden platform to serve the large number of Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
troops who were encamped in the Forest of Bere
Forest of Bere
The Forest of Bere lies north of Fareham. A mixture of woodland, open space, ponds, streams, heathland, farmland and downland it provides countryside access to the residents of South-East Hampshire having a number of paths and bridleways for walking and cycling...
.
The MVR had one crucial role to play in the D-Day operations. On Thursday, June 2, 1944, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, the Prime Ministers of Canada and South Africa, William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
and Jan Smuts
Jan Smuts
Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS, PC was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various cabinet posts, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948...
, and other Allied leaders
Allied leaders of World War II
The Allied leaders of World War II listed below comprise the important political and military figures who fought for or supported the Allies during World War II...
met in a special train at Droxford Station (the train was actually the Royal Train
Royal Train
A royal train is a set of carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of that particular royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages.-Australia:...
from the London, Midland & Scottish Railway
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
). The station possessed the longest siding
Rail siding
A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line or branch line or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end...
in southern England (outside the railway works at Eastleigh
Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a railway town in Hampshire, England, and the main town in the Eastleigh borough which is part of Southampton Urban Area. The town lies between Southampton and Winchester, and is part of the South Hampshire conurbation...
) and was close to a deep cutting. If threatened by an air raid
Airstrike
An air strike is an attack on a specific objective by military aircraft during an offensive mission. Air strikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters, and others...
, the train could be pushed into the relative safety of the cutting. During this meeting, final decisions regarding the planning of Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
were made.
Post-War and British Railways
The Southern RailwaySouthern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
was nationalised into British Railways in 1948. No immediate changes were made, with the standard 2-car 'push-pull' sets running around five services a day. However, the rise of private car ownership and a major shift of local goods traffic from rail to road saw the MVR become increasingly uneconomical to operate. Services were gradually run down. This led to even lower passenger numbers as the service became less and less frequent, and more people switched to using cars or buses.
During the early 1950s, British Railways drew up its 'Modernisation Plan'. This mainly concerned itself with the planned withdrawal of steam locomotives and the electrification
Electrification
Electrification originally referred to the build out of the electrical generating and distribution systems which occurred in the United States, England and other countries from the mid 1880's until around 1940 and is in progress in developing countries. This also included the change over from line...
of its main trunk routes. However, the plan also listed several lines that could be closed either because they were redundant in a nationalised, competition-free network or because they were unsustainable to operate. The Meon Valley Railway fell into both these categories.
Gradual closure
On 5 February 1955 the Meon Valley Railway closed to passenger traffic, although the goods services were retained. As is often the case, passenger numbers rocketed in the final weeks of operation, as people took a final ride on the railway. It should be noted that the closure was long before the 'Beeching AxeBeeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
' of the 1960s, where many well-used but uneconomic railways were closed. There is little doubt that in 1955 the Meon Valley was unsustainable as a passenger railway.
The day after 'official' closure to passengers, a special train called 'The Hampshireman', organised by a rail enthusiasts' group, ran along the full length of the line - the last train to do so. It was hauled by two T9s 'double-heading'.
Goods services were to continue with a once-a-day service from Fareham to Droxford, and a similar service from the northern end only from Alton to Farringdon
Farringdon, Hampshire
Farringdon is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire in England. The village is 2.8 miles south of Alton, on the A32 road, close to a source of the River Wey....
. The section of line in between (including West Meon
West Meon
West Meon is a small village in Hampshire, England, with a population of 690.It is situated near to Petersfield and East Meon, on the headwaters of the River Meon....
, Privett
Privett
Privett is a small village and conservation area in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is northwest of Petersfield, just off the A272 road. Its principal feature is Holy Trinity Church, designed by Arthur Blomfield and built at the expense of local landowner, businessman and...
and East Tisted
East Tisted
East Tisted is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 4.8 miles south of Alton on the A32 road.The nearest railway station is 4.7 miles north of the village, at Alton....
stations) was lifted. This included the demolition of the West Meon Viaduct. The huge iron bridge had a high value in scrap, and thus was one of the first structures to be demolished (had it been built from concrete as originally planned it would probably still be standing). During the viaduct's demolition, it was found to be suffering from corrosion in several places which would have needed extensive and costly repairs in the near future if the railway were to remain open. This was seen as a further justification of the closure by some at BR.
