Hayling Billy - Havant & Hayling Island Branch Line

[@ukoldgit]

Think I am a little tardy with this comment but in my former years (i am 72 now) I could sit up in bed and watch the Billy chuffing along as it exited the bridge on the Hayling side. I was lucky enough to live in the first house on the Island next to what was then the Regent Garage, as a loony 12 year old I would walk the railway bridge and get below the turntable part of it (on the maintenance platform) and wait for a train to go over it, it was deafening and all the rust would drop from the steel superstructure. Used to collect cockles under that bridge too, a great tea time treat.

[@Sopwith16]

if i won the lottery twice i would rebuild this line and the banstaple to bideford line exactly. people say it's just a waist of time trying to rebuild them exactly, but then you don't get the feel. who's with me?

[@illtellmum]

could be possible

[@Lloydydoydy]

amazing being able to see the puffing billy again. i was 8 years old in '63 and went crabbing down at langstone - only looked up when the puffing billy went by. thanks.

[@lawrenceogden8682]

brilliant video, grew up in Drayton, portsmouth lad till 13, hayling billy and hayling island were the highlights of my life, loved hayling billy, love the video, many thaks for posting it.

[@bigchung3719]

Its excellent footage, i am a volunteer on the hayling seaside railway and we have alot of the old signals/ signs from the billy line inside our depot!

[@brianreed8275]

Travelled on the Puffing Billy several times in the 50s. Loved it, iconic steam train - every boy's dream! All smoke, steam and dirt. We stayed in a caravan on the St Mary's site (I think it was) and had a beach hut on the very fine sandy beach. But the Puffing Billy was the greatest start and end to the holiday. Parents always sent off our luggage trunk a couple of weeks ahead and there it was on Havant station waiting for us and loaded onto the Billy before being delivered to us at the caravan I guess. happy days.

[@ianmachin5945]

Cycled along the trail today, beautiful spot. Judging by the congestion on the road onto Hayling, there might be a case for bringing it back into service.

[@Nick.Magnus]

This sooo brought a tear to the eye. I was brought up in Emsworth, so the Hayling Billy was a bit of a local icon! Any of those small kids in the video could easily have been me. We used to sit in the car park of The Ship Inn at dusk with crisps and and Coca Cola, watching the illuminated carriages trundling over the bridge... In the 70s the disused line became a regular playground! *sigh*....

[@nolicnotrut]

I cycled the route at the weekend. It is now wonderful for cyclists and walkers, and an excellent way of using the old track bed. I share other commentators regrets about loss of this, and many other, railways. For an island, Hayling seems to be very busy with motor traffic. Would that improve if the railway was restored? I doubt it! Wonderful archive footage on the vid. Thank you.

[@johnevans7261]

I rode the railway into Hayling Island long before I rode there on a motorcycle. Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane.

[@vid30fps]

Fantastic! Never thought I would see ol' Puffing Billy' in action again. I lived on Hayling in the late 50's and rode the train many times. As a rare treat, I rode in the engine a few times when it switched from one end of the train to the other for the 'turn around.' Also, in summer I used to meet the train with a home-made cart and carry folks luggage to various B&B's or holiday camps. It was good for a few extra shillings spending money!

[@sahajasam]

WOW. Thank you....it also had me in tears, the way she glides over the bridge...beautiful. This is a sight I'd always wanted to see and never thought I would. I was born at The Royal Oak, Langstone in 1965....and could only enjoy the abandoned lines as my playground. Bless you for sharing this.

[@mikedavis9272]

My dad met my mum on this line, he was a driver and had been a fireman. The duty was covered by Fratton drivers and my dad Bill Edwards along with Len Edwards were both Fratton drivers, when they were working together almost anything could happen and did. They also covered other routes, but the Hayling Billy was dads favorite and mums, dad spent 35 years as a Southern fireman/driver, we lost dad 1990 and mum went in February this year, so railway is in the blood, I miss them so much, but the stories and memories will last for ever. Thank you for uploading.

