Beddington Lane 1984

BEDDINGTON LANE

(All 18.10.1984 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK - SOUTHERN REGION SCENE - 1980s

THE RAIL THING WEBSITE

A few shots around Beddington Lane station taken on 18 October 1984. Back in 1984 this was an odd little route in south London, single track and electrified with quaint stations and running rather against the flow of commuter traffic.

It has now all been swept away and replaced by Croydon Tramlink of course.

Haslemere 6.7.1977

HASLEMERE

(All pics 6.7.1977 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK - RAIL THING - 70s UK RAILSCENE

On a warm July afternoon in 1977 I motorbiked up the Portsmouth Direct line, stopping at each station to take pictures. This is Haslemere, a neat station with an extra platform and substantial buildings and canopies. I only caught one train going through sadly!

Haslemere station

Haslemere is a station that from  a small wayside stop has grown into a very busy commuter station over the years. It lies on the Portsmouth Direct line, which was electrified in 1938. The station was opened on 1 January 1859.

It has an excellent service to London Waterloo of four trains an hour, two of them are express services. It is the only station on the Portsmouth Direct line between Guildford and Havant with more than two platforms, platform 3 is used to allow northbound expresses to overtake stopping services.

The station would have become a junction (or will in the future) if the direct line to Midhurst via Fernhurst had opened in the 19th century.

Passenger usage in 2014-15 was 1,785,000 and has been steadily growing year on year.

The Record Shot

LITTLEHAMPTON

(All 21.6.1986 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK - FLASHBACK - LITTLEHAMPTON STATION

BLOG - RAIL THING - SOUTHERN REGION

A succession of pictures taken on 21 June 1986 from the former footbridge at Littlehampton station. This was just before the NSE colours started appearing on trains, and this was just an everyday scene (repeated six times!) Much has now changed, 30 years on. The slam door trains of course have gone, the track layout has been changed and the footbridge has been removed, replaced by a far less photographer friendly one closer to the station.

These days I try to get a lot of atmosphere shots, in an attempt to set the trains within the context of the wider social scene. But I still take plenty of record shots as well. I find the more everyday and mundane the scene the more interesting they become as years pass. Far too many railway photographers take the same shots of steam specials, of the glamorous but slightly fake stuff. Or they pop along to a heritage line and take lots of 3/4 front view shots concentrating on the engine. All the time there are fantastic shots that never get taken!

I also hear a lot of complaints about 'railways not being as interesting as they used to be'. This has always been said, and probably always will be. It's true to an extent of course, but we are all affected by this feeling that we've just missed out. I did just miss out on everyday steam, at least for photos, but I did at least see real steam on action on the network - at Ryde, at Lyminster, at Waterloo. But I got to photograph the class 33s and 50s on passenger duties, the WR diesel-hydraulics on the sea wall at Dawlish, the Bridport branch, Swanage, Okehampton, Kemp Town and a good few other lines that have closed or become heritage lines.

Just get out there and snap and don't complain! Future generations will be grateful that you did, and envy what YOU saw ...

Brookwood 1985

BROOKWOOD

(All 26.6.1985 copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK - SOUTHERN REGION SCENE - 1980s

Brookwood back in 1985 was a fantastic location for sitting back and snapping trains - there were more than enough to burn quickly through a roll of film. These would all have been taken in about an hour back in June 1985. This was during the last year or so of the old pre-Network SouthEast blue and grey. As well as the electrics there were 33 hauled services to Salisbury and 50 hauled services to Exeter (though I seemed to miss them on this occasion).

An added bonus was the architecture of Brookwood station, which was pretty much complete. Brookwood was of course on the last steam main line in the UK, and there was still a slight steam feel to the station. It had also been a junction in the past, for two unusual lines. One ran into the adjacent Necropolis and brought coffins and mourners directly into the huge cemetery, which had two stations. To the north a short branch ran to Bisley, this was a light railway and ran a busy service during the shooting competition. No doubt I'll cover these two lines in the future!

St Denys in 1983

ST DENYS

433

434

(All 28.10.1983  Copyright Steve Sainsbury/Rail Thing)

FACEBOOK - RAIL THING - RAILS OF HAMPSHIRE

RAILFILE - ST DENYS STATION

One of my favourite spiots for rail photography was St Dents, between Southampton and Eastleigh. It was always a busy spot and before electrification of the Portsmouth line had plenty of old school diesel workings, plus anything could appear on the main line! The station also had nice classic buildings and a layout that allowed you to catch anything coming through just by loitering at the end of the up main line platform!

Back in 1983 the Wessex units were still a good way off, and of course class 33 hauled trains with five mark one coaches were commonplace.

More info (from Wiipedia)

St Denys railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

St Denys
St Denys station platforms
Location
Place	St. Denys
Local authority	City of Southampton
Coordinates	50.9220°N 1.3880°WCoordinates: 50.9220°N 1.3880°W
Grid reference	SU431138
Operations
Station code	SDN
Managed by	South West Trains
Number of platforms	4
DfT category	E
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.190 million
2005/06	0.195 million
2006/07	0.202 million
2007/08	0.207 million
2008/09	0.219 million
2009/10	0.214 million
2010/11	0.235 million
2011/12	0.247 million
2012/13	0.263 million
2013/14	0.289 million
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
1 May 1861	First station opened asPortswood
5 March 1866	Station relocated
1 January 1876	Renamed St Denys
National Rail – UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at from St Denys.

St Denys railway station serves the St. Denys and Portswood suburbs of Southampton in Hampshire, England.

Built in 1865, the station is named after the surrounding area, which in turn is named after the Priory of St Denys, a major landmark in medieval Southampton.

Services run hourly to Portsmouth & Southsea and Southampton. These are run by Class 450s. Also, there are hourly services between Salisbury and Romsey, run by Class 158s.

The station is at the site of the junction between the London to Weymouth mainline and the West Coastway Line running between Southampton and Portsmouth. It is currently served mainly by South West Trains, with irregular services operated by Southern. There are four platforms; two on the main line and two on the branch line.

History

St Denys station building (now in private ownership)

The original station was opened by the London and South Western Railway on 1 May 1861 and named Portswood after the small village to the west of the main line. Shortly after, to accommodate the Portsmouth branch line, a new station building was built 0.25 miles (0.40 km) to the south; the relocated station was opened on 5 March 1866. However to avoid confusion with Portsmouth, the station was renamed to St Denys on 1 January 1876.

The station buildings themselves are fine examples of Victorian architecture. The original station building on platform 1 is listed, although it is now privately owned. Platforms 2 and 3 house the waiting room and ticket window, whilst the old station buildings on platform 4 house The Solent Model Railway Group, a local organisation.

Accidents and incidents

• In August 1939, a train overran signals and was derailed by trap points. The accident caused a set of points to move, diverting an approaching boat train. This averted a more serious accident, as wreckage was foul of the route the boat train should have taken.
• On 14 August 1940, a passenger train was derailed due to enemy action. A bomb fell on the line ahead of the train, which was unable to stop in time.
• On 29 October 1959, a passenger train overran signals and was derailed by trap points.
• On 12 December 1960, a passenger train overran signals and was derailed. Two people were injured.