The Longmoor Military Railway (LMR) was a British military railway in Hampshire that was built by the Royal Engineers from 1903 to train soldiers on railway construction and operations. The railway ceased operation on 31 October 1969.
The Longmoor Military Railway (LMR) was a British military railway in Hampshire that was built by the Royal Engineers from 1903 to train soldiers on railway construction and operations. The railway ceased operation on 31 October 1969.
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Authorised for construction from 1902, activities date from 1903 when an 18 in (457 mm) gauge tramway was laid to assist in removing 68 large corrugated iron huts from Longmoor Military Camp to Bordon.
The railway was relaid to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge in 1905–1907 and was initially known as the Woolmer Instructional Military Railway. It was renamed the Longmoor Military Railway in 1935. The Liss extension was opened in 1933. The stations and junctions included:
An additional loop ran eastwards from Longmoor camp via a station at Hopkins Bridge to Whitehill Junction, completed in 1942. This provided circular running to the line, allowing for improved training without the need to turn trains at the terminals.
As a training railway, it was often being constructed/deconstructed. The layout would often change, and at one time housed a machine which could lay 1,500 yards (1,400 m) of track a day. At its peak, the railway ran to over 70 miles (110 km) of operational laid track and sidings.
The vehicles and stock on the LMR were very much an assortment to give the maximum learning opportunity. Well over a thousand locomotives had associations with the railway, although many only through the need for storage. The same was true of the signalling at the various locations on the line, including an Army version of flag signalling. After the end of World War II, the collection also included captured enemy equipment, including a "Schienenwolf" or railroad plough: a German wagon which dragged behind it a huge hook, used to destroy sleepers and so render railway lines unusable to advancing enemy troops.
In addition to the various military items, there were old versions of standard passenger carriages. A passenger service was operated over the line at various times, nominally for personnel required on the railway, and others from the War Department/Ministry of Defence and their families.
There was only one fatal accident recorded on the line, which occurred in October 1956. [1] [2]
With a declining military role for railways both in Britain and the rest of the world, it was inevitable that the significance of the facilities offered by the LMR would be reduced in later years. Even so, the LMR was still important enough for the tracks of the Bentley to Bordon branch to be left in place when passenger services were withdrawn on 16 September 1957. This line remained in place as, although there was a British Railways connection at Liss, the Bordon branch made it easier to accommodate the movements of military traffic at short notice. In 1966, the movement of goods over the Bordon branch was suspended, and the line was taken up in 1967.
Among those who learned the workings of railways on the LMR, there were a select band who continued in railway-related work after leaving the services. These were the members of the Railway Inspectorate, whose remit is to enquire into the circumstances surrounding British railway accidents. The first Chief Inspecting Officer of Railways not to have been trained in the army was R. J. Seymour, appointed in 1988.[ citation needed ]
The following standard gauge locomotives were in use in 1914: [3]
| Name | Number | Type | Builder | Works No. | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pyramus | 0-6-2T | Hawthorn Leslie | 2879 | 1911 | ex-Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway. Transferred to the Kinmel Camp Railway in 1916. Sold in 1921. Later converted to 0-6-0T and by 1953 was working at NCB Nunnery Colliery. Scrapped 1962. | |
| Thisbe | 0-6-2T | Hawthorn Leslie | 2878 | 1911 | ex-Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway. Transferred to the Kinmel Camp Railway in 1916. Returned to Longmoor around 1917. | |
