Military service and movie memories
STEPHEN ROBERTS traces the route of the former Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire, revealing its military history and the part it later played in a number of films and TV programmes
Bentley is a stop between London Waterloo and Alton. Built in 1854, two platforms suffice today. But there was once a third branch platform, for the Bentley-Bordon Light Railway. Today it may seem quiet, but Bentley’s residents once achieved TV docu-drama fame in The Village (1993-2001).
The Bentley-Bordon Light Railway was built by the London and South Western Railway, under a Light Railway Order of October 1902. Construction finally began in the summer of 1904, and the 4½mile line was completed in just 18 months, with the railway opening in December 1905.
There was one intermediate halt (Kingsley Halt, opened in March 1906), with a steam railcar service H13 class No. 9. Later, there would be 2-2-0T motor tanks and trailer cars.
The Bordon terminus had corrugated iron buildings, including goods and locomotive sheds (the latter was abandoned in 1951), plus a stationmaster’s house and ten terraced houses for staff. Nearby Bordon Camp provided the line’s raison d’être, and explained why its station accommodated up to four tencoach trains.
Traffic increased during the First World War - four special trains would leave Waterloo for Bordon on Sunday evenings in 1916, and a large proportion of the branch’s goods traffic was exchanged with the Longmoor Military Railway (LMR).
The regular passenger service on the light railway ceased in September 1957. But with
track still in situ, the Bordon branch continued to assist the military, making it easier to accommodate movements at short notice. This ceased with the line’s final closure in 1966, although that may not be the end of the story - the Association of Train Operating Companies’ 2009 Connecting Communities report argued for restoration of the line, with a new station at Bordon.
Longmoor Camp was initiated in 1900, providing accommodation for soldiers returning from the Boer War. Railway activity on the LMR was slightly ahead of its northern light-railway neighbour, with the Royal Engineers employed on railway construction duties from 1903.
Ultimately, the LMR would provide training for soldiers on railway construction and operations, but initially there was just a narrow gauge line (18 inches) built to remove corrugated iron huts from Longmoor to Bordon, five miles away. Ingeniously, these cumbersome loads had trolleys running on a pair of parallel tracks, some 24 feet apart. A steam winch and cable propelled the trolleys, with the fastest time between Longmoor and Bordon being around one day.
It wouldn’t be long before a proper standard gauge line was laid (from 1905, and which was ready by 1907). This headed north from Longmoor Camp towards Bordon, where the LMR had its own station (Oakhanger, which was closer to Bordon Camp than the LSWR station). A connecting line was constructed from Oakhanger to an LMR station at Bordon, adjacent to the LSWR one.
With the LMR connected to the north, it made sense to achieve the same in the south. Work began on the 3½-mile Longmoor-Liss extension in 1924, although it would take until 1933 for it to open.
A full service was thus achieved between Liss, Longmoor and Bordon - a total of eight miles. (Liss is still an operational station on the London-Portsmouth line.)
Theoretically, anyone could travel on the railway, free of charge. If this sounds too good to be true, there was a downside - you required a ticket stating that you travelled entirely at your own risk.
The LMR became a busy enterprise - in 1933, it had 22 officers and 385 personnel of other ranks. They had six engines and more than 100 coaches and wagons to tend, including ex-ambulance train vehicles returned from France and the First World War.
During the Second World War, on
some days more than 800 wagons were exchanged with the Southern Railway at Liss. At its peak, the railway had over 70 miles of track (including sidings), but a declining military role for Britain after WW2 led to reduced facilities.
Personnel learned to build and operate a railway - preparation for doing this overseas in a war zone. Intriguingly, as a training railway, parts would often be deconstructed and then reconstructed, and at one time there was a machine that could lay 1,500 yards of track in a day.
There were three different departments dealing with railway construction, operation and workshop practice. More than 40 different trades were taught, as well as railway clerical work. Soldiers also learned how to blow up a railway. And it wasn’t just the military being trained - the railway inspectorate also used the LMR for training.
After the LMR closed in 1969, some locomotives and stock remained on site for up to two years. Preservationists sensed an opportunity, but the MoD showed little interest and rejected approaches, other than offering 1½ miles at the Liss end. However, this was rejected by residents.
Artist and preservationist David Shepherd needed a site for two recently acquired locomotives, but the LMR didn’t work out, which proved auspicious for what would become the East Somerset Railway.
A part of the LMR was leased for a year, but by 1971 any lingering hopes that preservationists had of turning this unique site into a heritage centre had been extinguished, and all remaining locomotives were removed. At least nine locomotives and one diesel ended up being preserved, however, while three items of rolling stock were allegedly retained as part of a FIBUA (Fighting in Built-Up Areas) urban warfare training village.
I began my exploration at the northern end of the one-time Bentley-Bordon Light Railway, at Bentley (the station between Farnham and Alton). I planned to head south to Bordon, and then into LMR territory, ending my journey at
its southern end at Liss. I knew I would find National Rail at either end, but what would I find in between? With the military presence, would there be large chunks off-limits?
Bentley is just over four miles south-west of Farnham (the village centre and station are separated by the main A31). It is the quietest station on the line - alternate trains stop at Bentley, so the regular half-hourly service becomes hourly here. Although there are two operational platforms, most trains use Platform 1 (Platform 2 is used at peak times, when Bentley acts as a passing loop). The Bordon branch platform was beyond Platform 2 and is still discernible.
