2:35pm Friday 5th March 2010
AN illustrated talk on railways was so popular that some people had to be turned away.
Now, a second presentation is planned at Mottisfont and Dunbridge Village Hall later this month for people who missed out on last week’s talk.
Mottisfont and Dunbridge History Group chairman, Mike Horne, apologised and said anyone who had paid the £2 entrance fee and had not been able to get seat would receive a refund.
Neil Keams, from the Romsey Signal Box Project, opened the evening with a talk and slide show on how railways evolved in Hampshire.
He said: “Railway services grew to individual requirements. From when the railway first opened in 1847, right up until the 1957, the railway was individual demand-led.”
He described the class of locomotives used on the two rural lines in the Romsey area over the years and also the decline of the old Sprat and Winkle line between Kimbridge Junction and Andover, which had stations at Mottisfont, Horsebridge, Stockbridge, Fullerton and Clatford and was axed in September, 1964.
He spoke about the history of signal boxes along the Romsey to Salisbury line and how automated barriers had replaced them at Dean and Dunbridge station, now known as Mottisfont & Dunbridge station. He said the Romsey box, which is in the grounds of the town’s old infant school, was now being used for educational purposes.
Mr Keams also described how a small siding into the Royal Naval depot at Dean Hill (off the main Salisbury to Southampton line) played a major role in World War II, when ammunitions travelled by train to Portsmouth.
People who worked on the line including, Mr Tony Spratt a former signalman at both Dunbridge and Mottisfont stations, told of their experiences on both railway lines.
Mr Horne went through the history of stations along both the Sprat and Winkle line.
He said there were various suggestions on how the line got its nickname. This included the type of a train coupling and the carrying of seafood on the line.
The event raised £110 for the Romsey Signal Box Project.
Anyone who was unable to get into the last talk is asked to contact Mike by email at <&bh"mailto:hornes@btinternet.com">hornes@btinternet.com<&eh>, or phone, on 01794 105, to prebook a seat for the next talk at Mottisfont and Dunbridge Village Hall on March 25, at 7.30pm.
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