| Sir John French | 0-6-2T | Hawthorn Leslie | 3088 | 1914 | Supplied new. Transferred to the Kinmel Camp Railway in 1916. Returned to Longmoor after 1917. | |
The following standard gauge locomotives were present in 1947: [4]
| Name | Number | Type | Builder | Works No. | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selbourne | 70204 | 0-6-0T | Hawthorne Leslie | 3531 | 1922 | Out of use, 1947. Left Longmoor by 1948 |
| Gordon | 70205 | 0-6-2T | West Yard Works, Cardiff | WD205 | 1897 | Last surviving Welsh standard-gauge locomotive ex Taff Vale Railway 'O1' class No.28. Purchased by Longmoor Military Railway in 1927. Sold to South Hetton Colliery, County Durham in 1947. Now part of the National Collection. |
| Marlborough | 70207 | 0-6-2T | North Staffordshire Railway - Stoke | 2253 | 1909 | Out of use, 1947. ex London, Midland and Scottish Railway, purchased by the War Department in 1936 |
| Kitchener | 70208 | 0-6-2T | Bagnall | 2587 | 1938 | Out of use, 1947. |
| Daisy | 70228 | 0-6-0ST | Peckett | 1204 | 1910 | Out of use, 1947. |
| Earl Roberts | 72400 | 4-4-2T | Brighton Works | 1908 | Out of use, 1947. LB&SCR I2 class. ex-SR No. 2013 | |
| 72401 | 4-4-2T | Brighton Works | 1908 | Out of use, 1947. LB&SCR I2 class. ex-SR No. 2019 | ||
| 70177 | 0-6-0 | Swindon Works | Out of use, 1947. ex-GWR 2301 Class. Fitted for oil burning. | |||
| 70179 | 0-6-0 | Swindon Works | Out of use, 1947. ex-GWR "2301" class. | |||
| 70195 | 0-6-0 | Swindon Works | Out of use, 1947. ex-GWR "2301" class. | |||
| 70198 | 0-6-0 | Swindon Works | Out of use, 1947. ex-GWR "2301" class. | |||
| Constantine | 71443 | 0-6-0ST | Hunslet | 3207 | 1945 | Austerity class. War Department brown livery. Stored in Fitters School. |
| Brussels | 71505 | 0-6-0ST | Hudswell Clarke | 1782 * | 1945 | Oil-fired Austerity class. War Department brown livery. |
| Ahwaz | 75028 | 0-6-0ST | Hunslet | 2877 | 1943 | Austerity class. War Department brown livery. Fitted with Westinghouse Brakes. |
| Foggia | 75041 | 0-6-0ST | Hunslet | 2890 | 1943 | Austerity class. War Department brown livery. Fitted with Westinghouse Brakes. |
| Jullundur | 75042 | 0-6-0ST | Hunslet | 2891 | 1943 | Austerity class. War Department brown livery. Fitted with Westinghouse Brakes. |
| Lisieux | 75079 | 0-6-0ST | RSH | 7115 | 1943 | Austerity class. War Department brown livery. Fitted with Westinghouse Brakes. |
| Matruh | 75275 | 0-6-0ST | RSH | 7205 | 1945 | Austerity class. War Department brown livery. |
| Foligno | 75277 | 0-6-0ST | RSH | 7207 | 1945 | Austerity class. War Department brown livery. |
| Insein | 75282 | 0-6-0ST | Vulcan Foundry | 5272 | 1945 | Austerity class. War Department brown livery. |
| Maj-Gen. Carl R. Gray Jr. | 93257 | 2-8-0 | ALCO | 71512 | 1944 | USATC S160 Class. [5] later numbered as 700, Scrapped October 1957 |
| Maj-Gen. McMullen | 79250 | 2-8-0 | Vulcan Foundry | 5193 | 1945 | Dark Blue Livery with Red Lining. Did Not Carry Number on naming ceremony, later numbered as 401, Scrapped 1957 |
| Maj-Gen. Frank S. Ross | 94382 | 0-6-0T | Davenport | 2531 | 1943 | USATC S100 Class. [6] Dark Blue with Red Lining numbered as 300 |
| Manipur Road | 75290 | 0-6-0ST | Vulcan Foundry | 5280 | 1945 | Austerity class. Dark blue livery, lined with red and gold. |
The following standard gauge locomotives were present in August 1963: [7]
| Name | Number | Type | Builder | Works No. | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caen | 102 | 0-6-0ST | Hunslet | Austerity class | ||
| Brussels | 118 | 0-6-0ST | Hudswell Clarke | 1782 * | 1945 | Oil-fired Austerity class |
| Tobruk | 156 | 0-6-0ST | Oil fired Austerity class. Renamed McMurdo 1965. | |||
| Constantine | 157 | 0-6-0ST | Hunslet | 3207 | 1945 | Austerity class, stored in Fitter's School in 1963. Back in use for the film The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery as mock LNER J50 no. 68961. |
| Sir Guy Williams | 400 | 2-8-0 | North British | 25205 | 1943 | Main passenger locomotive in 1963, scrapped 1967. |
| Gordon | 600 | 2-10-0 | North British | 25437 | 1943 | Now preserved on the Severn Valley Railway |
