Fovant military railway

[whole diary]

[Marlburian]

Gas training coach, Salisbury Plain c1916

Army recruits were briefly exposed to gas to train them in what to do if they were exposed to it in warfare.

[Marlburian]

Military sidings, Weyhill 1901

(I'm sorting through my photo files of "military Wiltshire", hence the plethora of postings. I'm coming across images that I'd forgotten I had.)

[Clan Line]

I frequently visit the site recommended by PrestburyRoad - it's a fantastic free resource that includes 25in-to-the-mile maps that can be magnified.

Did the maps of Sutton Veny/Codford come from the NLS web site or elsewhere ? I can't seem to find them. I was brought up in that area, as was my father, which is what made them so fascinating. For example, I was never aware of the full extent of the camps alongside the (now) A36 outside Codford below the Aussie chalk badge on the hill side.......... and I went to school in Codford St Mary !!

[Marlburian]

No, I have a collection of maps of southern Wiltshire c1900-1926, and I've been showing sections from the OS^▸ (Ordnance Survey) 1920 1-inch edition "Published by authority of the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries"; I've just checked and can't find it on the NLS website. The very small print notes a third revision in 1913 of the 1865-85 survey, but my edition must have reflected a further revision as it shows all the 1914-18 wartime infrastructure - some of which was being removed by the mid-1920s. And it's in bright, fresh colour as well. So a very happy purchase.

(My very first map acquisition was of a 1926 1/2-inch map covering several counties, including Wiltshire, which I came across when I worked in Civil Service offices (Market Place House, Reading) from 1974 to 1982. That too showed some, but not all, of the wartime infrastructure. It seemed of little use to anyone else, so it found its way to my house.)

[Clan Line]

No, I have a collection of maps of southern Wiltshire c1900-1926, and I've been showing sections from the OS^▸ (Ordnance Survey) 1920 1-inch edition "Published by authority of the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries"; I've just checked and can't find it on the NLS website. The very small print notes a third revision in 1913 of the 1865-85 survey, but my edition must have reflected a further revision as it shows all the 1914-18 wartime infrastructure - some of which was being removed by the mid-1920s. And it's in bright, fresh colour as well. So a very happy purchase.

Clever/lucky you !

[Marlburian]

I might as well add this minor note there> I've just come across a reference to Stockton Crossing Halt, on the Warminster-Salisbury line, said to have been "opened after 1907, this was a private station for the use of workmen" and to have been closed after July 1915. This may have been a short-lived facility for the benefit of workers or troops at Stockton and Sherrington, where there were tented camps late in 1914, with the soldiers going into billets towards the end of the year.

During the Great War "Sir John Jackson specials" ran between Codford and Salisbury carrying Jackson workmen who built hutted camps in the locality, but not many - if any at all - would have been needed at Stockton and Sherrington. A local rail historian had not heard of it, but is canvassing colleagues. A Web search leads only to the name in lists.

I've discussed Stockton with a local railway historian, who has conferred with others, but with no results. He mentioned Upton Lovell Crossing, which prompted me to search my notes,that had this summary of a National Archives file:

On March 14, 1915, an agreement was signed by the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Sir John Jackson's company for the former to provide workmen's trains between Salisbury and Warminster, one a day in each direction, calling at all stations and Upton Lovell Crossing; the contractor would provide metal discs inscribed "Workmen's train Salisbury Codford to Warminster" and would pay the GWR "in respect of any works incidental … to the use of the Crossing for purposes of the said train and the access to and from the same to and from the public roadway", and also the expenses of a uniform, stores and wages "for a man to supervise the entraining and detraining of workmen to the said level crossing and of a signalman and other workman … to protect the said crossing". (NA file: RAIL 252/1800)

One might guess that there was a similar, short-lived arrangement at Stockton, with no platforms at either crossing.

[Marlburian]

Just acquired this postcard showing the Fovant Military Railway inside the camp. In 25 years of researching and collecting, this is the first such image I've come across and I would have overlooked it as there's no caption or publisher's imprint but for the fact that on the back is scrawled "Dispersed at Fovant Camp 6-1-19". In 1919 Fovant was a major demobilisation camp and its railway had much passenger traffic with soldiers arriving and leaving as civilians.

[Marlburian]

Another new acquisition is this 1919 third-class ticket for a soldier travelling on leave from Codford to Salisbury. It cost him 1sh 2d then, equivalent to £2.73 today.  A 14-mile journey. I paid £7.25 for it, plus p & p!

[Marlburian]

Today I re-visited Fovant for the first time in some years with the aim of following the route of the military railway as best I could. A bit disappointing (as is the Whitewicks' video to which there is a link in the first post). Even when knowing (more or less) where to look, I saw hardly any traces. The only suggestion was where the track ran along the eastern edge of the village on a "ledge" carved out of the hillside but now on private properties. About 20 years ago a resident - the aforementioned Peter Adcock - showed me a small stone retaining wall and also a rail embedded in Green Drove  south of Greystones,  that has disappeared. (The public footpath linking Fovant and Greystones was completely covered by crops; it was indicated by a waymark at its western end, but nothing at all at the eastern end, not even a gap in the hedge.)

I was struck by some of the gradients the trains had to tackle. I'm guessing that a camp railway hadn't been intended (elsewhere in Wiltshire they were laid very early in the construction of the camp), but the roads were reduced to quagmires after the very wet winter of 1914-15, leading to a necessary afterthought.

EDIT: Where I vaguely recall the rail to have been was a length of wood that I thought might have been a sleeper, though it looked very rounded. Having consulted Peter A Harding's The Fovant Military Railway,  I see that he too thought it was a sleeper. (After closure, local residents acquired many other sleepers.)