These wooden set squares which came into the possession of local Havant builders are inscribed: Cut in Leigh Park 1853. The day that George Couzens was killed on the SCR railway commonly called 'Old Brooksey'. 1889 1853 36 years ago Looks bad The remaining words are not readily decipherable. A typed copy of the burial [...]
Terrier inside Fratton depot I was born on 20 October 1930; at the age of 14 I began working on the railway. I worked at the Motor Power Depot in Fratton as a ‘Fitter's Lad’; I would have to run around getting tools and things for the fitter, his name was Bert Gibbs. I was with Bert until [...]
My father was born in 1908. He left school at 14, and worked in the surveyor's dept of our local builder. He was encouraged to get a job with a pension, so applied to Southern Railways and got the job. Later he spent five years trying to shoot German aeroplanes out of the sky. After the war he [...]
The Hampshire Telegraph reported an “alarming accident” at Hayling Island Station on the 31st October 1892. The engine normally employed on that branch was returning from repairs at Portsmouth. On arrival at Havant it was attached to four ’waggons’ loaded with oysters from Whitstable and a break-van. The coaches forming the branch train were standing [...]
An alarming accident happened on the Hayling railway on Monday morning. The engine generally employed on that line had been in Portsmouth for repairs and was returning to Hayling in charge of a Portsmouth driver and fireman, when, on arrival at Havant, four 'waggons' loaded with oysters from Whitstable and a brake van in which rode a porter, were attached to [...]
Portsmouth News December 1891 On Wednesday afternoon a serious accident occurred on the Havant to Hayling railway. A train that starts from Havant at 2.05 left the rails shortly after leaving North Hayling station. Only the engine and part of the first carriage went off the line, the remainder of the train being saved by [...]
On Thursday afternoon the engine belonging to the Havant and Hayling branch line left the metals at Havant Station, thereby blocking the line to the Island for several hours. This is the third time the engine has run off the rails within ten days.
All the major newspapers reported that a very heavy westerly gale had swept across the south of England on Thursday (23rd) with terrific storms being experienced in the English Channel, the most severe for years. "The railway bridge connecting Hayling with the mainland was submerged and when the tide went down it was found that [...]
Railway communication with Hayling Island, South Hants, has been temporarily interrupted. During Thursday night the railway bridge connecting Hayling with the mainland caught fire. So much damage was done that trains are unable to run over it. The fire is believed to have been caused accidentally.