[@waynemoody4821]

Fantastic video, posted on the Hayling Island Then and Now group. Ray Woolgar checking tickets at 5m 09s.

[@BetaEpsilon2]

A great piece of railway history - times long past but never forgotten.

[@ianwhite5335]

I remember my sister and I going to hayling on this train when we were children. It was such a thrill. And later after the rail had closed my friend's and I used to go fishing on the old bridge when it was still there, we used to always be looking back along the lines as there was a strange noise of something coming, but I guess it was just the wind. Happy day's.

[@johnmaguire3355]

My dads uncle Bill worked in the signal box at havant and lived in the cottage next to the line gates in the 50s

[@gillbird5324]

My family travelled on the Billy many times, we used to camp on Hayling Island and would travel to Havant and south Hayling. We would walk by the track and wait to watch it puffing by. A grand sight. G Bird

[@ExpressRhubarb]

i pass the remains of this lovely little line on essentially a daily basis.... god i wish they'd kept the billy going...

[@mandy2081]

We passed the track at Langston today dreaming it was still there

[@UBIQUEROL]

i have a couple of the bolts from a sleeper from this railway, sad it is all gone, i pass the bridge all the time and sometimes stop and look and imagine the steam and the sound of the locomotive

[@thewizeard]

As a child I traveled on the Billy... Nice clip, the music is well chosen, I shut my eyes, and imagined myself chugging across Hayling Railway bridge...now who removed the centre part?

[@rogertra]

Rode the train many times as a young teen and pre-teen. Rode in the carriage, guards compartment and on the footplate many times, usually with just a platform ticket. The train crew didn't care. Also rode the very last public train from Hayling to Havant. Sad day when the line closed. BR said it was because of the bridge but the Portsmouth Evening News paid for an independent survey and they found the bridge to only be in need of minor repairs.

[@NIR111Class]

One of Terriers in this video, 32650 survives today. She's at the Spa Valley Railway under overhaul.

[@mark.e.p]

My school backed on to the line and we always used to run down and wave when we heard it. The school was Glenhurst.

[@Timsvideochannel1]

Excellent, thanks for posting.

[@MiLLwallpaul231258]

i wonder if dr beeching was still alive today what he'd think of the mayhem he caused closing down all these wonderful little branch lines?

[@newenglandgirl57]

happy days . I was on the last train

[@mikebutler3263]

Happy days going to the sea side by the Puffing Billy, as we called it . ( the Watercress line ).

[@craigdavidson2278]

I lived in Havant (waterlooville road) circa 1972, I can remember walking along the disused section hoping from one sleeper to the other, throwing the big pebbles against the wall of the road bridge that crossed the line and hearing the echo of the stones as they bounced back to their place of rest, we would walk to a whear near a pub (possibly called the swan)

[@stevedn1]

Of course the Langstone viaduct should have been repaired and if only we lived in a different kind of country. No way should this line ever have closed. Stitched up by Ernest Marples, Tory transport minister 1959-64. Owned half of shares in Marples-Ridgeway which built M1 Motorway and other new roads. A popular line used by locals and holdaymakers going to Hayling holiday camps. Marples - who had to flee country in early 1970s due to tax dodging - was hostile to railways.

[@v00n2000]

Grrr. Him and Beeching....

[@purerock2001]

Great footage of the line!

[@crazyferret9409]

With the amount ofntraffic from Hayling across the bridge during the summer holidays, they could well do with rebuilding the bridge.

[@jonescrusher1]

Does anyone remember there still being some level crossing gates from this era on Emsworth Road close to the Wheelwright Arms in the 80s and 90s?

[@oscarwylder]

Nicely done - Thank you.

[@josie660]

Really enjoyed that wish it was still running

[@supernatualfan5341]

Its still running on the Isle Of Wight, its been renamed the Freshwater

[@nom513]

@@supernatualfan5341 do you mean the one near the funfair?