There was one intermediate stop on the light railway, at Kingsley Halt. This was just north of the B3004, where the line crossed Sickles Road, just before a T-junction with ‘The Straits’. The halt has been demolished but the crossing is still there, overlooked by Crossing Gate Cottage.
Bordon was both the southern terminus of the light railway (which connected Bordon Army Camp and surrounding villages with the Farnham-Alton line), and the northern terminus of the LMR (adjacent to the LSWR station, 1905). Passengers changed at Bordon to switch from one line to the other, so Longmoor Military Railway patrons accessed the National Rail network via the Bordon Light Railway.
The LSWR station was on the west side of Old Station Way, off Oakhanger Road. An industrial estate now occupies the railway site, which featured railway cottages and a stationmaster’s house (at the far end, where the tracks would have headed into the station). On the east side was the LMR station.
A little further along Oakhanger Road is the Bordon Military Cemetery (Bolley Avenue), a poignant reminder of the work in which the personnel here were involved. Oakhanger Road leads into Station Road, where stands the Garrison Church of St George. Military landmarks abound.
To reach Oakhanger Halt, half a mile away, the line turned through 180˚ as it left Bordon heading north (same as the LSWR line), then turned back on itself to reach Oakhanger and the start of its southward journey down the LMR. The halt was on the north side of Oakhanger Road, just before it became Station Road, with the line crossing the road here and heading south.
Oakhanger Halt supposedly served the village of Oakhanger (which was closer to Bordon station), yet Bordon station was further away from its eponymous camp than Oakhanger Halt.
There was a single platform on the west side of the loop, with an ungated level crossing at its south end for the B3002 Bordon-Lindford road. Crossings had a soldier on guard controlling traffic - this was no ordinary railway. From the loop a siding ran off into the camp, while half a mile after Oakhanger another long siding left the main line, with sidings from this heading into Bordon Camp stores. A steep descent through woods followed, then - just before Whitehill - the line passed under an overbridge (the only one on the railway).
Whitehill station served the village of Whitehill, and had a small platform on its west side. This was the northern junction for the Hollywater branch, which looped east and made a triangular junction with the eastern track on the main line.
Signalling involved rudimentary use of red and green flags, with trains accessing either the western ( Woolmer) or eastern (Hollywater) loops. The main line between Whitehill and Longmoor (via Woolmer) was double-track, but only worked double when training was
in progress. After Whitehill, the main line continued for a half a mile south to Two Range Halt.
The need for common sense is spelled out by military signage that leaves little to the imagination: “Danger MOD Training Area”; “Do Not Touch Suspicious Objects”; “Military Firing Range. Keep Out”; “Danger. Do not touch any military debris. It may explode and kill you”. I found concrete blocks (tank-traps from WW2) and Number One Rifle Range, close to where an older form of weaponry was being practised… archery. It seemed that if a UXB didn’t get me, a stray arrow might.
Two Range Halt took its name from Number Two Rifle Range and had its own box (Two Range Halt Box), which controlled access to Whitehill Yard (opened during WW2). By the early 1960s this yard had closed, and the tracks were covered with bushes and brambles.
Woolmer station served the hamlet of the same name and had two staggered platforms, with another box controlling the southern entrance to Woolmer Yard, which had five sidings running parallel with the main line and converging on the earlier Two Range Halt Box. It’s still possible to see the old trackbed north and south of Woolmer station.
Hopkins Bridge, Hollywater and Griggs Green were on the eastern loop, which first opened in the early 1930s, was lifted, and then re-established in 1942. It enabled circular running, which permitted better training and negated the need to turn every train at one of the terminals. At Hollywater the platform was constructed from old sleepers, and track on the branch was always in worse ‘nick’ than on the main line.
The original terminus (and largest station) was at Longmoor Downs, which served Longmoor Military Camp. The station was separated from the rest of the camp by the Liphook-Greatham road, and had a large island platform between several tracks, with a brick signal box in the middle. This box had an 80-lever interlocking frame, and controlled lines in five directions. The main line to Liss headed east, the main line back to Bordon went to the north west, Longmoor Yard was south east, and to the west was a siding into the Engineer Stores Depot. Finally, the Hollywater branch headed off north east.
The station had two tracks arriving from the north and three from the south. All converged at the station’s west end. An indicator in the station showed whether the line north to Whitehill was being worked single or double. The line crossed the east end of Longmoor Yard on a single span girder bridge, and the B2131 Liphook-Greatham road via a crossing. That B2131 is now the A3. After the station, there was a long right-hand curve connecting Longmoor and Weaversdown.
The Liss extension was added in 1933. Weaversdown Halt was a terminus off the extension, constructed to serve the eastern side of Longmoor Camp, where previously there had only been a passing place at the hamlet of Weaversdown. For straight-through runs between Longmoor and Liss, the loop into Weaversdown would be locked. The signalling system here was dismantled by the early 1960s.
Liss Forest Road served the hamlet of Liss Forest, and was just 1¼ miles from Liss. The station was by a small road leading to the village. There was a level crossing here, a passing loop, a pair of platforms, a signal box, and a spur to a sand drag (safety siding)