I don't think we've had anything like this before...
[FONT="]The Pre-Preservation Era[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]Taken from A History of the Meon Valley Railway by Ted Barker
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]The Meon Valley Railway was built at the start of the 20th century to connect the market towns of Alton and Fareham in Hampshire. Completed in 1903, the railway was the last in Britain to be built to mainline standards. Although it has only ever had a single track, the line was originally built with tunnels and bridges capable of supporting double track, in hope that the railway would one day produce enough business to justify the addition of double track.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]In reality the railway soon began to struggle; the tourist trade to Stokes Bay did not grow as hoped nor did military traffic, even during the two world wars. In 1915 the express services from London were suspended and never reinstated. In 1931 the railway lost its direct connection with the Alton-Winchester line during rearrangement of Butts Junction. [1] After this point the Meon Valley Railway effectively became a branch-line route the traffic of which was steadily being drained by competition from rural bus services. When the line was not electrified in 1937 and traffic failed to pick up during the war years, the fate of the Meon Valley Railway became inevitable.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]The era between the wars brought about major changes in the MVR’s rolling stock; Drummond L12s and M7 tank engines (both engines can be seen in operation on the MVR and Mid-Hants Railway today [2]) were the main stay of the line during this period. Occasionally special trains brought alternate traffic such as when Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower met at Droxford station to finalise the plans for the D-Day invasion of Europe.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]The period after the war brought further decline in traffic and as a result of British Railway’s Modernisation Program, it was decided the line would be closed to passengers in February 1955. When news of this was released however, a concerted campaign by local businesses and residents managed to keep the railway open through 1955. They were helped it should be noted by a clause in the Act of Parliament that had authorised the Meon Valley Railway that meant it technically could not be closed. [3] Frustrated, British Railways reinstated the passenger service but very few trains ran and passenger numbers fell further. When BR decided to end the passenger service along the whole length of the line in January 1956, there was no significant local opposition.[/FONT][FONT="] When the last train left Alton for Fareham on December 30th 1955 [4], it seemed as though the Meon Valley Railway was about to vanish into history. Thankfully however, a dedicated band of volunteers were already planning to save the line from closure along with Britain’s rapidly disappearing steam heritage.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Footnotes:[/FONT]
[FONT="][1]: Butts Junction is a former junction just outside Alton station. Until 1931, it was possible for a train from London to cross directly from the Alton line to the Meon Valley Railway. When Butts Junction was re-arranged however, a train now had to back up onto the MVR line after leaving Alton. Butts Junction still exists in OTL but was effectively rendered defunct by the closure of the Basingstoke Light Railway and the Meon Valley Railway.[/FONT]
[FONT="][2]: In OTL unfortunately, none of the Drummond L12s survived into preservation and only two M7s. ITTL, two L12s survived into the preservation era (all on the Meon Valley Railway) and five M7s (one at the National Railway Museum, one at the Swanage Railway and three on the Meon Valley Railway)[/FONT]
[FONT="][3]: A similar clause was inserted into the Act of Parliament for the Bluebell Railway. As ITTL, the clause was enacted and managed to keep the railway open for a few more years but did not increase passenger traffic.[/FONT]
[FONT="][4]: Ironically enough, the last train was one of the busiest the railway had ever seen with the M7 tank engine struggling to cope with the workload.[/FONT]
[FONT="]And now for something totally different[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sir[/FONT]
[FONT="]The continued difficulties of the restoration of the Mid Hants Railway would be resolved if responsibility for the reconstruction was totally turned over to the Meon Valley Railway Preservation Society. The Mid Hants Railway continues to prove itself unable or unwilling to begin the work on reconstructing the line between Itchen Abbas and Winchester and between Alresford and Ropley while the MVRPS has successfully completed the stretch of the line between Alton and Ropley. Unless new management is placed in charge of the operation, then the Mid Hants Railway may either never be completed or lost forever. Let us remember that Hampshire County Council has placed a deadline for the Mid Hants to be completed as June 2011...[/FONT]
[FONT="]Yours Sincerely[/FONT]
[FONT="]25th September 2008[/FONT]
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So there you have it. The start of what I believe is AH.Com's first timeline of a preserved steam. Hopefully this will last longer than my other timelines...
