RAF Chilmark

Quote from: CyclingSid on March 29, 2017, 10:15:39

As I am sure you are aware, not the only hole in the ground in Wiltshire. Not sure when the tracks were lifted at Chilmark which was mainly used by the RAF^▸ (11MU). Chilmark was partly a replacement for RAF Fauld (21 MU^▸ ) after the massive explosion in 1944. The quarries at Corsham are probably the best known, used by the army as a central ammunition depot, although also used by the other services. Not sure when the connection to the Great Western main line was lifted. Various surface sites still in use.

I went off on a tangent ... posting here out of tangential interest:

from Andy Gryce / Railway line, Chilmark Quarries / CC BY-SA 2.0 2007
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Railway_line,_Chilmark_Quarries_-_geograph.org.uk_-_906101.jpg

Quote

This was a two-foot narrow gauge railway line that runs between the limestone quarries on either side of the unclassified road that runs between Chilmark and Ham Cross. The back of a 'railway crossing' warning sign can be seen on the other side of the road. The line is disused as can be seen from the way it disappears into the bushes, and is part of the narrow gauge railway of RAF Chilmark, see 905805. On this section bombs were carried for storage into the underground mines of the quarry behind the camera, see 906068.

Railway line, Chilmark Quarries. This is a two-foot narrow gauge railway line that runs between the limestone quarries on either side of the unclassified road that runs between Chilmark and Ham Cross. The back of a 'railway crossing' warning sign can be seen on the other side of the road. The line is disused as can be seen from the way it disappears into the bushes, and is part of the narrow gauge railway of RAF Chilmark, see 905805. On this section bombs were carried for storage into the underground mines of the quarry behind the camera, see 906068.

https://www.wiltshire-opc.org.uk/Items/Chilmark/Chilmark%20-%20Little%20Trains%20of%20RAF%20Chilmark.pdf
Written in 2013, transcript of a 1976 article but with updates to tell us that RAF Chilmark closed in 1995

Quote

For nearly forty years what must be one of the most efficient train services in the country has been operating in South Wiltshire. However, these trains carry no passengers and would-be visitors are discouraged by a high wire fence

Chilmark is a little village in the Vale of Wardour a few miles to the west of Salisbury. Nestling against the nearby Grovely Ridge, and set in a landscape that appears to come straight from a Constable painting, lies a Royal Air Force storage depot that takes its name from the village.

In 1937 it was decided to utilise the old disused limestone quarries – whence, in the dim and distant past, came the stone to build Salisbury Cathedral – for RAF equipment and materials. The location of the caves among woods and hills made them ideal for the purpose, especially as they were deep underground yet were accessible from the valley floor.

The surrounding countryside, wooded and hilly, inaccessible except on foot and well off the beaten track, provided further space for expansion of the unit. There are several separate sites so it was decided to connect them with a narrow-gauge railway which could be constructed and operated in the area efficiently and cheaply. It was then that the Chilmark-Ham Cross-Dinton system came into being.

A spur of standard-gauge track was laid from the nearby London-Exeter main line at Dinton into Ham Cross and along this the stores are brought, in both military and BR^▸ wagons, to the large sheds where they are transferred to narrow-gauge wagons for transporting to all corners of the 350 acre site. Altogether there are 21⁄2 miles of standard-gauge and more than 9 miles of 2ft-gauge tracks serving the three main sites.

https://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/raf-chilmark-underground-ammunition-bunker-wiltshire/
"Copyright 2020" but comments date back to January 2014
Lots of interesting pictures / strong copyright statement so please follow the link - not quoting here

From 2011: https://concreteanorak.weebly.com/raf-chilmark.html

Quote

RAF Chilmark is a huge site with 3 underground quarries, surface bunkers and its own railway line. The quarries were originally dug do extract the limestone rock. In 1935 the quarries closed due to lack of demand for limestone and in 1936 the site was taken over by the MOD for RAF Chilmark.

Chilmark was an ammunitions storage depot for the RAF and closed in 1994.

Trains or trucks could enter the site at the southerly end and unload into huge train sheds with loading platforms that moved the ammunition and bombs onto Chilmark's narrow gauge railway.

The narrow gauge railway ran the entire length of the site and entered the quarries to unload the bombs.

Found at https://1991-new-world-order.fandom.com/wiki/RAF_Chilmark_and_Chilmark_village?file=Chilmark_Military_Railway_-_Telerail

https://youtu.be/VZu1lVZzES4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh5gInToLlk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92FzA-aTVLU

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4227500/incredible-photos-show-abandoned-nuclear-bunker-turned-into-a-2million-a-year-weed-farm-as-three-men-are-jailed/

Quote

THREE crooks who ran a multi-million pound cannabis factory in an abandoned Cold War nuclear bunker were today caged for a combined total of 18 years.

The Wiltshire factory - found during a midnight police raid in the former government property following a month of covert surveillance - was set to flood the streets with £2million worth of the drug each year.

To conclude ... some more interesting pictures at:
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/raf-chilmark-wiltshire-october-2010.54473/