As British Railways was urged to cut costs throughout the 1960s, the southern goods service to Droxford was withdrawn in 1962. The last BR-scheduled passenger service on any part of the MVR had been the 'Solent Limited' railtour on the 30th April 1961 (a year to the day before the section was closed). A goods service to Farringdon was maintained until 1968, when the final part of Meon Valley Railway was closed to all traffic.
Post-closure
After the 1962 closure of the southern portion of the line, a Mr. Charles Ashby purchased DroxfordDroxford railway station
Droxford railway station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from Alton to Fareham during the first half of the 20th century. Opened on 1 June 1903, it has a place in every history book as the location where Churchill and Eisenhower put the finishing touches to the D Day...
station and the right to run trains over the railway. He used it for testing a design of railbus
Railbus
A railbus is a very lightweight type passenger rail vehicle that shares many aspects of their construction with a bus, usually having a bus, or modified bus body, and having four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies...
that he had developed called the Sadler Rail Coach or 'Pacerailer'. Like the similarly named British Rail 'Pacer
Pacer (train)
Pacer is the operational name of the British Rail Classes 140, 141, 142, 143 and 144 diesel multiple unit railbuses, built between 1984 and 1987...
' of later years, this was essentially a bus-style vehicle. Unlike the later BR types, the Sadler Rail Coach used road-vehicle style pneumatic tyres on its drive wheels and flanged steel wheels at each end to guide it along the track. As well as the MVR itself, a special steep-gradient section of track was built for testing at Droxford. A company called Sadler Vectrail Ltd was established in 1966 to re-open the Ryde to Cowes railway on the Isle of Wight using Sadler Rail Coaches and the prototype vehicle appeared briefly at an Island Industries Fair but the scheme was unsuccessful.
Mr Ashby also purchased an LBSCR 'Terrier'
LB&SCR A1 Class
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway A1 Class is an English class of 0-6-0T steam locomotive. Designed by William Stroudley, 50 members of the class were built in 1872 and between 1874 and 1880, all at Brighton Works. The class have received several nicknames, initially being known as...
tank engine no. 32646, which he brought to Droxford but in May 1966 this was sold to Brickwoods, the Portsmouth-based brewer, for display outside a public house on Hayling Island.
The northern section of line to Farringdon was lifted almost immediately after closure. The two tunnels at West Meon and Privett
Privett
Privett is a small village and conservation area in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is northwest of Petersfield, just off the A272 road. Its principal feature is Holy Trinity Church, designed by Arthur Blomfield and built at the expense of local landowner, businessman and...
were sold to private users. West Meon Tunnel was used by a scrapdealer for breaking up ex-military vehicles and aircraft until the 1980s, whilst Privett Tunnel was used for growing mushroom
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
s.
The southern portion of the line also became home to a steam locomotive preservation society, which planned to operate the section as a preserved railway. To this end, they moved several locomotives (including a 'USA
SR USA Class
The SR USA class were ex-United States Army Transportation Corps S100 Class steam locomotives purchased by the Southern Railway after the end of the Second World War.- Construction history :...
' tank engine) as well as rolling stock, to Droxford. However, a fire at the site, and the fact that BR planned to sever the connection with the Eastleigh to Fareham line
Eastleigh to Fareham Line
The Eastleigh-Fareham Line is the railway line from Eastleigh to Fareham in the United Kingdom. At Eastleigh, trains join the South Western Main Line for onward travel to Basingstoke, Reading or to London Waterloo. At Fareham trains join the West Coastway line for onward travel to Portsmouth or...
, thus cutting off any preserved railway, meant that plans came to nothing.
Once the mainline connection was gone, Ashby used two small Ruston-Hornsby
Ruston (engine builder)
Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam...
diesel shunters and two ex-BR carriages to operate private-charter trains for a short time. The line south of Wickham
Wickham
Wickham, formerly spelled Wykeham, is a small historic village and civil parish in Hampshire, southern England, located about three miles north of Fareham. It is within the City of Winchester local government district, although it is considerably closer to Fareham than to Winchester...
was lifted in 1974, and the last remaining section between Wickham and Droxford in 1975. The last vehicle to run on the MVR was an Austin Mini-based railcar
Railcar
A railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...
owned by Charles Ashby.
