The History of Stokes Bay Railway Part 3
| Published: 14th May 2008 10:04 |
The History of Stokes Bay Railway Part 3
Eventually the differences between Thomas Brassey and the directors of the company were settled and work continued again on the completion of the line and pier Captain Tyler was invited to return on 30th march 1863 to make another official inspection of the line and the added additional works. The captain noted with pleasure that the extra works which he insisted ( during his last visit) had been put in hand. After a careful inspection he then pronounced the Stokes Bay Line "fit for public working" and at last an opening date for the line could be fixed.
The Opening
On Monday 6th April 1863, after nearly eight years from the first registration the line was at last opened. The first passengers from London left Waterloo at 08.00 and arrived at Stokes Bay pier at 10.55, where they transferred to the ferry "Gareloch" and were landed at Ryde pier fifteen minutes later. It appears that no great opening ceremony was held, however on the previous Monday the Contractors invited the Directors of the Company to a formal lunch.
At this time the connection to Gosport station from the Stokes Bay Line was via a junction facing towards Gosport station, so that trains to the pier from Fareham had to travel to Gosport first and then pull out again to branch off to the pier. this service was usually hauled by the 'Gosport engine' and had no designated locomotive for working of the branch. From the beginning of the service a Beattie 'Nile' class locomotive was the normal 'Gosport engine', in fact numbers 154 'Nile,' 155 'Cressy' and 156 'Hague' more or less finished off their days at Gosport when a Beattie well tank , probably number 250, took over until 1895. The new service was popular with the public, who had waited so long for it to be opened, and on 27th April 1863 "The Times' reported that business was so brisk that second ferry boat had to be purchased.
To begin with the service consisted of five passenger services daily and two Sundays, but the Sunday service proved to be less popular and in May 1863 the service was cut to one a day and later in the year discontinued completely. Problems started to occur at Bishopstoke (nowadays Eastleigh) with the passengers for the pier complaining that they were being left waiting an exceptionally long time by the London and South Western Railway Company, who clearly favoured the Portsmouth route and consequently held the Stokes Bay customers back. The Railway and Pier company complained to the Directors of the South Western but received little encouragement as regards an improvement to the service. The eventual establishment of the Lees Lane/Stokes Bay link went some way to all alleviating the problem, but it is not until July 1863 that we first read of the fares charged on the Stokes Bay line :-
express fares ordinary fares
Single Return Single Return
1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd
s d s d s d s d s d s d s d s d s d
18 0 12 4 30 0 21 8 16 0 10 10 6 4 29 0 20 8
