The Missing Mid Hants Railway

It is just over 40 years since closure of the Mid Hants railway under BR ownership
If anyone is curious what has happened to that part of the Mid Hants railway west of Alresford I have walked and filmed the entire route to record what archaeology if anything is left of the old line. (There is some but I won't spoil any surprises). There are eight videos now all on Youtube as follows:-
1 WInchester Junction to Lovedon Lane Kings Worthy
2 Lovedon Lane to the M3
3) The M3 to Bridgetts Lane Martyr Worthy
4) Bridgetts Lane to Itchen Abbas
5) Itchen Abbas to rectory Lane
6) Rectory Lane to the Three Castles Walk
7) Three Castles Walk to Abbotstone Lane Itchen Stoke
8) Abbotstone Lane to the Alresford headshunt
starting at WInchester Junction.

The first video starts here

If anyone manages to labour through all eight videos despite my poor quality filming and unrehearsed commentary you deserve a medal! But I'd love to get feedback and comments (even if they are negative.)

 

Andy , they are superb and well done to you.

I have watched all eight though I was hoping for number nine that went all the way up to Alresford Station.

The late Peter Thomas OBE and Derek Hayward have done something akin to this over the years though only with photography.

It looks as though most of the route could be salvaged?

Kind regards
Chris:

 

Oops I meant to add that the above Gentlemen did this at the Bluebell.

Apologies.

Chris:

 

Is this leading to a proposal to carry out a feasibility study to extend the MHR? If so, be prepared to receive similar criticism to that others have received for having the temerity similar elsewhere.

 

HI chaps, not at all, though I can now say that I know better than anyone in previous debates exactly what would be involved and I hope that anyone watching the videos will feel that as well. I think it is clear to all of us that none of the missing route will ever be reopened as a railway. However I now feel very strongly that a permitted bridleway should be created to run along the route because it is eminently feasible and that it could and should be marketed as a railway-related amenity beginning at Alresford station and ending (via existing paths) at Winchester Cathedral using elements of the DN&SR trackbed from Winchester Junction to Chesil. It is a very attractive route indeed, and the section between Alresford and Itchen Abbas particularly is well worth preserving as a path. Perhaps the Three Castles long distance path could also be rerouted at least some of the way.
As I said on one of the videos the real villains of the closures were the civil servants at the Ministry of Transport who instructed the British Railways Property Board to dispose of closed railway land any way they could. This piecemeal destruction of viable routes for the want of a few dwellings here and there is what prevents many useful lines from reopening today - and the Western Mid Hants is just a microcosm of Government incompetence and stupidity on a national scale - the way land and infrastructure was disposed did not even make economic sense - the glut in scrap depressed prices, and most of the land could only really be sold to neighbouring farmers who found that in a reversal of logic they were the ones able to dictate the price!
If we could wind the clock back to the 1950s and see it all coming, I would argue that the Meon Valley had to close, but the Mid Hants should have been used to create a replacement country route from Alton down to Gosport and Fareham via Eastleigh, using a stub of the DN&SR starting close to the site of the Winchester Junction (which could also have been downgraded or mothballed) and a new U shaped spur created from the DN&SR to the Mid Hants with a new station at Spring Vale /Kings Worthy. This spur would have the effect of keeping the slower trains off the main line between north Winchester and Eastleigh at low cost because the DN&SR was still in use for northbound freight at the time. This hybrid route could have been served by Hampshire DEMUs augmented with a short Fareham Gosport shuttle. Passengers from the Mid Hants travelling further south would change at Eastleigh. THose going north would go via the Alton direction anyway.
Lots of "What If"s but IMHO there is a book waiting to be written that exposes the idiocy of the Ministry of Transport, starting with Ernest Marples but also naming and shaming the economically incompetent Ministry mandarins whose failure is being felt on our roads and railways today. Christian Wolmar would do a great job here - I should have a word with him!

 

Great videos domeyhead! Really interesting to watch. Maybe Longmoor next?

-Rob

 

For some reason I'm not able to watch the above vid, I've never had a problem with YT before.
If I press play, I get an error - video not available.
If I click on the 'watch on youtube' button I just get the YT front page.

Whats your channel called domeyhead? Maybe I'll get to it from there.

 

Same here I am unable to watch the video.It advise that an error has occurred.

 

This link should work

 

Some coward is being bl**dy minded and hiding behind a false name.

Methinks I know who it is from the style of writing. A shame really because this person could offer so much more if he/she had a bottle to be upfront.

Regards
Chris:

 

Your post makes me out to be a hermaphrodite. No way Jose. Red blooded male through and through.

I was alluding to paulhitch's strong argument against almost everyone who mentioned the 'E' word positively at 'Extensions - a snare and a delusion?'