| Kitchener | 601 | 2-10-0 | North British | 25643 | 1945 | Under repair at Eastleigh Works in 1963, scrapped 1967. |
| Bari | 876 | 350 h.p. shunter | Derby Works | 1945 | Under repair in Fitter's shop, 1963 | |
| Basra (Formerly Chittagong) | 878 | 350 h.p. shunter | Derby Works | 1945 | Handled daily freight train in 1963 | |
| Hassan | 8227 | 0-6-0 400 h.p. shunter | Ruston & Hornsby | 468041 | 1962 | Worked the early morning passenger service, 1963 |
| 9033 | Wickham Trolley | 6857 | 1954 | |||
| 9034 | Wickham Trolley | 7397 | 1957 | Under repair in Fitter's shop, 1963 | ||
| 17 | John Fowler & Co. | 22912 | 1940 | ex-Swynnerton Royal Ordnance Factory | ||
| 25 DM 51 | Land Rover | 1961 | Converted Land Rover Mark 8 road vehicle (Rover Mark 8 is the military designation for the military 88" Series IIA) |
A notable locomotive based on the LMR was 'Kingsley', an 1886-built 4-4-0 tank locomotive. This had formerly been locomotive No.10 of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway and was the last surviving locomotive from this company when scrapped in 1953. [8]
On 13 October 1956 a passenger train hauled by Class 8F 2-8-0 WD512 was involved in a head-on collision with a permanent way train hauled by 0-6-0 diesel shunter WD877 Bari between Weaversdown Halt and Liss Forest Road stations. Six soldiers who were in a brake van behind the diesel locomotive were killed and eight were injured. The cause of the accident was driver error on the part of the driver of the passenger train, who had entered the section without authority. This was compounded by the signalling arrangements at Liss Forest Road, where there was no trap point to prevent the train entering the section after passing a danger signal. [1] [2]
The signalling system at Liss Forest was single line telephone and ticket. The block man wrote out the ticket even though the work train was still in section. The ticket was exchanged for the one engine in steam key which controlled the section from Liss Forest to Liss. This saved the block man the trip of walking up the platform with the ticket after the work train had cleared. It was a misty day and the passenger train armed with the ticket passed the signal at red which then led to the fatal crash.
In the light of the reducing role of the military and the severely reduced British Empire, it was decided by the Ministry of Defence to close the railway. On hearing of its impending closure, local locomotive preservation groups became interested in acquiring the small but complete rail system, and a bid was placed to purchase LMR along with the airstrip at Gypsy Hollow which would have enabled the production of a unique transport museum. The MOD rejected this proposal, which had been backed by the Association of Railway Preservation Societies and The Transport Trust. However, the Army did offer the last 1½ miles of line from Liss Forest Road to Liss. The offer was accepted, a provisional lease was drawn up and planning permission was sought for developments at Liss. [9]
Unfortunately, the people of Liss did not share this enthusiasm and opposed the planning permission. Several residents raised £9,100 in a successful bid to buy this last piece of line. Longmoor Military Railway closed down with a ceremonial last day of operation on 31 October 1969, though for another two years some locomotives and stock remained on site, and there were occasional movements. Three items of rolling stock (a van, a brake van, and a bogie flat) still remain on the Longmoor site, as part of the FIBUA training village. [10]
Some of the stock of the LMR did pass into the hands of preservationists, for example Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST No.118 Brussels to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, and many relics went to the Museum of Army Transport at Beverley, Yorkshire, itself since closed, with the exhibits transferred to care of the National Army Museum, although mostly held in storage. WD Austerity 2-10-0 locomotive LMR 600 Gordon, resident on the Severn Valley Railway for many years, was donated to the SVR by the National Army Museum in 2008. [11]
Some of the Hunslet Austerity tanks were only ever at Longmoor for storage, and were not used operationally there.
