The Mid Hants Railway, Watercress Line and Meon Valley Railway 1981

In 1981 , my Father and I walked the entire length of the Watercress Line . The following year we walked the Meon Valley Line in several stages.
The following photographs are a record of how both railway lines where when we walked them.

[@nataliemorgan3524]

What a wonderful adventure, a record of derelict lines now mostly brought back to life....A great tribute to our Dad.

[@landhopper4296]

What a brilliant memory to have of your father, thank you for sharing. And, what an amazing job the Watercress team did and continue to do!

[@robertjcashworth4712]

How wonderful. What great memories for you with your father.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

Thank you.

[@williamchivers380]

WOW, I'm quite amazed as to how completely different it all looked from when you took them cracking pictures in the early 1980s... A whole lot has changed over the past 4 decades for whom that meon valley line appears to be a path, and the watercress line is a terrific 10 miles long between alresford and alton... Jolly well done on this insightful video by the way.

[@petetrundell5454]

I was living in Alresford in 1981. I had no idea the line was accessible all the way to Alton. Sections of the Meon valley line have now been levelled by adjacent landowners which is a real shame as it would make a magnificent heritage railway.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

That's a shame that they are levelling some of the track bed. Thankfully the Watercress line didn't have the same problems as it was largely intact...However it was pretty inaccessible in places in 1981 ...My Father joked that in places it was like an assault course !!

[@_RandomPea]

Agreed, meandering along the river. You can walk most of the meon valley line, it's now a trail down to Wickham. Can't help but feel how much of a missed opportunity it is, but I have read reports that alluded that the cost of maintenance (being it's essentially on boggy silt) was a big reason. These photos you have probably could be of interest to the mid hants railway btw.

[@RichardWells1]

Great memories of special times with your father. Thanks for sharing. The photos brought back memories of the late 1960s when a friend and I walked the Meon Valley line.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

The Meon Vally line must have been so different when you walked it not long after it had Officially been closed !.... Glad it brought back good memories for you.

[@EandEFC]

Walked the line from Meadsted in 1982 with my school railway group happy memories

[@bobingram6912]

Thanks for the memory, we did a sponsored walk from Ropley to Alton and back around about this time and have similar photos👍👍

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

Thats really interesting... you never know...we may have passed each other!!

[@r2trogly]

A very lovely collection of wonderful memories. Love the sound with them.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

Thank you , glad that you enjoyed it .

[@dinmorejunctionmodelrailway]

Thanks for sharing your special day's out with your father and the images of a railway I have visited many times.

[@garycollard1981]

Was good to see the pic of the Wickham platforms, sadly not much left of them now. Last time i saw the platforms at West Meon a couple of years ago all the undergrowth had been cut back so looking like an effort in preserving them. I've walked parts of the Meon Valley trail many times but only recently noticed the remains of a platform where Mislingford goods yard was among the vegetation. Thanks for the video.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

That's really interesting..I'm not sure We were aware of Mislingford goods yard at the time. We did however come across a few artifacts..such as sleepers, bolts old railway signs and even on old railwaymans waistcoat in a Gangers hut! It's always good to take photos. Everything changes in time.

[@markshrimpton3138]

Thank you for sharing these with us. My paternal ancestors lived in the Meon Valley in the the 18th and 19th centuries. They were farmers and benefited greatly from being able to use the railway commercially.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

That is so interesting. The Line and the Meon Valley itself seem to have so many stories to tell. I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

[@FlyingForFunTrecanair]

Delightful - thank you for sharing 😊

[@thomaswhite4344]

Miss you Royal Oak/White Hart Pubs X2 South Harting West Meon Stores/Cafe and Challengers Farnham RIP😭😥😢😿🥺

[@alsmith5604]

Great historic record... especially of how far the volunteers of the MHR have come!!! Thanks for sharing.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

Yes it's true..remarkable work they have done over the years. Always a work in progress ..hats off to them .

[@dukeofaaghisle7324]

Thank you - special memories! I have a photo of Medstead & Four Marks from September 1984 when I visited with my wife, just eight months before we married. It is quite astounding how the station had been brought back to life just a few years after your visit.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

Yes it is amazing . So much dedication and effort. It looks wonderful now.

