What lies beneath…

I read with interest Paul A. Lunn’s article ‘Railway Hay Days’ in the September copy of Model Rail, and I was particularly interested in Paul’s mention of the Alton to Basingstoke light railway in Oh Mr Porter. This now-defunct railway is very close to home – literally in my case. My house, along with a row of houses in Whitedown Lane, Alton, sits on the track bed of the railway and my garden has part of the old embankment leading on to Bridge No. 9, which still exists and is partially buried in my neighbour’s back garden.

The land on which my house stands was purchased by the builder from the British Railways Board during the early 1970s. Here are a couple of interesting points about the railway: the 1928 film The Wrecker was about the rivalry between a rail and bus company and featured a stunt where two trains were deliberately run into each other on a curve, which would have been at the end of Whitedown Lane running towards Lasham.

The other point regards Whitedown Lane itself, named, I believe, after the fact that when the railway was being built they had to cut through solid chalk which was striking in its whiteness. The chalk is about 150mm below the topsoil in my garden and makes its presence felt when I’m planting. However, all is not lost. The railway lives on, and trains still run on the track bed. My daughter (12) and I have been building a garage layout over the last 18 months and it’s very much a work in progress. The flooded field is her work, taken from an idea in your November 2018 issue.