Background By the last decade of the nineteenth century, the railway map of Great Britain was already mature, and there were few gaps waiting to be filled by speculators. In 1852 the
London and South Western Railway had reached Alton, from
Brookwood on the
London to Southampton main line, and the
Mid-Hants Railway was opened in 1865, continuing from Alton to
Winchester. There were a number of proposals for railways in the
Meon Valley in the middle and late 19th century; its south-westerly orientation suggested a direct line to an area west of Portsmouth, but successive schemes came to nothing. Nevertheless in 1895 a line was promoted to connect the
Great Western Railway at
Basingstoke to
Portsmouth, in part using the Meon Valley. The agricultural district through which it was to run was not prosperous, and the northern part of the area is rather poor for farming, but the promoters urged the idea of national defence, requiring rapid connection with Portsmouth in the event of war. The cost of the line would be £2,000,000. The incumbent railways at Portsmouth were the London and South Western Railway and the
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR). These companies had established main line connections between London and Portsmouth, and after a period of intense mutual hostility, had formed a working arrangement that suited them and which they did not want to have disturbed. A line that would give the Great Western Railway access to Portsmouth was greatly undesirable to them. There are conflicting reports whether the GWR actively encouraged the proposals, but in any case the parliamentary bill failed in the
House of Lords on the grounds that the scheme was too costly in relation to its benefit.
Authorisation of the Meon Valley Railway So far as the Fareham connection was concerned, the LSWR progressed a scheme for a railway down the Meon Valley; it was successful in Parliament and the '''''' (
60 & 61 Vict. c. xxxv) was passed on 3 June 1897. It was to run from a junction west of Alton to another junction north of Fareham, joining the Gosport branch of the original
London and Southampton Railway there. The line was conceived as a main line, and the Directors stated that it would be designed so as to be suitable to carry express trains from London via
Aldershot to Southampton, Gosport and Portsmouth. In anticipation of the development of a new, and busy, main line, the
Farnham to Alton section of the existing LSWR network was doubled in 1901. The line was constructed two tunnels, Privett Tunnel, 1,056 yards, and West Meon Tunnel, 539 yards, and a viaduct at
West Meon, with four wrought iron lattice arches of 56 feet span. The summit of the line was 519 feet above sea level.
Construction and opening Construction began in 1898, with the first sod being cut just south-east of
Farringdon. There was no public ceremony, but anyone was allowed a free one-way trip to the adjacent station. The total cost of construction, including the Fareham deviation line, was £399,500.
Early operation Waterloo to Gosport through trains were mostly hauled by Adams "Jubilee" Class 0-4-2 locomotives and the Alton-Fareham only were firstly Adams 4-4-2 Radial Tanks - the engines were turned on the triangle at Gosport and at Alton a turntable was provided.
Knowle tunnel and junction The Meon Valley line joined the original Gosport branch of the former London and Southampton Railway at Knowle Junction to reach Fareham station. That line passed through Knowle Tunnel, which had given extraordinary trouble during the earlier construction. The tunnel continued to present difficulties, and as the Meon Valley Line was intended as a first class main line, a deviation line avoiding the tunnel was in the course of construction. On 2 October 1904 the deviation was brought into use for up trains (going away from Fareham), and the line through the tunnel was singled, being used only by down trains (towards Fareham). Double track was laid on the deviation line, and from September 1906 all trains used the deviation, and the tunnel was closed temporarily while major repairs were carried out. On 2 June 1907 a single line only was opened through the tunnel to carry all up and down Meon Valley trains, and all connections at Knowle were removed. Trains to and from the Romsey direction used the deviation line and Meon Valley trains went through the tunnel. Knowle Junction ceased to be a true junction as the original connection between the MVR and the
Eastleigh to Fareham Line was removed. The MVR now used an independent single-track line through the tunnel to Fareham station. One disadvantage of this arrangement was that the section of the original line between Fareham and Knowle was only accessible from the Fareham end, so that the private sidings on it could not be easily reached from the main line. The deviation line had severe gradients which heavy up freight trains had to surmount. In 1921 the junction connections at Knowle were reinstated so that main-line trains from either direction could use the old line. In 1907 the single track tunnel route was provided with a halt for passengers and two private sidings, serving
the mental hospital at Knowle. The halt was known as Knowle Asylum Halt. It was alongside the Meon Valley single track, although the double track
Romsey line was alongside, but without a platform face. The name of the halt was changed to Knowle Halt in 1942. In the 1950s it had the distinction of being illuminated by two electric lights, powered from the hospital's internal supply, when the neighbouring
Botley station continued to depend on oil lamps. One of the sidings adjoined this platform; the other, which served a large brick works, was situated about half-way between Knowle and Fareham. Subsequently a third siding was added to serve an abattoir.
First World War During the First World War the Meon Valley line was used for troop trains bound for the docks and France, but during this time the Waterloo to Gosport through services were suspended, and they were never fully restored.
Southern Railway The LSWR was incorporated into the new
Southern Railway in 1923 as part of the process known as the grouping of the railways, following the
Railways Act 1921. By then passenger train services on the line had been much reduced: there were now six or eight services a day, mainly formed of two- or three-coach trains hauled by
Drummond M7 tank engines, with
LSWR T9 class engines remaining for faster services. Goods services remained important, with a twice-daily service pick-up train service. The junction at Alton between the Meon Valley line and the Mid-Hants line was called
Butts Junction; the signal box was abolished in 1937, and subsequently the two lines up to Alton were operated as two parallel single tracks.
Second World War During the Second World War the line was used lightly compared to other railways in the region, although there was an increase in goods traffic supplying the naval dockyard at Portsmouth. A few troop trains used the line late at night. In 1941 a special military freight train, hauled by a
Drummond 700 class locomotive, was stabled for the night at Tisted, with the crew receiving instructions to stay with the engine and be ready to depart instantly in an emergency; the train was carrying 48
mines. The MVR had a brief spell of intensive use during the build-up to
D-Day when huge numbers of men and equipment had to be moved to the south of England, kept in readiness and finally transported to ports. Large numbers of
tanks were moved by rail to Mislingford goods yard where they were dispersed to local hard-standings for temporary storage. Mislingford was also the site of a temporary wooden platform to serve the large number of Canadian troops who were encamped in the
Forest of Bere. A final meeting took place on 2 June 1944 in connection with the
Normandy landings (D-day). The British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill, the Prime Ministers of Canada and South Africa,
William Lyon Mackenzie King and
Jan Smuts, and other Allied leaders arrived in a special train at
Droxford station for a conference at the nearby HQ of U.S. General
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, at
Southwick House. The train was formed from part of the
Royal Train of the
London, Midland & Scottish Railway. The station had an exceptionally long siding and was close to a deep cutting. It was considered that if threatened by an air raid, the train could be pushed into the relative safety of the cutting. ==Post-War and British Railways==