Military Railways

Tidworth was (and no doubt still is) a dump in either county!

Back to subject; there is still a considerable amount of permanent way around the Caerwent army training ground, formerly a Royal Navy munitions storage depot. Further west in Wales, the Trecwn branch running from the main Fishguard line is still very much in situ.

 

RAF Jurby, Andreas and Ronaldsway were all constructed using spoil and stone transported by the Island's Railway system, but all were located some distance from the Railhead and so the stone and spoil had to be transported a distance by road to construct the Runways with.
Despite this RAF Jurby could claim to have two railways - the first an overhead gantry to load bombs (ok that's cheating a bit), and the other being a target railway consisting of a concrete and Earth Berm, behind which a wickham railcar towed a target plane mockup which a fixed gun emplacement could practice firing upon (to train up gunners for the aircraft). The Berm Still exists, but the shed has now gone and there is no track left. The Gantry is still in situ, but sadly access is not easy as the airfield is now used for motor racing.
Attached are the shots of the berm and range railway including an overhead view at the time of operation, and the shots of the overhead Gantry and Munitions Store
.

 

If you have access to Facebook, there is an open group dedicated to Military Railways. On it are some great shots of different establishments including Longmoor, Bicester, Chilmark, Dean Hill and the Rae Railway. Sorry, this PC will not allow access to Facebook so cannot post the link as yet but will try later from a different one.

 

Does anyone know anything about the old MOD sidings alongside Ordnance Road in Aldershot????





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I always maintain there used to be a military siding off the Reading to Basingstoke line heading west not far south of Southcote Junction (and nowhere near Bramley). Never head any confirmation of this.

 

Ok thanks, sounds like a good possibility that it's the one! Cheers


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it was heading in the general direction of Aldermaston which I think was an RAF base in WW2

 

Looking at google maps it appears to run into the establishment at Burghfield

 

by gad you are right sir, I hadn't thought of that. There seems to be an area within the ROF that could have been sidings. I can't see any sign of an internal railway though

 

Boughton Camp near New Ollerton in North Nottinghamshire had a rail network.
Both parts of the camp are now industrial estates but there are still the big cast concrete buffer stops eviedent and rails where the crossed the camp roads

 

For those with an interest in WW2 military railways, you could do a lot worse than joining World War 2 Railway Study Group. They produce an excellent Bulletin, with insights into German archive material as well as the Allies and Home Front. Two of their members are behind the current and very definitive Longmoor Military Railway story, published in three parts.

http://www.ww2rsg.org.uk/

 

I'm surprised that Shoeburyness hasn't been mentioned. There is still a large railway layout there, though the southern section through the Garrison area and the northern section over the swing-bridge to Havengore Island are gone. It still receives some military traffic from the main line, although in recent years it's main use has been as storage sidings for redundant main line and LUL stock.
Troop trains were run directly into the site in the past, I can remember there being a proper platform near the Garrison close to Shoebury town centre. There was also internal passenger traffic; notable visitors, top brass, foreign government representatives, etc, were taken to observe test firings and demonstrations on the ranges in some pretty exotic rolling-stock, including "Kitchener's carriage", originally built for service in the Sudan. Until the 1990s Shoeburyness was also home to an interesting variety of other vehicles, such as the 18" rail-mounted howitzer which has been mentioned in another recent thread on NP, 2 x 45ton breakdown cranes, a 75ton steam crane (dual gauge, standard and 14 foot!), an apparently GWR "crocodile" which was originally a 6" naval anti-aircraft gun mounting built in 1915 and a French ferry van which was trapped in England in 1940. Both the latter are now preserved at Mangapps Railway.

 

Can't remember the army camp name. But there was a rail head at a army camp in Warminster. Looking on google maps the line is still there but I don't think it's still in use. I remember in the late 70s a small diesel shunter working there.

 

Battlesbury Barracks and the adjacent Training Unit at Warminster are the homes of mechanised (armoured) infantry units. The railhead is similar to several others in the UK in that it is usable but not regularly used.