Today
Despite the lifting of the entire track, the MVR has physically survived well. The section between Knowle Junction and the West Meon Viaduct is now an 11 miles (17.7 km) bridleway (rail trailRail trail
A rail trail is the conversion of a disused railway easement into a multi-use path, typically for walking, cycling and sometimes horse riding. The characteristics of former tracks—flat, long, frequently running through historical areas—are appealing for various development. The term sometimes also...
), the Meon Valley Trail
Meon Valley Railway Line (trail)
The Meon Valley Railway Line is a recreational footpath and cyclepath in Hampshire, England.The trail follows part of the bed of the former Meon Valley Railway , which closed in 1968...
. On this section, all bridges, embankments and cuttings are intact and serviceable, except for two minor bridges north of Droxford which were removed in the 1960s to allow farm traffic to use the lanes they crossed. Along this part of the line, there are still occasional remains of trackside huts, signal
Railway signal
A signal is a mechanical or electrical device erected beside a railway line to pass information relating to the state of the line ahead to train/engine drivers. The driver interprets the signal's indication and acts accordingly...
posts and telegraph lines. At Mislingford Goods Yard, sleepers
Railroad tie
A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...
are still in the ground, a concrete loading gauge
Loading gauge
A loading gauge defines the maximum height and width for railway vehicles and their loads to ensure safe passage through bridges, tunnels and other structures...
remains in place and the cast iron base of the loading crane
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
still stands next to the remains of a coal bunker
Bunker
A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...
.
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
pillars.
West Meon Tunnel is currently used to store caravans and other building supplies together with a large amount of Cold War era
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
scrap left behind from the aircraft storage and breaking during the 1980s, whilst part of Privett Tunnel is used as a storage site by a local builders merchant. Both tunnels are home to large colonies of bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, and are thus protected from disturbance and are regularly surveyed.
North of the tunnels, the line is less well-preserved. The majority of the bridges have been removed, and on the section closed in 1955, much of the earthworks have been levelled and turned back into agricultural land. A cutting directly north of the West Meon Tunnel has been completely filled in, returning it to the natural ground level. This has had the effect of burying a brick over-bridge carrying a lane
Lane
A lane is a part of the roadway within a road marked out for use by a single line of vehicles in such a way as to control and guide drivers for the purpose of reducing traffic conflicts. Most public roads have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each direction, separated by Lane markings...
, which is now visible only as two walls flanking the road seemingly in the middle of a field.
Between Farringdon and Chawton most of the trackbed survives and is used as a public footpath.
At the very northern end approaching Alton, there is little obvious evidence of the line's existence on the ground. The A31
A31 road
The A31 is a major trunk road in southern England that runs from Guildford in Surrey to Bere Regis in Dorset.-Route of road:The road begins in the centre of Guildford, meeting the A3 road before running south west along the Hog's Back. It continues past Farnham, Alton and New Alresford before...
Alton bypass
Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....
cuts through the course of the line and a large roundabout
Roundabout
A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...
occupies its route west of Chawton. The Mid-Hants Railway
Watercress Line
The Watercress Line is the marketing name of the Mid-Hants Railway, a heritage railway in Hampshire, England, running from New Alresford to Alton where it connects to the National Rail network. The line gained its popular name in the days that it was used to transport locally grown watercress to...
has reinstated track on the formation of the Meon Valley line between Alton and Butts Junction
Butts Junction
Butts Junction was a railway junction, located just west of Alton in Hampshire, England. It was where the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway which closed in 1932, and the Meon Valley Railway diverged from the Mid-Hants line from Alton to Winchester....
, partly as a running line and partly as a siding
Siding
Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....
.
Three of the stations have survived (Droxford
Droxford railway station
Droxford railway station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from Alton to Fareham during the first half of the 20th century. Opened on 1 June 1903, it has a place in every history book as the location where Churchill and Eisenhower put the finishing touches to the D Day...
, East Tisted
East Tisted railway station
Tisted was a railway station on the Meon Valley line which served the village of East Tisted.The last train, pulled by two T9 class locomotives , left on 6 February, 1955....
and Privett
Privett railway station
Privett station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from to during the first half of the 20th century. Named after the hamlet of Privett, the station was in fact over half a mile from its namesake and was built in largely uninhabited countryside.-History:Opened on 1...
), and are used as private houses. Wickham and West Meon stations stood empty for many years and were eventually demolished in the 1970s, although at West Meon the long platforms are still very much in evidence, despite being overgrown, as is the site of the station buildings and the goods yard. There is almost no evidence of Wickham station, although one platform and the remains of some cattle pens remain in the undergrowth.
