**** From the Author's original 4-Star Award Winning Site ****

Table of Contents

Backtracking

An Introduction to this History

There were many influences on the way the railways around Basingstoke developed, both in growth and in decline. Different routes were built by different companies, for varying reasons, some positive, others, it must be said, negative. Naturally, the lie of the land played its part, as did the goods to be transported. The main business of railways is and was carrying people. Even so, within a few miles of Basingstoke, lines were built to carry cargo from biscuits to bombs to bricks (both collecting and delivering!) This history aims to record the development, and the factors behind it.

I have used sketch maps in historical sequence to document the changes in the railway system, while text (with footnotes) follows the development topic by topic. Each of the lines passing through Basingstoke is covered in the text, and there are extra sections which cover the general history of the railways over the past century and three quarters, the military railways in the neighbourhood and the background to the changes which Privatisation have brought to the railways. Those lines shown on the maps which did not pass through Basingstoke are, with the exceptions just referred to, not covered in the text sections.

Dates given in the text and maps have generally been verified by reference to several sources (a list of these and other relevant reading material is included in the Bibliography). Sometimes sources disagree as to the dates when events happened. Mistakes aside, this can partly be explained by the different style and emphasis of each author, but a more significant factor is how one actually determines that a railway is "open" or "closed". For openings, modern practice is to include new stations in timetables before they are open, with a note saying that they are expected to open during the life of the timetable; sometimes they do not. In the past, stations like Newbury Racecourse could be open for several years before first appearing in a public timetable. Closures present different problems: a line might be closed to passengers, but not to goods; or to both, but the track left in place. Even in the extreme case where the track is taken up, there is one line in the area for which this was not the end of the story. Consequently, if you have reason to doubt dates I have quoted, I would be pleased to learn from you.

The impetus for drafting this history was an invitation to speak about the local railways to the Probus group in Basingstoke in September 1995. Whilst Basingstoke is not a particularly large town, it has a complex railway history, which could not be completely covered in a short talk. These web pages provide background information for those wishing to know more. I hope that readers will find something of interest in this history; I certainly discovered much that was new to me while researching it.

Return to Table of Contents