Hayling Island branch line

The Hayling Railway in 1864

Hayling Island had long been isolated, situated off the south coast at the eastern side of the island where Portsmouth stands. The soil is good, encouraging agriculture.[1] In 1824 the lord of the manor, Lord Norfolk, had a road bridge constructed at Langstone. Mitchell describes the bridge as frail. For the first time the island had a roadway connection to the mainland; but the poor road system on the island, and the widely dispersed farming settlements meant that transport was still a major difficulty.[2]

In 1847 the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway opened a line from Chichester to Portsmouth, connecting with the route from London via Brighton. There was a station at Havant, but this did little to improve Hayling's commercial position, chiefly because of the poor roads in the general district.[3] In 1858 the Portsmouth Direct Railway was opened; it became aligned with the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and was eventually absorbed by the LSWR. Serious friction developed between the LBSCR and the LSWR and it took some time for ordinary railway business to resume. The LSWR considered Portsmouth to be the only significant population centre in the area and gave little thought to the island.[1]

It was left to local people to promote a railway into the island, and they did so, getting Parliamentary authorisation for the Hayling Railway on 23 July 1860. There would be a substantial timber viaduct at Langstone with an opening section for navigation. The line would continue to Sinah Point, at the extreme western tip of the island; it would cross mudflats passing some distance to the west of the hard ground, and enabling the reclamation of substantial areas of land. In addition, docks were to be constructed at Sinah.[3][4][5][1] Authorised capital was £50,000, but this proved to be very difficult to generate. Nevertheless, a limited start was made, and by August 1864 the first part of the line, as far as Langstone Quay was ready; this was opened to goods trains on 19 January 1865.[6][3][1]

The directors did not lack ambition, for they had obtained a further parliamentary Act on 14 July 1864 authorising an eastward extension from Sinah Point to South Hayling, intending to build a small port there.[3][7][1] However the construction across the mudflats to Sinah Point was turning out to be far more costly than anticipated, and at the same time revenue from the short Langstone to Havant line was disappointing, and construction was soon suspended.[8]

The Hayling Railway in 1867

While the work was at a standstill, Francis Fuller (1807 – 1887) was active in acquiring land on the island. He saw the potential of the island for leisure purposes, including a race track and other amenities. Fuller noted that the railway construction across the mudflats was prohibitively expensive, and he had the line resurveyed, to reroute it across hard ground. He acquired the necessary land himself, and engaged a contractor, Frederick Furness. He got the necessary authorising Act for the change on 12 August 1867. Work had been in progress in anticipation of the Act and Fuller made a private passenger journey on the line on 28 June 1867. An inspection of the line for the Board of Trade, required for public passenger operation, took place on 4 July 1867, but here were numerous shortcomings and approval was refused. The Board of Trade inspecting officer made a further visit on 15 August 1867, and this time approved passenger opening. As well as technical defects there was an unauthorised level crossing at Langstone. As matters developed, the crossing was condoned and never converted to a bridge as authorised.[9] A full public service was begun on 16 July 1867.[10][11][9] This was immediately prior to the first day of a race meeting arranged by Fuller.[12]

The line now terminated at South Hayling (later renamed Hayling Island). The originally intended commercial destination and dock at Sinah Point was no longer in consideration.[10] The sum of £82, 275 had been expended; this can be compared with the original paid up capital of £54,564 with a further £21,300 raised for the South Hayling extension of 1864. This left a debt of £11,321, and the company was forced into the hands of the official receiver in 1869.[note 1][11]

South Hayling station, later Hayling Island station

The train service was operated by Furness, the contractor for the construction. Eventually the company needed to buy capital equipment, including locomotives, and had no means to do so. However the London Brighton and South Coast railway (LBSCR) agreed to lease the line from January 1872, and Furness's operation came to an end. The LBSCR used Stroudley A1 0-6-0 tank engines, known as "Terriers", and four-wheeled coaches.[11][13]

At the time of the LBSCR taking over the operation, the company started to use the name Langston for the station, although the community was and is spelt Langstone.[14]

In the period 1879 – 1901 the timber viaduct at Langstone was renewed.[11] Its low carrying capacity was always a severe limitation on the rolling stock on the line, and caused the small Terrier locomotives to be the mainstay of the engine power fleet. Four-wheel passenger coaches were used.[15]

In January 1907 motor-train working was introduced between Havant and Hayling. This consisted of a specially adapted ‘Terrier’ engine and a third class only auto-train trailer coach. With this arrangement the coach was pulled as normal with the engine in front on the outward journey and on the return journey the coach was pushed by the engine at the rear. This avoided the delay in the engine running round at each end of the run. The driver sat in a small compartment at the end of the coach and controlled the engine regulator by levers connected through the coach, and operated the brake by a brake valve at his driving position. The fireman remained on the engine. Initially there was a mechanical connection for the control, but in 1909 it was changed to a pneumatic system. The single class coach was not popular as it had insufficient accommodation for the heavy traffic in the summer months, so during this period normal train operation was reinstated. In addition the running of mixed trains (conveying goods wagons) were awkward to operate under the push-pull system. In 1916 the use of the motor-train was discontinued completely.[16][15]

Although the line was leased by the LBSCR, the Hayling Island Railway company continued in existence, receiving the regular lease charge. In 1923 however it was absorbed into the Southern Railway under the Grouping of the railways of Great Britain, following the Railways Act 1921.[17]

The road bridge to Hayling Island had a very severe weight restriction. During World War II armaments delivered to the Island had to be dismantled at Langstone and transferred to railway vehicles, for transport by rail over the waterway.[18]

Following the Transport Act 1947, the Southern Railway was taken into national ownership under British Railways in 1948.

Havant Branch locomotive at Hayling Island in 1958

In the early 1950s it was common for the branch to handle 7,000 passengers in a day, on summer Saturdays. There were three holiday camps on the island in 1963.[19] There was no intermediate crossing place on the line, so the routine was that when a train arrived at Hayling, a loaded train immediately departed. The locomotive of the arriving train was released; the passengers having now disembarked, the locomotive shunted its train to the bay platform. It now loaded and was ready to depart on arrival of the next inward train. At Havant there was only a single bay platform, so on arrival of a train there a waiting light engine attached to the Hayling end of the train and departed for Hayling. As it was travelling away the released engine at Havant moved to an engine spur to await the next arrival. Accordingly, two sets of coaches were almost continuously in motion, using three engines. The engines took water at Havant and coaled at Hayling Island.[20][15][21]

In the final years of operation, the branch line passenger service consisted of 15 journeys Monday to Friday, 24 on Saturday and 21 on Sunday.[13]