The History of Stokes Bay Railway Part 5
| Author: Peter Keat | Published: 14th June 2008 22:33 |
Gosport Road Station
The station was opened under the name of 'Stoke Road'. But it appears that by the following year it had had its name changed to 'Gosport Road and Alverstoke' which on 8th November 1866 the company again changed to 'Gosport Road'. This was allegedly to avoid confusion. However over the later years it appears to have caused more problems than it solved. As previously stated the station was very basic and in 1866 a London and South Western committee reported that the board had ordered a cheap cover over the platform.
The conditions, finance and running of the line and pier were always the subject of many boardroom battles between the Stokes Bay Company and the South Western. Eventually plans were made for a 999 year lease from 1st January 1872 at an annual rent of £2.000 and for the LSWR to have the right to purchase the line, as we have already seen, for a negotiated £40.000. This however, did not occur for another three years. The reason for this being a long delay in obtaining, from the war department, over whose land some of the line crossed, a lease at Stokes Bay itself.
As soon as the South Western had settled on a purchase price they began a policy of improvements. £658 was spent on extending the pier, but by far the greatest improvement was in the train service. From May 1879 through coaches were attached to the 14.10 from Waterloo which then became the 'Exeter, Weymouth. Bournemouth and Stokes Bay express'. This traln was usually hauled by two Beattie 2-4-0 locomotives as far as Basingstoke where the train divided. One part going on to Exeter. the other carrying on to ' Bishopstoke (Eastleigh),where the Stokes Bay section was detached and then ran non stop straight down to Stokes Bay pier arriving at 16.36 and thus to Ryde in two hours forty five minutes. This afternoon service lasted nearly forty years but only ran in the summer months.
In addition to the 14.10 the 11.15 and the 15.15 from Waterloo were now listed as 'Southampton , Stokes Bay, Bournemouth and Weymouth expresses.' it must be pointed out that the fast service was only available to first and second class passengers. Third class passengers had to be content with a journey time of four hours until the LSWR allowed third class passengers onto the fast expresses in 1882.
Unfortunately the improvement of the London - Portsmouth -Ryde service and the building of the new terminus station at Portsmouth Harbour with better facilities than Stokes Bay pier saw the beginning of the end for the 'family route' to the Isle of Wight, there were still, however five steamer trips daily over to the island from Stokes Bay.
In early 1885 several contingents of soldiers and marines were entrained at Gosport, Gosport Road. and Fort Brockhurst stations, (St. Vincent barracks at the time was still a marine barracks), in connection with the Sudan expedition. It is recorded that on 17th February of that year strange goings on were afoot on the branch. Lieutenant Wolls of HMS Vernon conducted various experiments by connecting up electric batteries and other instruments to the up line as the 16.30 train left the pier. The plan was to ascertain by reading on a dial the exact position of the train and whether it was in motion or stationary. Further testings were taken during the passage of the down express and the officer, being satisfied with the results, declared his intention of making use of this device on the Suakin-Berber railway.
The station master at Gosport at this time was Mr J.W. Dyson. He also had responsibility for Gosport Road and Stokes Bay pier stations. He was an inventor and was at that time exhibiting models of his patented railway trucks. He died in 1892 after 46 years service with the company thirteen of them in Gosport. His predecessor also had a long term of service at Gosport. He was Mr. Madigan and he was in post for over fifteen years and to round off the story Mr Dyson's successor had nineteen years service at Gosport. So over a period of fifty years the stations in the Gosport area had only three different station masters, one can only assume that the cares of the line did not press too heavily on their shoulders during their respective periods of office.
Gosport Road was gradually improved .and from October 1893 the service timetable listed the station as 'Gosport Road and Alverstoke' again. Then in July 1894 the South Western engineer reported that the whole of the iron superstructure of the pier needed renewal at an estimated cost of £6.610. And this work was duly carried out later in 1896.
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