Wednesday 8th March 2023 to Tuesday 14th March 2023

The Network Rail Snow & Ice Treatment Train (SITT) graced us with its presence twice this week – firstly on Wednesday and then again on Friday. Both visits were top and tailed by the same pair of GBRf Class 66 locomotives which have also made it to Weymouth in the previous week or so on other SITT runs. Large logo retro British Rail liveried Class 66 No.’s 66789 ‘British Rail 1948-1997’ is a favourite amongst enthusiasts because of its special livery. Here’s a video showing the SITT workings at Hamworthy and Poole:

Monday evening the monthly 1Q51 test train made it to Dorset, this time back in the hands of GBRf Class 73 Electro-Diesel locomotives No.’s 73964 ‘Jeanette’ and 73963 ‘Janice’. We popped up to Hamworthy to see this heading towards Weymouth. Although I was planning to head out and see the return pass up to Eastleigh East Yard, the train ran 25 minutes ahead of its timings and I was otherwise avidly engaged in watching “Married At first Sight Australia”.

On Sunday, we went spent an afternoon at National Trust Mottisfont, an 18th-century house with a medieval priory at its heart, which was transformed into a Neo-classical home in the 1930’s.  Understandably Yoshi was not allowed in the house or the on the formal lawns in front and behind of the house, but there was still plenty to see and we had an enjoyable riverside walk. On our way to the National Trust property we drove past Mottisfont & Dunbridge railway station which is the nearest station to Mottisfont. This station opened in March 1847 as Dunbridge but was renamed in 2006 to reflect its close proximity to Mottisfiont and is apparently the second least frequently used station in Hampshire, with Beaulieu Road taking the wooden spoon by having fewer passengers. We could hear the sounds of Class 158 diesel multiple units (DMU’s) passing by on the Wessex main line as we wandered around the grounds at Mottisfont. The station is served by stopping trains run by South Western Railway (SWR) which run from Romsey to Salisbury via Southampton Central. Great Western Railway (GWR) run services which pass through the station but no longer stop. As we left Mottisfont we drove through the village and found ourselves driving down Station Road. This gave away the fact Mottisfont once had a station of its own. Investigations revealed this station had been situated on the now closed ‘Sprat and Winkle Line’ which ran between Andover and Redbridge.

It’s not clear how the line earned the ‘Sprat and Winkle’ name. Various suggestions have been put forward; principally that the southernmost part of the line brushes the mudflats of the River Test where winkles might sometimes be found, although there are doubts that the sprat would also be found there.

The January 1910 edition of “The Railway Magazine” included an article on the origins of the line written by John Moreton. The railway is unique in that it is built over the course of an earlier canal; The Andover and Redbridge which originates from 1792. The London & South Western Railway (LSWR) had been the first to promote a route along the canal in 1847 in an attempt to steal an advance over the Great Western Railway (GWR) and had already agreed to give those behind a Manchester and Southampton railway running powers over the line. Parliamentary assent was given to the Andover and Redbridge, but the LSWR failed to act on this and their proposal came to nothing. Ten years later, in 1858, the GWR were asked to construct a broad gauge line between Andover and Redbridge, again by means of converting the canal. With the addition of a 14 mile stretch of track between Pewsey and Andover, a broad gauge route between Southampton and Bristol / South Wales was proposed. A new terminus at Southampton along the western shore mudflats was going to be built with the broad gauge line crossing over the LSWR line to Dorchester at Redbridge. There followed a “Battle of the Gauges” with the LSWR opposed to the project attempting to secure a clause in the new Parliamentary bill that the line be built to 4ft 8.5 inch gauge. When this failed they moved to ensure the railway would be built to mixed gauge. 

The first sod on the new railway was cut by Lord Palmerston at Ashfield Bridge, very close to his Broadlands residence near Romsey, on 28^th September 1859 accompanied with the sound of a 14 gun salute. Over the next few years, there followed many changes and alterations to the scheme and in a June 1863 Act of Parliament the Andover and Redbridge Railway was amalgamated with the LSWR which meant the line would in fact be built to what we now call standard gauge, finally opening on 6^th March 1865. As originally built following the route of the canal and to avoid the cost of building bridges over the rivers Test and Avon, the railway had many tight curves. In his 1910 RM article, John Moreton recalled, “many journeys on the line where sticking to one’s seat was a matter of considerable difficulty, and the luggage placed on the racks frequently provided a minute bombardment to those seated beneath before the end of the journey was reached.” The curves would eventually be straightened out by the LSWR, the exercise being completed by November 1885 and with the opening of the Midland & South Western Junction Railway linking Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham with Southampton via Cheltenham and Swindon, crossing the Cotswolds and the Wiltshire Downs, the original idea of a railway providing direct passage between the North and the Solent was practically realised.  The railway was an important link during the 1st and 2nd World Wars, carrying troops from Salisbury Plain for embarkation to France via Southampton. 

The final British Rail timetable issued for the period 15th June to 6th September 1964 shows a more or less hourly weekday service along the line between 0640 and 2200 with Sunday working also maintaining a similar level of service between the hours of 0855 and 2101. Trains would have been worked by Eastleigh built Diesel-Electric Multiple Units (DEMU) ‘Hampshire Units’ first introduced in 1957. Despite this level of service, the Beeching report of 1963 declared that fewer than 5000 passengers used the trains each week and services were therefore withdrawn on 7th September 1964.