| Name | Location | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMR 600 Gordon (WD Austerity 2-10-0) | Severn Valley Railway [12] | SVR | |
| LMR 500 (Stanier 8F 2-8-0) | Severn Valley Railway | Stanier 8F Locomotive Society | Later BR no. 48773 |
| Woolmer (Avonside 0-6-0ST) | Milestones Museum, Basingstoke [13] | NRM [14] | |
| WD192 Waggoner (Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST) | Isle of Wight Steam Railway [15] | Isle of Wight Steam Railway | |
| WD118 Brussels (Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST) | Keighley & Worth Railway [16] | KWVR | On Display at Oxenhope |
| WD196 Errol Lonsdale (Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST) | Belgium, stoomcentrum Maldegem [17] | Privately Owned | |
| WD197 Sapper (Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST) | Kent & East Sussex Railway [18] | KESR | |
| WD152 Rennes (RSH Austerity 0-6-0ST) | Dean Forest Railway | Privately Owned | |
| WD107 Foggia (Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST) | Ribble Steam Railway | Ribble Steam Railway | Converted to Tender Loco, previously named 'Douglas' |
| WD200 (Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST) | Colne Valley Railway | CVR | |
| WD610 General Lord Robertson (Sentinel 0-8-0DH) | Peak Rail (Darley Dale) | Privately owned | |
| WD878 Basra 350 h.p. shunter | Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway | Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway | |
| Gazelle (Dodman & Co. 0-4-2WT) | The Colonel Stephens Railway Museum [19] | NRM [20] |
With the withdrawal of locomotives from British Railways, a number were being bought by private individuals and groups who subsequently needed somewhere to store their purchases. In 1967 a group was formed called the 'Association of Railway Preservation Societies' (ARPS) and they were able to come to an agreement with the Army that allowed such locomotives to be stored at Longmoor for a nominal fee. [21] The following locomotives were all included in this agreement.
| Number / Name | Class | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| SR 21C123 Blackmoor Vale | SR West Country | Bulleid Pacific Preservation Society [22] | |
| BR 35028 Clan Line | SR Merchant Navy | Merchant Navy Preservation Society [23] | |
| BR 41298 | LMS Class 2MT 2-6-2T | Ivatt Locomotive Trust [24] | |
| BR 75029 The Green Knight | BR Standard Class 4 4-6-0 | Shepherd Railway Preservation Trust [25] | Named upon arrival at Longmoor |
| BR 92203 Black Prince | Class 9F | Shepherd Railway Preservation Trust [26] | Named upon arrival at Longmoor |
| AB 1398 of 1915 Lord Fisher | Andrew Barclay Sons & Co | B.G. Buckfield Esq [27] | |
| BR 30064 | SR USA Class | Southern Loco Preservation Co. Ltd. [28] | Arrived at Liss after the site's Military function had ended. |
The railway was used as the location for a number of films, including The Lady Vanishes (1938), Bhowani Junction (1956), The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), Runaway Railway (1965), The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966), The Magnificent Two (1967) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). [29] [30] It also appeared in Marty Feldman's comedy sketch "The loneliness of the long distance golfer"(1968).
In February 1956, the railway was used to stage a train derailment for the BBC programme Saturday Night Out, when ex-SR King Arthur class locomotive 30740 "Merlin" and three coaches were pushed down an incline onto a specially canted section of track. [1]
Bordon is a town in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It lies in the interior of the royal Woolmer Forest, about 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of Alton. The town forms a part of the civil parish of Whitehill which is one of two contiguous villages, the other being Lindford. The civil parish is on the A325, and near the A3 road between London and Portsmouth, from which it is buffered by the rise of the wooded Woolmer Ranges. Bordon is twinned with Condé-sur-Vire in Normandy, France.
Bentley railway station serves the village of Bentley in Hampshire, England. It is situated on the Alton Line, between Farnham and Alton. The station and all trains serving it are operated by South Western Railway.
Liss is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, 3.3 miles (5.3 km) north-east of Petersfield, on the A3 road, on the West Sussex border. It covers 3,567 acres (14 km2) of semi-rural countryside in the South Downs National Park. Liss railway station is on the Portsmouth Direct line. The village comprises an old village at West Liss and a modern village round the 19th-century station. They are divided by the River Rother. Suburbs later spread towards Liss Forest.
Longmoor Military Railway number 600 Gordon is a preserved British steam locomotive. It was built during World War II to the War Department "Austerity" 2-10-0 design and was the last steam locomotive owned by the British Army. It had the same power output as the Austerity 2-8-0 but a lighter axle load, making it suitable for secondary lines. The middle driving wheels of the class have no flange, to ease turning on tighter tracks.