 

I stand corrected:

Apologies

Chris:

 

Thanks for posting the videos. I flicked through them and they were fascinating. Living very close to the old track bed I was familiar with much of it, especially around Kings Worthy and Itchen Abbas.

Anyone suggesting that the line can be restored will get shot down in flames, and rightly so. The cost would be dwarf the amount raised to clear Imberthorne cutting on the Bluebell. As well as the two very deep cuttings that have been infilled around Kings Worthy, the line has been built on in Kings Worthy, Itchen Abbas and most recently in Alresford. The ownership issues as well would be tricky. It's a case of what might have been in 1973, although the 'operating difficulties running on to the main line' then would still be as much of a problem now as they were then.

The idea of a bridleway on the route is an interesting one. HCC own the footpath between Bridgetts and Itchen Abbas, and this is in the process of being changed to a public footpath. It may be possible to do the same with some more of the route and find ways round the obstacles. Although this would require the goodwill of a number of farmers (BTW - did you get permission to wander onto some of those locations and film?)

There are footpaths to the middle of Winchester from Kings Worthy, but they run by the river, not by the DN&S route. Much of this route is now under the A34 and there has been infilling around Winnall. Not sure that this part of the suggestion will work.

 

I would be very interested to see these videos, but all of the links on here have gone.
I cannot find anything on YouTube either.

 

The link still seems to work for me. Try looking at the videos of username Ingramdumpkiss

http://www.youtube.com/user/Ingramdumpkiss/videos

 

you don't need permission, a landowner can ask you to leave but, if you don't, can only sue you for what damage you cause. The polite way would be to ask, but it is often impossible to know who owns what.

 

Aaah to be able to turn the clock back.

So much harm done to the railway industry back then that one day we will all regret when the oil runs out and no one has developed a fully viable long distance electric car/van/lorry. Very simple tram style overhead electrification for such routes as you mention. Electricity being generated from all sorts of eco friendly means these days.

But we can't go back in time, or there are a good few Bulleid runs in the 1960s I would have left school/college early for!

 

Thanks KW. I agree with your comments about getting from Winchester Junction to the middle of Winchester itself . It would require a new RoW to connect with St Swithuns Way - possibly along the old DNS route then utilising Springvale Road bridge to get south of the A34, and through Headbourne Worthy - difficult but not impossible given a supporting council.
An important positive advantage in reopening old railway lines as footpaths is that they are by their nature level and easy, so are suitable for the less abled to enjoy, as well as for horseriders and cyclists, so they are in many ways a superior amenity to less accessible long distance footpaths like the three castles way. I am also moved and amazed by the backbreaking efforts of the navvies who built the lines and feel that a reopening is a kind of acknowledgement or testament of their labours.
One thing that I hope will strike those who look at the videos of the route is that there are currently almost no permanent physical obstacles for a pedestrian walking the route of the line from Alresford station all the way to Winchester Junction, but this could change at any time.
In fact the complete list of man made obstacles/barriers (east to west) is as follows
1) West of Itchen Stoke Manor - small industrial storage facility - no permanent barrier
2) Rectory Lane - garden takeover of former cutting east of the road bridge.
3) Itchen Abbas - one or two properties on the track bed. ( A diversionary footpath route to the north would be be viable)
4) Kings Worthy A farmyard and barn between Lovedon Lane and the A33 overbridges (a diversionary footpath to the north would be viable)
5) SpringVale - Two houses in Wesley Road built on the route - a footpath already exists around them.

There are in addition several sections of very dense undergrowth currently impassible but easily clearable. I believe if the County Council were willing to pursue a new permitted bridleway there would be many volunteers including many from this forum who would help reopen the overgrown sections to reinstate the route for walkers and riders.
I don;t know how much of the route is still in council hands but I suspect the filled in cuttings north of Abbots Worthy and those between Itchen Abbas and Itchen Stoke are now in private ownership, so the new owners (probably the adjacent farms) would be very disinclined to support a new footpath, (and who could blame them!)
So if we are to save this route even for walkers there is still time but we must save it quickly or even this possiblity could quickly vanish.

 

The county council have cleared the track bed on the old DN&S line between Bar End Road and Hockley viaduct near Winchester this year. The track bed has been Tarmac over and the Viaduct has been repaired. They have even reinstated the old style southern signal on the viaduct. Walking along the old line myself the other weekend there were a considerable amount of people using this new footpath.

 

What does surprise me is why a preserved railway didn't start up on the old DN&S line after the line closed in 1966. If a group could of reopen the line between Winchester Chesil Street and Sutton Scotney. This could of been a real gold mine with the amount of tourist that visit Winchester every year. The Station at Winchester is only a few yards from the City Centre. But alas it wasn't to happen. People talk about the miss opportunity with Longmoor Railway but I think this was a bigger opportunity missed because of the tourist revenue that would of been gained from having a preserved Railway in Winchester city centre.