The closed Mottisfont station is now a private house called, appropriately enough, “The Old Station House”. The old platforms have been incorporated into a garden feature. We didn’t stop to peer over the garden gate, as that would have been rude. Further up the line, and one for our bucket list, is Horsebridge station which boasts the best preserved remaining station building on the former line. It has, at least pre-Covid,  been used as a tea rooms and wedding venue. There is a Southern Railway carriage acquired from Bournemouth which can be rented for holiday accommodation.

The next station heading North is Stockbridge, which has some resonance to me as two of my uncles worked on the railway here. George Downton was a signalman and Gus Robertson a platelayer. Sadly Gus died from injuries he sustained during the Great War and my mum, at the age of 8 or 9, was asked to spend her summer holiday in Stockbridge with his widow, my Aunty Gertrude, in the early 1940’s to keep her company. This was extended after the holidays and mum eventually ended up attending Stockbridge school. My mother recalls George’s wife, Aunty Bess, preparing a cooked meal for George on Fridays and asking mum to take it up to him in the signal box, a place she was not really allowed to visit. Mum doesn’t recall why this happened most Friday’s but she does remember Chipperfield’s Circus temporarily keeping their animals in the station sidings when their headquarters were at nearby Down Farm and helping to feed the tigers. I’m pleased we no longer allow wild animals to be exploited for a travelling circus.  

These days, the trackbed between Westdown, near Fullerton, Stockbridge and Mottisfont forms part of the Test Way, a 44 mile footpath along the River Test.

As we drove home from Mottisfont, I inadvertently turned left at Romsey and somehow found myself in Eastleigh. I took this, most unexpected, opportunity to photograph the first of the Southern Coastway Class 313 electric multiple units (EMU’s), No.’s 313203 313214 & 313217, which have been withdrawn from service and moved to Eastleigh Arlington to be scrapped. The units had arrived on Friday 10^th March and indeed, I had been very tempted to pop over the county border to see them being delivered by Rail Operations Group (ROG) Class 37 No. 37800 on a working from Brighton Lovers Walk.

Also viewable on the works from the adjacent public road was London Underground’s (LU) 4-TC (Trailer Control) set which had arrived at Eastleigh Arlington in February following its visit to St Leonards for the fitting of retention toilet tanks. The 4-TC’s were unpowered fixed formations of 4 carriages with a driving position at each end of the set, converted by BR’s Colgate Road Carriage Works from locomotive hauled Mark 1 carriages in 1966-1967 and 1974 and were once the mainstay of the Weymouth to Bournemouth line coupled with Class 33/1 push-pull locomotives. At Bournemouth the 4-TC unit would be joined up with one or two 4-REP EMU’s for the onward journey to London Waterloo. Down trains to Weymouth would carry out the same operation in reverse.

Two complete 4-TC units as well as other odd carriages have been preserved. The London Underground unit is notionally numbered 428 but contains coaches from other units making up its four car formation. Another set previously owned by LU and again made up of coaches from several units is being restored at The Swanage Railway and will be numbered 413. I am looking forward to seeing this project come to fruition and paired with a Class 33/1 will bring back memories of old.

For The Record

The Swanage Railway have announced they are to operate a trial heritage diesel train service on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from the main line at Wareham between 4^th April and 10^th September 2023. The first train departs Wareham at 1119 and the last train of the day will depart Swanage at 1620. The trains will be operated and staffed on behalf of Swanage Railway by West Coast Railways utilising restored and upgraded 1950’s Class 117 Diesel Multiple Units (DMU) with the option of adding a single car Class 121 DMU at busy times and is the result of working in partnership with the UK Government’s Coastal Communities Fund, the Department of Transport, the former Purbeck District Council, Dorset Council, British Petroleum, Perenco, Network Rail and South Western Railway (SWR). Tickets for the service will also be available from SWR so passengers can add tickets for Corfe Castle and Swanage to their main line tickets. This will be the first time in 51 years – since the last day of British Rail passenger trains between Wareham, Corfe Castle and Swanage on Saturday 1st January, 1972, before the branch line was controversially closed – that such a main line ticket facility for travel to Swanage has been possible. During the summer of 2017, the Swanage Railway operated a 60 selected day trial train service from Wareham using hired-in diesel locomotives and carriages again operated and staffed by West Coast Railways. Plans to operate a second year 90 selected day trial train service from Wareham during 2018 were delayed and then the Covid pandemic hit which caused further delays because of its practical and economic effects.

If interested, you still have time to take part in Dorset Council’s survey on proposals to make the main route between the two Dorchester railway stations along Fairfield Road in Dorchester, which has no dedicated footway, safer for pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users. The survey is open until 17^th March 2023. Funding for any work will come from the Government’s Active Travel Fund which aims to improve walking, wheeling and cycling for all.

Thanks for joining us, as always your visit is much appreciated! This weeks blog was put together listening to: ‘From Nothing To A Little Bit More’ by The Lathums, ‘Space Oddity’ by David Bowie and ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd… “Mother should I trust the government?”