MODERN HISTORY
It’s been little over 50 years since preservation lost one of its strangest but much-loved preservation centres, as PAUL CHANCELLOR relates.
The esoteric Longmoor Military Railway
Apressing problem for early preservationists was to find a suitable location for their locomotives and stock, ideally with both covered accommodation for restoration and a running line of decent length.
Such sites were in short supply, despite the spate of line closures at the end of the 1960s. One such suitable location was identified as the Longmoor Military Railway; independent of, and therefore not mutilated by, Dr Beeching.
The history of the site, which eventually ran from Bordon to Liss in Hampshire dated back to 1902 when an 18in gauge line was provided to move large huts from the Longmoor military site to Bordon.
Three years later, work started to convert the route to standard gauge, becoming the Woolmer Instructional Military Railway. The line was extended to Liss in 1933 and became known as the Longmoor Military Railway two years later.
Its primary purpose evolved to become an instructional base on both the construction and operation of a railway for military personnel. As it covered such a large area, it also had its own staff passenger service, although this ceased in 1957. With the decline of military operations and also the perceived reduction in importance of rail operations in a war situation, the facility was gradually run down.
Having identified the site as being of potential interest to preservation, a proposal was made that would have involved the establishment of a major transport museum on the site. Although this was rejected by the Ministry of Defence, it instead offered 1½ miles of running line between Liss Forest Road and Liss.
Planning permission was required for this to go ahead – a proposal which did not meet with the approval of the residents of Liss.
All the while, various engines for preservation had arrived at the line and early open days attracted large crowds.
But Longmoor’s preservation era ended almost as quickly as it had begun and there was a formal ending of operations on October 31 1969. However, some of the ex-BR engines stayed on site for a further two years.
The site provided a home for the likes of ‘USA’ 0-6-0T No. 30064, ‘West Country’ No. 34023 Blackmore Vale (both now at the Bluebell), David Shepherd’s BR Standard ‘4MT’ No. 75029 (North Yorkshire Moors) and ‘9F’
No. 92203 ‘Black Prince’ (North Norfolk), Ivatt ‘2MTs’ Nos. 41298 and 41313 (Isle of Wight) and ‘Merchant Navy’ No. 35028 Clan Line (Stewarts Lane).
A number of the locomotives owned by the army also passed into preservation, including giant War Department 2-10-0 No. 600 Gordon, currently out of traffic at the Severn Valley, and it was formally donated to the railway in 2008 by the National Army Museum.
Another modern-day SVR resident from Longmoor is Stanier ‘8F’ No. 48773 – one time WD No. 500.
At the other end of the scale, quirky 0-4-2T Gazelle and 0-6-0ST Woolmer now reside at the Colonel Stephens Museum in Tenterden and the Milestones Museum, Basingstoke, respectively.
Perhaps Longmoor’s greatest claim to fame is its use at the primary location for The Great St. Trinian’s Train Robbery (1966). At least, then, some of its railway history can still be enjoyed, even if not in the flesh.