[FONT="]The Pre-Preservation Era[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]Taken from A History of the Meon Valley Railway by Ted Barker
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT="]The Meon Valley Railway was built at the start of the 20th century to connect the market towns of Alton and Fareham in Hampshire. Completed in 1903, the railway was the last in Britain to be built to mainline standards. Although it has only ever had a single track, the line was originally built with tunnels and bridges capable of supporting double track, in hope that the railway would one day produce enough business to justify the addition of double track.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]In reality the railway soon began to struggle; the tourist trade to Stokes Bay did not grow as hoped nor did military traffic, even during the two world wars. In 1915 the express services from London were suspended and never reinstated. In 1931 the railway lost its direct connection with the Alton-Winchester line during rearrangement of Butts Junction. [1] After this point the Meon Valley Railway effectively became a branch-line route the traffic of which was steadily being drained by competition from rural bus services. When the line was not electrified in 1937 and traffic failed to pick up during the war years, the fate of the Meon Valley Railway became inevitable.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]The era between the wars brought about major changes in the MVR’s rolling stock; Drummond L12s and M7 tank engines (both engines can be seen in operation on the MVR and Mid-Hants Railway today [2]) were the main stay of the line during this period. Occasionally special trains brought alternate traffic such as when Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower met at Droxford station to finalise the plans for the D-Day invasion of Europe.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]The period after the war brought further decline in traffic and as a result of British Railway’s Modernisation Program, it was decided the line would be closed to passengers in February 1955. When news of this was released however, a concerted campaign by local businesses and residents managed to keep the railway open through 1955. They were helped it should be noted by a clause in the Act of Parliament that had authorised the Meon Valley Railway that meant it technically could not be closed. [3] Frustrated, British Railways reinstated the passenger service but very few trains ran and passenger numbers fell further. When BR decided to end the passenger service along the whole length of the line in January 1956, there was no significant local opposition.[/FONT][FONT="] When the last train left Alton for Fareham on December 30th 1955 [4], it seemed as though the Meon Valley Railway was about to vanish into history. Thankfully however, a dedicated band of volunteers were already planning to save the line from closure along with Britain’s rapidly disappearing steam heritage.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Footnotes:[/FONT]
[FONT="][1]: Butts Junction is a former junction just outside Alton station. Until 1931, it was possible for a train from London to cross directly from the Alton line to the Meon Valley Railway. When Butts Junction was re-arranged however, a train now had to back up onto the MVR line after leaving Alton. Butts Junction still exists in OTL but was effectively rendered defunct by the closure of the Basingstoke Light Railway and the Meon Valley Railway.[/FONT]
[FONT="][2]: In OTL unfortunately, none of the Drummond L12s survived into preservation and only two M7s. ITTL, two L12s survived into the preservation era (all on the Meon Valley Railway) and five M7s (one at the National Railway Museum, one at the Swanage Railway and three on the Meon Valley Railway)[/FONT]
[FONT="][3]: A similar clause was inserted into the Act of Parliament for the Bluebell Railway. As ITTL, the clause was enacted and managed to keep the railway open for a few more years but did not increase passenger traffic.[/FONT]
[FONT="][4]: Ironically enough, the last train was one of the busiest the railway had ever seen with the M7 tank engine struggling to cope with the workload.[/FONT]
[FONT="]And now for something totally different[/FONT]
[FONT="]Sir[/FONT]
[FONT="]The continued difficulties of the restoration of the Mid Hants Railway would be resolved if responsibility for the reconstruction was totally turned over to the Meon Valley Railway Preservation Society. The Mid Hants Railway continues to prove itself unable or unwilling to begin the work on reconstructing the line between Itchen Abbas and Winchester and between Alresford and Ropley while the MVRPS has successfully completed the stretch of the line between Alton and Ropley. Unless new management is placed in charge of the operation, then the Mid Hants Railway may either never be completed or lost forever. Let us remember that Hampshire County Council has placed a deadline for the Mid Hants to be completed as June 2011...[/FONT]
[FONT="]Yours Sincerely[/FONT]
[FONT="]25th September 2008[/FONT]
-----
So there you have it. The start of what I believe is AH.Com's first timeline of a preserved steam. Hopefully this will last longer than my other timelines...