Disused Routes

Hey Gang,

Wondered if anyone knew of the current status of the few old railway routes:

Sprat and Winkle
Midland and South Western Junction - Specifically between Marlborough and Ludgershall
Bristol and North Somerset - Specifically around Clutton
Cheddar Valley - Specifically from Cheddar toward Wells

What's there, what isn't, the condition/ownership of the trackbed etc?

 

A visit to http://www.geograph.org.uk and looking at the locations you wish to know about will often produce useful photos and information.

For example for Clutton you can find http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3310001 which is of the old station site.

Another useful source is the Disused Stations website http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/sites.shtml although they only have less than 50% of the closed stations so far on their site - unfortunately Clutton isn't one of them.

 

Google Maps satellite pictures are very interesting to see whats left of trackbeds and you can as in Star Trek beam down to some of the locations using Google Street View at some of the locations where roads crossed railways. I recently looked at the Kings Lynn - Wisbech and Kings Lynn -Dereham lines where some of the gatehouses and stations survive.

 

Have a look at the Wikipedia page for the "Sprat & Winkle" line. The section from Kimbridge Junction to Redbridge is still in use, of course, and much of the northern section is now a footpath and cycle-track. If you find a plausible explanation for the nick-name, please post it here. I've never heard one!

 

Yes part of the sprat and winkle is now a cycle/footpath. I take my bike there quite regularly. There is very little in the way of earthworks and bridges, so it's sometimes easy to forget you're on an old railway line. The legacy of it being built on an old canal I guess.

Horsebridge station is still standing though. In private ownership and very well looked after, complete with a LSWR ironclad coach standing in the platform.

 

The Marlborough - Swindon section of the M&SWJR is a cycle track, still very obvious to follow on the ground.

Re the Sprat & Winkle name: Nigel Bray, in his book "Andover to Redbridge: The Sprat & Winkle line" also claims to have drawn a blank explaining the name, but suggests that maybe it was a derogatory, if affectionate, term coined in the early years to imply that users should not have any great expectations about service quality.

Tom

 

I have a theory that the name derives from the change of ownership when the original Andover Redbridge and Southampton Railway was taken over by the much larger L&SWR. In the days when information (and travel) was less available than it is today the new initials appearing on the numerous cast iron name plates and passenger information boards at intermediate stations were bound to evoke to obvious question "What does it stand for?" It would not take long for wags to come up with a variety of lighthearted answers, of which the Local Sprat and Winkle Railway was probably just one. There is no particular industry for sprats or Winkles around Southampton and no record that they were carried on this line more than any other so there is certainly no literal interpretation of the nickname.
If anyone is interested I have just made a video joiurney along the entire length of the "Missing" bit of the Mid Hants railway which will be on Youtube shortly (I'll post a note here) and I intend to follow up with Castlemans Corkscrew, the Longmoor Military Railway+ the Bentley branch, and the Sprat and Winkle line,

 

Theres still quite a lot to be seen at the Longmoor Military ailway, mainly aroun the Liss forest end, the short tunnel under the crossroads at Bordon is still there,
and where the marshaling yard used to be theres is a car park also the Oakamoor road crossing is still visible although dont hang about there very long as its a bit of a sensitive area, anyway have a good day there. Even better if its a sunny day.

 

I shall look forward to that Domeyhead.

Is this a follow up to what we were discussing about a C&W shed south of Alresford?

Chris:

 

Yes indeed Chris - well remembered. I thought it might be of interest to Mid Hants supporters to see what has happened beyond the bufferstops so I walked the whole route from WInchester Junction back to Perins school. It will quickly become apparent that filming (or even walking and talking at the same time) are not things I claim any expertise in! but I am in the process of splicing it all into three or four pieces which I'll put up hopefully by this coming weekend.
If people enjoy it I'll do another one.

 

Well done that man, very much appreciated Domeyhead .

I would like to contact you privately over this subject if I may please though I am unsure how to do a private mail under this new system.

Best regards
Chris:

 

The Longmoor Military Railway is definitely 'one that got away' - it would have been a great candidate for preservation as it had all the infrastructure needed to run an independent railway whereas most preserved lines have had to build anew as regards maintenance of locos that in BR days would have been done somewhere on the main line, e.g. Ashburton branch locos used to be given major maintenance at Newton Abbot. But the 'nimby' locals scuppered David Shepherd's efforts to base a project on the LMR. Is the area still in Army use then so that you shouldn't hang very long around around Oakhanger road crossing - I think you meant that rather than Oakamoor which I believe is at the far end of the Churnet Valley line in Staffordshire?

John

 

One of the bigger problems with regards to the Longmoor Military Railway is that it was and still is a "working" Army base on the edge of the Salisbury Plain army range. So that would be a far more major problem than the nimbys. From memory the plan was to make a 3 way museum road, rail and air, as on part of the site as there is/was an airfield as well as the railway on site.

 

Your quite right it is Oakhanger, I was up in Derbyshire a couple of weeks ago now got Oakamoor on the brain.
Oakhanger yes, opposite the former road crossing is the Royal Engineers {REME] workshops and close by are two army camps occupied Guards i believe, also opposite and alongside the former railway is the officers mess about a quarter mile further on you come to a NATO site with 3 or 4 large golf ball type things similar to the ones that used to be at Fylingdales on the north yorkshire moors.

 

The Longmoor Military Railway is nowhere near Salisbury Plain which is in Wiltshire, Longmoor is on the Surrey/Hampshire border.