Langston was a small station on the

Hayling Island branch The Hayling Island branch was a short railway branch line in Hampshire, England, that connected a station on Hayling Island with the main line network at Havant. It was built by the Hayling Railway; at first the company planned to run it along ...

. The station along with the rest of the line closed in 1963, and it served the Langstone area of Havant, a former village which had become contiguous with the larger town to its north. The railway companies always used the old spelling "Langston" for the station, in spite of this form not being used by the local community, and it can be seen in many photographs of the station sign. The line itself crossed the sole road on and off

Hayling Island Hayling Island is an island off the south coast of England, in the borough of Havant in the county of Hampshire, east of Portsmouth. History An Iron Age shrine in the north of Hayling Island was later developed into a Roman temple in the 1st c ...

, which is now the A3023, with a gated level crossing and wooden platform (upgraded to concrete in 1950). This would cause huge traffic jams during peak hours, especially in summer, since the Island had the closest sandy beach to Portsmouth, and trains ran every fifteen minutes at peak times. The station had no freight facilities (neither did North Hayling, the other intermediate station), however in the Victorian period, there was a slipway for a

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train f ...

to the Isle of Wight immediately south of Langston station. The ferry ran to Bembridge, where there was also a railway station, this being prior to the construction of the pier stations at Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier Head by the LSWR to create a direct rail-ferry link for the Island. The station structure has since been demolished, but one can still walk the route up to Havant station. The stationmaster's house was destroyed by fire in December 2018.

Notes

External links

Langston station on navigable 1946 O. S. map
{{Closed stations Hampshire Former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1865 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1963 Disused railway stations in Hampshire