{"id":8665,"date":"2023-11-03T19:30:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T19:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/?p=8665"},"modified":"2023-11-03T19:30:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T19:30:49","slug":"poppy-fields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therailwaydog.co.uk\/?p=8665","title":{"rendered":"Poppy Fields"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Definitely not coming to a cinema near you anytime soon! A movie poster created using Microsoft Bing Creator Artificial Intelligence.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 26th 2023 to November 2nd 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was very quiet around these parts this last week. Nothing much of note to report on the rails of Dorset as far as I\u2019m aware. Storm Ciar\u00e1n hit the South West in the early hours of Thursday 2nd\u00a0November with the BBC reporting train lines ground to a halt, with some rail operators telling commuters to work from home – and drivers in the south and west of UK were told to avoid coastal roads. South Western Railway (SWR) ran a revised service during the day and warned of the weather conditions ability to cause flooding, landslips, low adhesion from increased leaf fall and debris on the tracks. Across the South West of England, there were no Great Western Railway (GWR) services in Cornwall because of flooding and fallen trees. The line was also closed between Exeter and Taunton, Salisbury and Southampton, Reading to Gatwick and a reduced service to Heathrow.\u00a0 Locally, SWR Weymouth services terminated at Bournemouth with an hourly shuttle service between Bournemouth to Weymouth providing half the normal frequency. \u00a0The line between Bournemouth and Hinton Admiral was blocked for a time due to heavy flooding. A pair of two-car SWR Class 158 Diesel Multiple Units No.\u2019s 158884\/886 then formed a shuttle service between Bournemouth and Brockenhurst. CrossCountry (XR) services to Bournemouth were also disrupted with several services stopping short at Brockenhurst. Brittany Ferries cancelled most of their services on Wednesday and Thursday, while Condor Ferries suspended all sailings on these two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tuesday evening I was in Winchester visiting the Cathedral to see \u201cPoppy Fields\u201d an immersive light and sound show by Luxmuralis. Billed as a \u201cspectacular light and sound show which takes you on a mesmerising journey of reflection and hope\u201d, the art installation did not disappoint. Developed from the concept of \u201cson et Lumiere\u201d Luxmuralis is a collaborative team combining artists from different backgrounds and artistic disciplines who create works across multimedia and presentation formats whilst exploring the development of fine art tradition through new media ultimately taking the medium onto the streets and providing access to visual artwork in public as well as unexpected places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Winchester Cathedral – 31\/10\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPoppy Fields\u201d was sponsored by South Western Railway and was presented at Winchester Cathedral from 31st<\/sup>October to 4th<\/sup> November 2023. Appropriately enough, we took the train for our visit, arriving in the City in good time for our ticketed time of 2000. By good judgement of the stewards in attendance we were allowed early access to the cathedral due to the wet weather and joined a queue of other eager first night attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Poppy Fields” at Winchester Cathedral created by Luxmuralis – 31\/10\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“Poppy Fields” at Winchester Cathedral created by Luxmuralis – 31\/10\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“Poppy Fields” at Winchester Cathedral created by Luxmuralis – 31\/10\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“Poppy Fields” at Winchester Cathedral created by Luxmuralis – 31\/10\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately our usual good time keeping was lacking for our return journey and this, compounded by our SWR service departing Winchester early meant that we were left on the station platform with the last train west of Poole disappearing into the night. Taking a screen grab from Real Time Trains of evidence, one of our party had the foresight to contact the SWR helpline to advise of the situation with the result that within the hour we were heading home in a taxi (which had come all the way from Southampton to collect us!) provided by the railway company. While our transport was on its way, I obviously took the opportunity to see a couple of freight trains passing through Winchester amongst an assortment of SWR Class 450\u2019s, 444\u2019s and a XR Class 221 Voyager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CrossCountry Voyager Class 221 No. 221135 working 1O30 1825 Manchester Piccadilly\u00a0to<\/small>\u00a0Winchester. This service would normally run to Bournemouth but on this occasion terminated short at Winchester, the unit moving forward as 5Z30 2228 Winchester\u00a0to<\/small>\u00a0Eastleigh TRSMD empty coaching stock – 31\/10\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Winchester railway station was opened on 10th June 1839 by the London and Southampton Railway as a temporary terminus for the Winchester to Southampton section. Another station was opened at Basingstoke on the same day, which acted as the temporary terminus of the London to Basingstoke section. The line connecting Winchester and Basingstoke completed in March 1840.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another line was constructed to run via Guildford, Farnham and Alton, which joined the main line north of Winchester. The present day line runs via Aldershot instead of Guildford, and the line finishes at Alton. British Rail closed the line from Alton to Winchester in 1973 but a section from Alton to Alresford is preserved as the Watercress Line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Great Western Railway had their own line having absorbed the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway which opened in stages between 1882 and 1885. This used a separate station on the eastern side of Winchester, when opened called Winchester Cheesehill, which I think is an excellent name but this was later changed to Winchester (Chesil). It was renamed again in 1949 when the brackets were dropped and the station became known as Winchester Chesil, whilst Winchester’s main station was renamed Winchester City. When Chesil closed in 1966, British Rail (BR) changed the station name from Winchester City during the following year to Winchester as it is known today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SWR Class 450 No. 450119 at Winchester working 1B73 2205 London Waterloo\u00a0to<\/small>\u00a0Bournemouth in tandem with Class 444 No. 444012 – 31\/10\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Class 444 No. 444031 stops at Winchester working 1W82 2100 Weymouth\u00a0to<\/small>\u00a0Woking – 31\/10\/2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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