[@r0g3r5m1th]

This line today would have been a gold mine,but sadly it was not to be.I'm afraid to say it was another case of use it or lose it,and now it can never be replaced...

[@vladcopeti1357]

Hayling Island line was once connected with St Helen's station on Isle of Wight

[@ThePhosphater]

Brilliant film

[@PFCtaylor95]

They really should get that line running again.. it might confuse people when they go walking and see loads of track put down there again.. But they really should get it going for the last time. So upsetting to see it go.

[@ukoldgit]

Forgot to mention, that wooden bridge was so badly maintained that the Royal Navy tried to blow up concrete structural pillars, I note that it is still there today!

[@pompeyboyy]

was on that train many many many times, in summer, stick our heads out of windows, and feel the spit from the steam, it was just grrrrrrreat, and thanks for the trip down memory lane, it was good.Shame we couldnt have saved the PUFFIN BILLY, Lottery would ahve saved it, and then our area would be well off, other places like watercress etc etc, think of money and TRAFFIC going over and coming back, it would saved a lot of that, but HEY thats our council isnt it....

[@splinter196]

so would i my grandad was a driver when ur sat in the traffic i think how cool it would be to be on the train

[@oakpark58]

The A27 now cuts through the route of the line at Havant.

[@frediey1]

i used to go to school on the train ,coach from vilage to station change at havant for the brighton line next stop warblington walk 100 yds to school took about 40 minutes could cycle it in 25 minutes

[@xxoness]

i went to school on this train in 1955

[@nicholasstoodley1506]

richard driver: then we travelled togethef...........

[@UBIQUEROL]

you're joking? is she?

[@UBIQUEROL]

you would have to put new concrete in, with steel supports, and then build the bridge out of steel, i'd help rebuild it, we could buy the locomotive from the Spa Valley, restore it and then run the trains like 50 years ago

[@katherine232]

fxtraderuk "Long since gone I expect " Well yes and no. No longer used as a pub sign at the hayling Billy pub. That loco was 32646 - built in 1877. It had also worked o the Isle of Wight & you might be pleased to know that it has gone back there & is once again pulling trains.

[@CoopersWorkbench]

Hi there, we are hoping to make a short film about the Hayling Billy for the HB50 event this year. Can you tell me if you are the owner of this footage? if you would be willing to let us use it? Do you have access to any other footage we could use? Any help would be great. the film is being made by the HIADS Video Production Society, so will not be a blockbuster, just a short information video celelbrating the memory of the Hayling Billy. Fell free to contact me via my youtube channel

[@citroeno]

that is not true regarding the bridge it was cost the train ran empty half the time

[@soundnicetome]

Such a shame...government/s of the day should have saved it,but back then it was the same old story..Money+Greed...without any concern for its inhabitants? Sad day for Puffing Billy...and an even more sad day for steam throughout our country. 1963 was the start of the systematic destruction of our country`s steam railways...and a special thanks,but no thanks,to the two culprits in crime Beeching and Marples.

[@javamann1000]

Unfortunately, the track laid in the era of horse and cart, crossed the main road to the island and caused such traffic jams as traffic increased. The cheerful destruction of the viaduct by the military was perhaps less necessary?

[@royalordinance]

Are the ladies lovelier on Hayling?? I think so. Anyone know what the damage was in that storm of 87? Are there any songbirds unique to Hayling,too?

[@kevinwestk7958]

They would have made a killing if they had kept it running especially with the road traffic situation now on and off of Hayling

[@ijusttookapoop1]

i live on hayling island no lies

[@manix1151]

Helen Hines same here

[@v00n2000]

Went to Hayling every summer for our holidays back in the 50s and 60s. There was a holiday camp there, "Sunshine Holidays" or something. Travelled on the steam train from Waterloo, then changed onto the Hayling Billy at Havant.