At Droxford station, a plaque
Commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...
commemorates the crucial meeting of the Allied leaders in 1944.
The MVR closely followed the A32 road
A32 road
The A32 is a road in Hampshire, southern England, that links Gosport and Alton. Starting at Gosport, facing Portsmouth, it travels north via Fareham, Wickham, Droxford, before joining the A31 road near Alton...
between Gosport and Alton, and the line crossed the road frequently. Today the road still crosses over and under many of the former bridges of the line. At Hedge Corner, north of Privett
Privett
Privett is a small village and conservation area in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is northwest of Petersfield, just off the A272 road. Its principal feature is Holy Trinity Church, designed by Arthur Blomfield and built at the expense of local landowner, businessman and...
, the road was re-routed during the building of the railway to take a chicane
Chicane
A chicane is an artificial feature creating extra turns in a road, used in motor racing and on city streets to slow cars to lower speeds.- Motor Racing :...
-like course under a bridge that carried the railway across the road at a diagonal angle. When the bridge and its embankments were levelled, the road was straightened. The two loops of the chicane now form redundant lay-bys. Small terraces of cottages built for railway workers still stand near Wickham, West Meon and Privett.
The A272 road
A272 road
The A272 is a road in South-East England. It follows an approximate East-West route from near Heathfield, East Sussex to the city of Winchester, Hampshire. It has achieved somewhat unlikely fame in recent years by being the subject of a book by the Dutch author, Pieter Boogaart...
still passes through the tunnel under the embankment near West Meon, and the tunnel is a prominent local landmark.
Possibility of re-opening
It is probable that it would see significantly more use today if it were open than it did in its final years, due to the greater population of all the villages and towns that it served, especially the greater volume of traffic between Fareham and Alton (as heavy traffic on the A32A32 road
The A32 is a road in Hampshire, southern England, that links Gosport and Alton. Starting at Gosport, facing Portsmouth, it travels north via Fareham, Wickham, Droxford, before joining the A31 road near Alton...
and A31
A31 road
The A31 is a major trunk road in southern England that runs from Guildford in Surrey to Bere Regis in Dorset.-Route of road:The road begins in the centre of Guildford, meeting the A3 road before running south west along the Hog's Back. It continues past Farnham, Alton and New Alresford before...
roads show). To that end, a local society is exploring the possibility of constructing a or narrow gauge
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
railway from West Meon to Wickham
Wickham
Wickham, formerly spelled Wykeham, is a small historic village and civil parish in Hampshire, southern England, located about three miles north of Fareham. It is within the City of Winchester local government district, although it is considerably closer to Fareham than to Winchester...
and perhaps as far as Knowle.
It is, however, unlikely that the whole length of the former line could be re-used. The northern end of the line has been completely levelled, and the majority of the bridges have been demolished. Also, parts of the former track-bed have been built on at Farringdon and East Tisted. The surviving stations are now private homes.
From an engineering point of view, it would be relatively simple to reinstate the line from Fareham as far as West Meon, and if the viaduct were rebuilt, as far as Privett. However, such a line, that did not connect to Alton, would be highly unlikely to be viable as a mainline route, and could only function effectively as a small commuter line or heritage railway.
The Act of Parliament that authorised the Meon Valley Railway had a 'perpetual service' clause imposing a legally binding requirement on the owner of the railway to run services to West Meon- this was a condition imposed on the L&SWR by the owners of the Warnford Park
Warnford
Warnford is a village and civil parish in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England.The village lies on the A32 in the valley of the River Meon between West Meon and Exton. It has a church and a pub, . There is an infrequent bus service from Bishop's Waltham to Petersfield...
estate in return for the sale of much of the estate's land to provide a route for the railway. Such a clause would make the closure of the MVR illegal, through the withdrawal of trains to West Meon. Clauses like these were often put in Railway Acts in the 19th century. Such a clause was invoked to delay the closure of the Bluebell Railway
Bluebell Railway
The Bluebell Railway is a heritage line running for nine miles along the border between East and West Sussex, England. Steam trains are operated between and , with an intermediate station at .The railway is managed and run largely by volunteers...
in West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
. However, since there was no protest at the time of the line's closure, any such clause exists today only as a technicality, as with similar cases of now-closed railways.