Liss railway station is a stop on the Portsmouth Direct Line, serving the village of Liss in Hampshire, England, 51 miles 35 chains (82.8 km) down the line from London Waterloo via Woking. As a small station, for most of the day there is one train each way an hour. The station is managed by South Western Railway, which operates all trains serving it.
Bordon Camp was a British Army camp close to the settlement of Bordon in Hampshire, England. The camp, which was latterly maintained by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, opened in 1863 and closed in 2015.
The Melbourne Line was a railway line which ran from Derby to Ashby de la Zouch. It was used by the British Army and Allied engineers during the Second World War from 1939 until late 1944 to prepare them for the invasion of mainland Europe. Engineers practised the demolition and rebuilding of railways and the running and maintenance of a railway line and its rolling stock. There was also a bridge building school at Kings Newton.
Sleaford in Hampshire, England is a hamlet of Headley Civil Parish and the Northanger Ecclesiastical Benefice. It is in the civil parish of Whitehill
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).
Woolmer is a place in Hampshire, England. Woolmer is situated between Liphook and Bordon. The surrounding Woolmer Forest, a Royal forest, is both a Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Oakhanger is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Bordon, 1.7 miles (2.7 km) eastward on the B3004 road. It is part of the parish of Selborne, which covers an area of 7,915 acres (3,203 ha). The nearest railway station is Alton, 3.8 miles (6.1 km) to the northwest; the village had its own Oakhanger Halt railway station on the Longmoor Military Railway until its closure.
Bordon is a former railway station on the Bordon Light Railway which served the town of Bordon, Hampshire, England and its nearby army camp.
Whitehill is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England, on the historic route between Petersfield and Farnham. It is 0.7 miles (1.1 km) south of Bordon and covers an area of approximately 8 square miles.
Hogmoor Inclosure is a large area of wooded heath situated 0.5 miles (0.80 km) west from the town of Bordon and within the civil parish of Whitehill in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. The inclosure is used for army training with various tank crossings scattered around the area. The area is historically notable for its connection with the British Army with large barracks surrounding the area.
Oakhanger Halt is a former railway station, on the Longmoor Military Railway which served Bordon Camp, the station was closer to the camp than Bordon on the Bordon Light Railway. The station is likely to have opened with the line in 1905 but the first documented evidence showing it open is on 14 August 1914 when it was used the Officer Commanding Railway Troops to say goodbye to the first mobilised Railway Company departing for France.
Weaversdown Halt railway station is a former railway station, on the Longmoor Military Railway, which served the eastern side of Longmoor Military Camp. The station did not appear on Ordnance Survey mapping throughout its life and did not have signs on the platform, it was variously known as Weaversdown, Weavers Down and Weaver Down sometimes with the additional Junction and sometimes with Halt.
Liss Forest Road railway station served the hamlet of Liss Forest neighbouring the larger village of Liss, in Hampshire. It is situated adjacent to Forest Road which runs from the A3 to Liss Forest. The road was crossed by a level crossing controlled by a block post, the Army's name for a signal box, which was usually un-staffed unless training was in progress.
Longmoor Downs railway station is a former railway station, on the Longmoor Military Railway serving Longmoor Military Camp. The station was the Southern terminus of the original standard gauge railway opened in stages between 1907 and 1908.
Longmoor Camp is a British Army camp close to the A3 and A325 roads in and around the settlements of Longmoor, Liss and Liphook in Hampshire, England. The main street of the Longmoor part of the camp is built on an ancient Roman road, the Chichester to Silchester Way, while the village of Greatham lies to the west. The combined camp and training area coveres 1,783 hectares of wooded areas, heath, wetlands and hard standings. Longmoor Camp and the training areas are still active, and maintained by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation.
Pinewood or Pinewood Village is an area in Bordon, in the English county of Hampshire. Located in the north of the town, administratively it is in the parish of Whitehill, and the Whitehill Pinewood ward of East Hampshire district. Development of the area started in 1987 on the site of former married quarters at Bordon Camp that from 1970 had been leased for use as council housing and later purchased by the district council. The nearest railway station is Liphook, 4.4 miles (6.5 km) southeast of the village.
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