The Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway (also known as the Bulford Camp Railway) was a branch line in Wiltshire, England, constructed under a
light railway order dated 24 September 1898. It was opened for military traffic from
Amesbury
Amesbury () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is known for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is within the parish. The town is claimed to be the oldest occupied settlement in Great Britain, having been first settle ...
to the east-facing Newton Tony Junction (on the
London and South Western Railway main line from
Andover to
Salisbury, part of the
West of England line) on 1 October 1901. A west-facing junction, Amesbury Junction, where the branch burrowed under the main line, opened on 2 June 1902. The line closed in 1963.
Previous proposals
Although the line did not open until the early 1900s, various other proposals had been put forward, but none had succeeded in being built. Before the Bulford Camp branch opened, all nearby railway routes had skirted
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...
, but none led through it.
[Harding, Peter. ''The Bulford Branch Line''. Binfield Printers, 1991, pp.4-5]
Bristol and London & South Western Junction Railway
This was a proposal by the
London and South Western Railway which was designed, essentially, to poach traffic from the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
. A Bill was deposited in Parliament in November 1882, for a line to branch away from the LSWR between
Salisbury and
Basingstoke
Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...
at a point around two miles west of
Grateley railway station
Grateley railway station serves the village of Grateley, Hampshire, England, and the surrounding countryside. It is down the line from . It is operated by South Western Railway.
The station opened on 1 May 1857. It was built southwest of Gra ...
. It would cross the plain via Amesbury and
Shrewton to
Westbury and then on to
Bristol via either the
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway or the
North Somerset Railway. The Great Western Railway was bitterly opposed to this plan and succeeded in defeating it in 1883.
Pewsey and Salisbury Railway
Having defeated the scheme of the LSWR, the Great Western Railway then put forward a scheme of its own. This proposed a route from
Pewsey railway station on their main line, leading south over the Plain and then onward to Southampton. However, Southampton was considered to be within LSWR territory, and the encroachment was opposed in much the same way as the B&L&SWJR had been. Although a section between Pewsey and Salisbury was authorised on 16 January 1883, this was never built.
Light railways
No more schemes were proposed until the passing of the
Light Railways Act
The Light Railways Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c.48) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
History
Before the Act each new railway line built in the country required a specific Act of Parliament to be ob ...
in 1896. The Great Western Railway swiftly saw the advantages of this approach and proposed a route which was very similar to their failed scheme of 1883. This light railway was to run up the
Avon valley from
Bemerton (near Salisbury) to Amesbury via Stratford, Woodford, Durnford and Wilsford. From Amesbury, the line was to continue to follow the Avon upstream to
Pewsey via Durrington, Netheravon, Upavon and Manningford. The line was authorised on 6 August 1898.
In the meantime, the
War Office had been purchasing large areas of Salisbury Plain, and had already commenced negotiations with the LSWR for a light railway, very like the 1882 scheme. This would run from Grateley station and over the Plain, via
Newton Tony and Amesbury, to a terminus just east of Shrewton, making the line 10 miles and 62 chains long. It was intended to serve both the new military camps and the agricultural community. This line was authorised as the ''Amesbury & Military Camp Light Railway''. Of the two proposals, this scheme won out because the Great Western Railway's proposal involved crossing over four miles of land owned by the
War Office, which was supporting the LSWR.
Construction
The LSWR awarded the contract for the railway to
Joseph Firbank, who was already involved with other work in the area, principally the
Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway. He is also believed to have been the contractor who worked on the
Charnwood Forest Railway. Although the line was officially a
light railway, it was built to far more substantial standards, with heavy engineering works required. The way was laid with steel bullhead rails weighing 87lbs (heavier than some ordinary railways) and land had been obtained for double tracks, which was unusual for a light railway. In the event, the track ''was'' doubled.
Opening
The line opened to goods on 26 April 1902 and passenger traffic commenced on 2 June 1902.
From the outset, the line was worked by the L&SWR. When passenger services commenced, the first train to arrive at Amesbury brought the newspapers announcing the end of the
South African War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...
.
Operation
Traffic consisted of 6 passenger trains and 1 goods train per day. The line was extended to
Bulford on 1 June 1906 and, at some stage, to
Bulford Camp.
World War I extensions
Further extensions were constructed during
World War I, consisting of lines from Amesbury to
Larkhill Military Camp, and then westward to
Rollestone Camp
Rollestone is a small village and former civil parish on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. It is near the River Till. Its nearest town is Amesbury, about away to the east.
For local government purposes, Rollestone was added to Shrewton p ...
where there was a
balloon school. A further extension was added south-east from
Rollestone
Rollestone is a small village and former civil parish on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. It is near the River Till. Its nearest town is Amesbury, about away to the east.
For local government purposes, Rollestone was added to Shrewton ...
to Fargo, where there was a military hospital; this line then dividing with one branch going south to
Druid's Lodge and one to
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...
.
Aircraft hangars existed at both these locations. These extensions were operated by the R.O.D. (
Railway Operating Division) of the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
and they remained in use until about 1923.
Closure
The stations closed in 1952 along with Amesbury junction. The branch as a whole (including Newton Tony junction) ceased goods traffic in 1963. Part of its route became the Winterbourne Downs nature reserve, owned by the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Although there has been significant development in the region since the closure, it is still possible to trace the original route that the railway took from aerial photographs. In many places, the railway trackbed now forms footpaths and bridlepaths, and elsewhere it is possible to identify the route in agricultural fields. The sling platform still exists in undergrowth and in public access. Plus an old railway signal can be found at Burford adjoining the road.
References
*
Railway Magazine Feb 1963 p149 and April 1963 p284 (the latter from L.C.Stewart)
External links
Google map showing basic track layout
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amesbury And Military Camp Light Railway
Amesbury
Closed railway lines in South West England
Pre-grouping British railway companies
Rail transport in Wiltshire
Railway lines opened in 1901
Military railways in the United Kingdom