Railway Roundabout 1958 'The Hayling Island branch'

The third of the featured branch lines, the Southern's Hayling Island line, once operated by the well known LBSC A1X Terriers, 2 more of which to follow in the next clip of the 'pre' preserved Kent and East Sussex Railway.
All footage copyright by their respective owners

[@JimTLonW6]

Love to see Terriers at work; one of the all time great locomotive designs.

[@ukoldgit]

I am a little late commenting on this but as a matter of record I am a Hayling Island lad and lived in the first house over the bridge from Havant.
As a lad I could see the old Billy going by from my bedroom window, my playground was underneath the central turntable on the bridge across the langstone harbour crossing, when the train went over, ended up with hair full of rust that dropped from above.
When Beecham closed the line it was stated the bridge was weak and could not be repaired so they cut all the timber baulks off the top of the bridge and asked the Royal Navy to blow up the concrete piers below to provide seagoing navigation.
On the day of the demolition we were all advised to open our windows and doors prior to the explosion, then at the alotted time there was the biggest bang and shock wave you can imagine, result? Well you can still see those concrete piers still standing today, not a scratch on em! Never trust a bluddy expert.

[@fredericksaxton3991]

Beeching. 🙂

[@GeorgeLowther2000]

Stepney also Worked on the Hayling Island branch

[@hugothomas1199]

Ya

[@edwingeorginageorge1311]

Memories when i still drove the engines in Hayling Island Air was very fresh

[@ponymoore6140]

Used to use that when I was a child; we called it, Puffin Billy. So sad that it closed :(

[@fredericksaxton3991]

Hornby used a photo of this 'Puffing Billy' crossing the bridge on the front cover of one of their toy train sales brochures, a long time ago.

[@fredericksaxton3991]

I went on it for a day trip to the seaside in about 1961. 🙂

[@andrewholcroft.1945]

Rode on this as a young boy.

[@MarkMahoney]

Must be great memories! Sadly i didnt have the opportunity

[@debbiebrett6689]

@@clarevoyant6322 I used to ride on this train when I was little.

[@railyatri8891]

Fantastic video brother this is old train I love train

[@MarkMahoney]

Fantastic old railway i went the other day and did a then and now video! Still evidence of the bygone days

[@TheYardLimit]

According to the stroudley and his terriers book by tom middlemass the spark arrestors were later madated for all regular hayling island locos.

[@Apollo_Vanron]

Very nice!

[@robbringbackthe50s10]

I love the typical bbc commentary on this video, so much better than the garbage we hear now shoved down our throats by people who cannot even string a sentence together 😮

[@reveluvvies]

idk apparently they couldn't afford to keep the train running so they left it to rot and get eroded. but station theatre was where the train station was.

[@MarkMahoney]

Yes it was the bridge that needed replacing and the cost was to high :( great little railway thats gone but not forgotten

[@seangreen1243]

Why is there no train anymore what happend whats the story about near the ferry boat there was a bridge or something what happened

[@o.m.b.demolitionenterprise5398]

The wooden bridge was thought by British railways to be to expensive to repair compared to what benefit it would have so they closed the line. The very thing that helped the terriers survive also brought their downfall.

[@ThewhiteE12]

I making A layout of this branch line