The Hayling Billy Trail Project - Photo & Video
Archive
Our thanks are expressed to Alan
Bell for permission to reproduce the images and text on this page
and historical images elsewhere on this section of the site. For
more details about the history of the Hayling Billy, we recommend
the excellent book 'Branch Line to Hayling' by Vic
Mitchell and Keith Smith, in association with Alan Bell, published
by the Middleton Press in 1985 - ISBN 0 906520 12 6. Video
images are taken with permission from the video 'Memories
of the Hayling Island Branch' published by Branch Line
Video in association with Alan Bell, 84 Himley Green, Leighton
Buzzard, Bedfordshire, UK, LU7 7QA.
Other historical images of the
Hayling Billy Trail are available on our
Works in Progress page.
STILL IMAGES:
 |
1963 - Havant Station - On 23 June the empty coaching stock to
form the 10.35 a.m. train to Hayling is being hauled by no. 32662
and crosses from the 'up' line at Havant Station onto the Hayling
Billy branch line. The stock will be reversed into the bay platform
at left of picture to allow passengers to board. |
 |
1963 - Havant Station - Station staff and crew worked two
shifts and on 5 October - a month before closure - the early turn
posed before going home. From left to right they are: Messrs. Scutt
(foreman), Evans (ticket collector), Cherrison (porter / ticket
collector), Nash (porter), Ousley (parcel clerk), Crassweller
(booking clerk) and Gibbard (porter). Drivers Weeks and Hearn flank
Firemen Phillips and Bradbury on the buffer beam. |
 |
1963 - Looking north into New Lane, the former gasworks
building is beyond the wide gates of the main line crossing. Their
plain concrete posts are drab compared with the octagonal cast iron
posts of the branch crossing. Although the road was narrow, double
gates were provided. The signal box also controlled the branch line
and was known as East Box until 1938. Wheels were provided to
control both sets of crossing gates and a lever locked the wicket
gates in the foreground. |
 |
1963 - a closer study of the signal box at Havant, this time
taken from the far side of Fairfield Road looking north |
 |
1950s - The Fairfield Road gates had to be closed each time a
locomotive ran round its train. This is the signalman's view of no.
78 performing that duty. Behind her is the former Labour Exchange
and an old-style SCHOOL road sign. The short length of road between
the crossings was repaired by BR, who continued to have that
responsibility for many years after the branch had closed and the
track lifted. |
 |
1963 - view of the Fairfield Road level crossing from the
track, looking towards Havant Station showing the old water tower
which stood alongside the signal box. The track to the left leads
into the Havant bay platform; the track to the right connects the
Billy Line to the main rail network. |
 |
1930s - Langstone Road - The details of this vintage transport
scene are not recorded. The London, Brighton and South Coast
railway Co. (LBSCR) gates contrast with later Southern Railway (SR)
designs which has cross bracing and split discs. |
 |
1963 - Langstone Road - Two railway men were required on summer
Saturdays to wage war against the dense road traffic. Some modern
concrete products are evident - lamp posts, sleepers, fence posts
and platform decking. Evidence of the past is also to be seen - the
LBSCR station name board with raised metal lettering, still in use
40 years after the company ceased to exist. The bus is a 1948
54-seater Leyland PD2/1, withdrawn in 1965 - a short life compared
with the Terrier which is delaying it. |
 |
1963 - Langstone Road - The lamp changer's view of part of one
of the massive traffic jams created by the original engineer's
failure to provide a bridge as planned. Until 1960 motorists were
further frustrated by delays at the toll bridge. No. 46 is seen
here starting a northbound train on 28 September 1963. |
VIDEO SEGMENTS (requires WMV format
reader):