Bentley and Bordon Light Railway
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The Bordon Light Railway was a short-lived light railway line in Hampshire that connected the Army Camp at Bordon, as well as the villages of Bordon and Kingsley, with the national rail network at Bentley on the main Farnham-Alton line, a distance of 4.5 miles (7.2 km).
Following the end of the Boer War, a number of military camps were established to accommodate the returning soldiers. Amongst these featured "Bordon Camp" which was built on agricultural land near the village of Bordon 4½ miles to the south of Bentley station, and "Longmoor Camp" 4½ miles further south near the village of Whitehill. Two battalions were assigned to Longmoor where they were housed in corrugated huts constructed on soft ground. This led to complaints from the soldiers and in 1903 it was decided to move them and the huts to Bordon Camp. To save costs, a temporary primitive railway line with a 18 in (457 mm) gauge was laid to Bordon to facilitate the move.
The increased military presence at Bordon coupled with its proximity to the national rail network at Bentley led to an application being made on 6 October 1902 for a light railway order under the Light Railways Act 1896 authorising a standard gauge connection from Bentley to a point just west of Bordon village. The application received the backing of the War Department which saw the railway as a means of easing troop movements and bringing supplies to both camps. It was also hoped that the local communities along the line would also be able to make use of the new connection. An agreement for the line's operation was reached with the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR), the operator of the Alton line, with whom the War Department had already collaborated in the construction of the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway in 1901. Under the terms of the agreement, the LSWR would manage, work and maintain the railway, providing the engines, rolling stock and plant.
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