Analysis
In hindsight it seems hard to locate the reasons why the Meon Valley Railway was built. It connected two medium-sized market towns that already had an indirect but serviceable railway connection between them. It passed through what was then (and still remains) a sparsely populated and overwhelmingly agricultural area, and even then the stations were often a mile or so from the villages they claimed to serve. This is especially obvious at Privett. Even today this area has no real village population centre. The station building, railway worker's cottages and the brick over-bridge carrying the A32A32 road
The A32 is a road in Hampshire, southern England, that links Gosport and Alton. Starting at Gosport, facing Portsmouth, it travels north via Fareham, Wickham, Droxford, before joining the A31 road near Alton...
are all still very well preserved and stand in isolated countryside.
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
using the route to build an independent line to the south coast, then this could also be seen as a reason for the line's construction.
However, no source seems to be able to adequately explain why the MVR was built to such expensive main-line standards. Course (1976, see source list) cites the five stations on the MVR as the most expensive stations per head-of-population-served to be built in the United Kingdom. The stations are considered some of the finest rural stations of the late Victorian period, especially given the LSWRs usual lack of brilliance in this area of railway design. The decision to build the line to express standards (with a low ruling gradient and gentle curves) meant that vastly expensive earthworks had to be constructed, and the bridges and other associated structures were built on a large scale and a very high standard (despite going un-maintained for over 50 years, most are still in excellent condition).
It is possible that the LSWR genuinely believed that it was building a new, fast line to the South Coast that cut significant time and distance off its existing routes and served what was expected to become the booming resort at Stokes Bay
Stokes Bay
Stokes Bay is an area of the Solent that lies just south of Gosport, between Portsmouth and Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire. There is a shingle beach that has a great view of Ryde and East Cowes on the Isle of Wight to the south and also Fawley in the south west. The village of Alverstoke is close by...
. The encouragement from the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and the Admiralty may have made the LSWR expect the line to be used for the significant military London-Portsmouth traffic, and as a major trunk route in the event of war. Whilst the line was never heavily used by tourists (Stokes Bay never developed as a resort) or high levels of military traffic, it also seems the LSWR never even tried to stimulate such use – almost from the day the MVR opened its express and fast services were cut back – only 12 years after the line's opening they were removed entirely.
Trivia
- The poem 'Autumn Journal' by Louis MacNeiceLouis MacNeiceFrederick Louis MacNeice CBE was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell, in his Talking Bronco...
, published in 1938, includes a description of a pre-First World War journey from Hampshire to London on a cross-country train via the Meon Valley- West MeonWest Meon railway stationWest Meon railway station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from Alton to Fareham during the first half of the 20th century. Opened on 1 June 1903, it formed part of a comprehensive set of transport links serving the village. A particularly difficult line to construct...
and TistedEast Tisted railway stationTisted was a railway station on the Meon Valley line which served the village of East Tisted.The last train, pulled by two T9 class locomotives , left on 6 February, 1955....
stations are amongst the given list of stations that the train passes through on its journey. - Shortly after the final closure of the MVR in 1968, the section of line between Alton and Farringdon was used for the filming of the first of the long-running 'Milk Tray Man' series of adverts for CadburyCadbury SchweppesCadbury is a confectionery company owned by Kraft Foods and is the industry's second-largest globally after Mars, Incorporated. Headquartered in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom, the company operates in more than 50 countries worldwide....
Milk TrayMilk TrayMilk Tray is brand of boxed chocolates currently manufactured by Cadbury. Introduced by Cadbury UK in 1915, it is one of the longest running brands in the confectioner's portfolio. Milk Tray is sold in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.The name 'Tray' derived from...
. The eponymous 'action man' character jumps onto the roof of a moving train that consisted of a British Railways dieselDiesel-electricDiesel-electric transmission or diesel-electric powertrain is used by a number of vehicle and ship types for providing locomotion.A diesel-electric transmission system includes a diesel engine connected to an electrical generator, creating electricity that powers electric traction motors...
locomotiveLocomotiveA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
and two carriages.
Other plans for a Meon Valley Railway
The Meon Valley formed one of the most direct routes from London to Portsmouth- the reason why the original South Western Main LineSouth Western Main Line
The South Western Main Line is a railway line between London Waterloo and Weymouth on the Dorset coast, in the south of England. It is a major railway which serves many important commuter areas, as well as the major settlements of Southampton and Bournemouth...
went via Basingstoke was because of a planned connection with another line heading towards Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. As such, there were several plans for railways in the Meon Valley in the middle and late 19th century.
