What a fascinating trip to Fawley - a huge thanks to the Three Rivers Community Rail Partneship and to Hastings Diesels for organising it. With a choice of special trips yesterday to Minehead (a lovely town) and to Fawley (at the gates of an oil refinery, with no chance to get off), I chose the latter ...
The Waterside line runs from Southampton Central via Millbrook, Redbridge, and Totton (these being on the main line) to Marchwood, Hythe and Fawley. Passenger services to Marchwood, Hythe and Fawley ceased at the time of Dr Beeching - February 1966 - but oil terminal traffic carried on until just a couple of months ago. The line has now lost its last regular traffic.
Marchwood (population 6,000) and Hythe (population 20,000) are very much part of the Southampton and Solent economic / travel to work area. They're on the west bank of the
Itchen Southampton Water in a band of land that's not included in the New Forest National Park, although there's much opena and beaufiful conntryisde in that band. Fawley and (at the end of the
Itchen Southampton Water)
Calstock Calshot are much smaller and remote. A ferry service with public support runs from Southampton to Hythe, taking a much more direct line that the railway which loops around the top of the estuary. The ferry operates from the peir end at Hythe (historic railway up the pier) to Town Quay Southamtpon - about a km from Southampton Central station. The ferry now operates with a single vessel ... not always easy - I read this morning: " AS FROM TUESDAY 2nd MAY 2017. Please be advised that while our main ferry is having her essential annual survey and refit, we are using a substitute vessel. To access the boat there are steps in to and off of the vessel. Bikes and pushchairs are welcome but will need to be carried on board. Crew will assist if required and requested. This is not a permanent reserve vessel but all that is available for this two week period. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.".
There has been a strong campaign to re-instate a passenger service on the railway, and the logic would seem to be a through service from Fawley or Hythe at least to Southampton Central (main line turnback as Totton blocking the main lines, extra platform having level crossing issues or being in a yard a considerable walk from the main line). Possible service on to Southampton Airport / Eastleigh from where there is logic in it carrying on - as the trains will be diesels - to provide the service for Chandler's Ford and Romsey. There's then further logic in the service supporting Mottisfont Dunbridge and Dean stations and running to Salisbury. All of which could help the operational metrics of the current "Romsey 6" service with its inefficient and long layover of a train at Salisbury, and which leads into a TransWilts interest in linking that service northwards via Wilton, and Westbury to Chippenham and Swindon. I turned up an old copy of the Parkman report the other day ... there may be some new ideas here, but they're also some based on past research data.
With Three Rivers (Romsey Six) and TransWilts services naturally linking, and a resultant service being more beneficial than just the sum of the two benefits, my trip yesterday was an important piece of observation and personal learning, even though I probably looked like just a person out for an interesting and unusual ride.
The line strikes me as being in relatively good condition, based on the smooth ride. I know the Hastings Diesel - the set that was used - very well indeed from my youth, and on poor track they could ride rough bearing in mind their restricted suspension due to narrow tunnels in Sussex. I made a point of riding in a Hastings trailer. However, there are a considerable number of level crossings along the way at lest one of which appears/ed to be manually operated gates, and a passing loop and signal box at Marchwood with mechanically operated pointwork and semaphore signalling. A token is still used for at least the final section from Marchwood to Fawley. I would suspect that under a Network Rail / full National Rail standard, there would be a considerable bill to upgrade the line for regular passenger use, and that elements of such an upgrade would be needed to reduce the cost of staffing for operation, and to reduce the journey time.
As well as commuter / current local traffic potentiail, being on the edge of the New Forest would attract tourist traffic, and the area outside the New Forest - the
Itchen Southampton Water West Waterside Bank - could develop quickly and usefully if it had better pubcic transport links. But the service would undoubtedly abstract traffic from the ferry, and indeed that abstraction could threaten the Ferry and historic railway's survival as an every-day service, and / or increas the subsidy it would need. The Ferry serves Hythe and links to Southampton though and doesn't offer the same onward connections, or indeed West
Itchen Southapton Water opportunities at Fawley and Marchwood that a passenger train service would offer, nor does the ferry offer quite the same robustness of service especially to those with pushchairs, etc.
Pictures all taken yesterday; some are informational shots rather than good pictures!
The full Waterside Story also needs to look at the current bus services on parallel roads, and at the work needed to bring stations up to standard or to re-create them, and perhaps other issues too; take a look up this thread and do not read my trip report in isolation!
Edit to make corrections as seen in text (errors crossed through)
Click on the map to explore geographics
