Oracle
Established Member
I have been asked about the points at Hamble on the Fareham-St Denys line. I thought that those who do not know anything about the branch might be interested.
Basically there was a branch line with trailing cross-over...not sure but think it was from both Down and Up lines. There was also one at Netley but at the Hamble end of the platforms which accessed the Netley Hospital branch. The route of the branch can stil be seen, and part of the Royal Victoria Railway NG railway uses the old trackbed. It ran directly to the famous Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley and wa for ambulance trains for military personnel. However the Hamble branch ran from the Netley end of the platform round the back of the Down platform and curved round to the right, across a road which leads now to the Hampshire Police training centre/fraud squad/police station at Netley, then paralleled Hamble Lane for a short time before crossing the road on a slight angle at a manual crossing gate. It then went on a curve to the right across what was Hamble Aerodrome, and aircraft literally took off and landed next to the line! Finally it left the 'drome, headed across a main road into the village and into Hamble Oil Terminal. A lot of the track was in good condition a few years back, and you could envisage that it could have been brought back to use if required. Now there is a lot of new housing on the old 'drome. The points at Hamble were operated by a ground lever I seem to recall. I have seen a photo circa 1969 of a Shell-BP diesel on the branch with oil tanks, amidst light aircraft. There was I believe an exchange siding behind the platform.
Some years ago, when I libed in Netley, so say early 80s, there was a proposal to run oil trains day and night to Hamble from Wytch Farm but in the end they built a pipeline through the New Forest [it's just along the road from us] to Fawley.
Hope that is of interest!
Basically there was a branch line with trailing cross-over...not sure but think it was from both Down and Up lines. There was also one at Netley but at the Hamble end of the platforms which accessed the Netley Hospital branch. The route of the branch can stil be seen, and part of the Royal Victoria Railway NG railway uses the old trackbed. It ran directly to the famous Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley and wa for ambulance trains for military personnel. However the Hamble branch ran from the Netley end of the platform round the back of the Down platform and curved round to the right, across a road which leads now to the Hampshire Police training centre/fraud squad/police station at Netley, then paralleled Hamble Lane for a short time before crossing the road on a slight angle at a manual crossing gate. It then went on a curve to the right across what was Hamble Aerodrome, and aircraft literally took off and landed next to the line! Finally it left the 'drome, headed across a main road into the village and into Hamble Oil Terminal. A lot of the track was in good condition a few years back, and you could envisage that it could have been brought back to use if required. Now there is a lot of new housing on the old 'drome. The points at Hamble were operated by a ground lever I seem to recall. I have seen a photo circa 1969 of a Shell-BP diesel on the branch with oil tanks, amidst light aircraft. There was I believe an exchange siding behind the platform.
Some years ago, when I libed in Netley, so say early 80s, there was a proposal to run oil trains day and night to Hamble from Wytch Farm but in the end they built a pipeline through the New Forest [it's just along the road from us] to Fawley.
Hope that is of interest!