[@johnmilner0859]

That brought back a lot of memories of both lines. Thank you for sharing.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

I'm glad you enjoyed it and that it brought some memories back. I wish that I could have seen the Meon Valley Line when it was operational !

[@stuartsmith7618]

Amazing video I live in Farringdon and have been looking in local shops to find information and photos on the line from the junction dawn to Farringdon and west meon and so on etc

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

That's really interesting.... strangely there was no picture of Farringdon Station. Perhaps we missed it or there was very little left ! I would be interested to know if you found any evidence !

[@stuartsmith7618]

@@Adrian-jk4kx it appears the line used to go through the trading estate so I wonder if you might have been able to board the trains from there possibly. A pub / hotel up the road towards west meon called the angel had lots of photos of the line but I think they have been taken dawn etc

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

​@stuartsmith7618 that's really interesting..ring's a bell a bit..Perhaps the Station was gone even in 1982 ! It would be nice to gather more old photos together ..wish you luck with your research !

[@TRTX-em8kl]

Thanks for sharing. I visited the Mid-Hants Railway a few years ago and it has come along way.

[@clive8907]

Going back many many years late 1930s/1940s my grandfather often drove this line starting from Guildford to Gosport, and for a while in the late 1940s my father was a fireman on this line.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

That is remarkable. Guildford to Gosport. What great stories they must have had and hopefully passed on some to you.

[@clive8907]

@@Adrian-jk4kx One story about my grandfather again in the 1940s, not sure if it was this line, but if the German Luftwaffe were on a raid to London, he always hoped he could get his train to one of the many tunnels, and stop before they got his train,, after the war he drove the electrics until he retired in 1965.

[@johnjephcote7636]

The Meon Valley line was used in the TV advert for Milk Tray chocolates...all because the lady loves MT ; it was used to test the Sadler Railcar in the late 'sixties.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

That's very interesting .

[@alantraish3368]

Did the tunnels on the MVR in the 1990s . Privett blocked off but West Meon open. Bottled going thru it😊

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

I think we also got spooked on the curved one ! No light at the end of that particular tunnel ! So went over top as we had no torch !

[@buckholdboy967]

In the days before technology sucked the energy from the youth.Great pics.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

Very True but quite sad! Glad you enjoyed it .

[@ross.venner]

Thank you for the memories. I lived in Fareham and recall the distress in the community at the closure of the Meon Valley Line. Perhaps the first local event which registered with me, apart from the Queen sweeping along the A27.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

That's really interesting . I'm sure many people along the line were also saddened at the closure especially in 1958 when car ownership was probably a luxury for many !

[@jerryhayes9497]

Excellent video thanks 👍

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@thebrummierailenthusiasts5329]

A lot has changed because the preservation group moved in and brought this line as a heritage line and has been a heritage railway ever since the preservation group brought the line

[@marmion150]

See "Model Rail" No.315 August 2023, for a feature on West Meon viaduct.

[@user-ic8jd2fi9j]

In Book 4 of THE GEORGE MIRACLE STATIONMASTER series, the Royal Train parks in the yard behind Droxford Station two days before the D-Day landings. I've never seen footage of the line. Many thanks.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

You just jogged my memory from all those years ago! I remember my Father saying something like that around the time we walked it.. really interesting ..Thanks.

[@garycollard1981]

I've walked on the Meon Valley trail many times. Great to see the pics. How overgrown West Meon Station platforms are in your pic to being cleared and kept for posterity now. Shame Wickham station platforms have not survived so well, very collapsed now and buried by undergrowth. You can walk through there and not know the platforms are there. I stumbled across the remains of a platform where Misslingford goods yard was just a couple of weeks ago. Walked past there many times and never knew it was still there.

[@tree267]

It would be easy to remove the magenta colour cast on these pics, and make them like how you saw it at the time

[@merccadoosis8847]

Awesome pics. But I wonder, how did those tracks keep from getting flooded (esp in Spring & Summer) which would have disrupted train service? If those tracks froze over in Winter, how did service continue? Must have been a great ride but, somehow, I wonder how those hazards were avoided.

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

That's an interesting thought. But the Little River Meon which was never far from the line was a Chalk stream. So it was never really affected by flooding . The chalk beds act as a kind of sponge and the stream was fed from the water table rather than tributaries etc or so I understand!!

[@thomaswhite4344]

For breaking into the buses and blaming another person I am banned from using the buses ever again