Bishops Waltham branch
| Bishops Waltham branch | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Type | Heavy rail |
| Status | Closed |
| Locale |
Hampshire South East England |
| Stations | 3 |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1863 |
| Closed | 1962 |
| Operator(s) | London and South Western Railway |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 3.8 miles |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
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The Bishops Waltham branch was a railway line in Hampshire, England. It ran from Botley on the Eastleigh-Fareham line to Bishops Waltham. The line was opened by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) on 1 June 1863, closed to passengers on 31 December 1932 and finally closed to freight in 1962. A small part of the line is still in use at the Botley end to serve an aggregate depot.
The line followed the course of the River Hamble for most of its route, and was simply built with single track and a few under-bridges. There was a small station halfway to Bishop's Waltham called Durley Halt that opened in 1910, but traffic was always light.
Several other railways were proposed in the area in the 19th and early 20th centuries but these proposals came to nothing.
The branch had its origins in a much grander plan put forward in the early 1860s. A group of businessmen in the Southampton area proposed a railway running across eastern Hampshire into Southampton. They were led by Arthur Helps, a prominent national figure (he had recently been made Clerk of the Privy Council) and writer. He owned an estate near Bishops Waltham and had financed the creation of the town's Coke & Gas Company and a brickworks. The aim of the Bishops Waltham, Botley & Bursledon Railway (BW,B&BR) was to link the proposed Petersfield & Midhurst Railway to the main line into Southampton which was owned by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). The LSWR was a large and established company having built the South Western Main Line between London and Southampton in the 1830s. The promoters of the Bishops Waltham Railway, like many similar small railway undertakings, hoped to arrange for the LSWR to operate the line once it was built in return for a share of the takings.
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