- 1851- The Alton & Petersfield Railway proposed a route down the Meon Valley from MeonstokeMeonstokeMeonstoke is a village in Hampshire, England. Meonstoke lies in the Meon Valley where it cuts through the Middle Chalk of the South Downs. Old Winchester Hill is at the edge of the parish to the east....
to Fareham. This included a line from Meonstoke connecting with the Bishop's WalthamBishop's WalthamBishop's Waltham is a small town in Hampshire, England situated at the head of the River Hamble. It is home to the ruins of Bishop's Waltham Palace, an English Heritage monument.-History:...
branch, which would have required significant engineering works to cross the valley somewhere between Meonstoke and Droxford. - 1864- The LSWR was actually granted an Act of Parliament to build a line from RopleyRopleyRopley is a village and large civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It has an acreage of , situated east from New Alresford, with a station 1½ miles from the village. It is southwest of Alton, just off the A31 road...
on the Mid-Hants RailwayWatercress LineThe Watercress Line is the marketing name of the Mid-Hants Railway, a heritage railway in Hampshire, England, running from New Alresford to Alton where it connects to the National Rail network. The line gained its popular name in the days that it was used to transport locally grown watercress to...
through West Meon and Warnford, before joining with the still-proposed Petersfield-Bishop's Waltham Line. - 1881- the Windsor, Aldershot & Portsmouth Railway was proposed, which would run from FarnhamFarnhamFarnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
, westward to East TistedEast TistedEast Tisted is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 4.8 miles south of Alton on the A32 road.The nearest railway station is 4.7 miles north of the village, at Alton....
, then down the Meon Valley to West Meon, where it would turn east over the South DownsSouth DownsThe South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
through HambledonHambledon, HampshireHambledon is a small village and civil parish in the county of Hampshire in England, situated about north of Portsmouth.Hambledon is best known as the 'Cradle of Cricket'. It is thought that Hambledon Club, one of the oldest cricket clubs known, was formed about 1750...
before reaching the lines into Portsmouth at CoshamCoshamCosham is a northern suburb of Portsmouth lying within the city boundary but off Portsea Island. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 along with Drayton and Wymering and Bocheland , Frodington and Copenore on the island.The name is of Saxon origin and means "Cossa's homestead"...
. This main-line railway would have required several gradients of around 1-in-80 and 3 tunnels of nearly a mile in length. The proposal had the support of the ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and the Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
but failed to find financial backers and never progressed. - 1895- The Great Western RailwayGreat Western RailwayThe Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
put forward a tentative proposal for the Portsmouth, BasingstokeBasingstokeBasingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...
and GodalmingGodalmingGodalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
Railway, a line down the Meon Valley from Basingstoke to BedhamptonBedhamptonBedhampton is a former village, and now suburb, located in the Borough of Havant, Hampshire, England. It is located at the northern end of Langstone Harbour and at the foot of the eastern end of Portsdown Hill....
(see 'Background' section above). - 1944- Around the time of the Allied leaders'Allied leaders of World War IIThe Allied leaders of World War II listed below comprise the important political and military figures who fought for or supported the Allies during World War II...
meeting at Droxford, a proposal was made for the USATC to build a branch from Droxford to Southwick HouseSouthwick HouseSouthwick House is a manor house of the Southwick Estate located just to the north of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. The house was built in 1800 in the late Georgian style, to replace Southwick Park house. The house is distinct for its two-story foyer lit from a cupola, and a series of...
. The success of the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944 meant that this plan was never carried out.
Sources and further reading
- Course, E (1976) The Railways of Southern England. Vol: III
- Moore, P (1988) The Industrial Heritage of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Chichester : Phillimore
- Robertson, K. (1988) Hampshire Railways Remembered, Newbury : Countryside Books, ISBN 0-905392-93-0
- Tillman, D (2003) The Meon Valley Railway Revisited, KRB Publications, ISBN 0954203542
- Stone, R.A (1983) The Meon Valley Railway, Runpast Publishing, ISBN 978-1870754361
- Vaughan, J (2004) Branches & Byways- Sussex and Hampshire, Ian Allen Publishing, ISBN 978-0860935858