The Development of Eastleigh
Our first meeting of the 2023/24 season was held on 20 September which began with the sad news of the passing of former branch Treasurer Mike Green on 31 August.
Our speaker at the meeting was Gordon Adams who gave an account of the development of Eastleigh from a railway junction to a railway centre. Prior to the arrival of the railway Eastleigh did not exist, though there were a few scattered hamlets, including one of Eastleynote the spelling). Bishopstoke was the nearest place of any size, so when the railway arrived the station took the name of that village. It became a junction with the opening of railways to Gosport in 1841 and Salisbury in 1847. The growing importance of the area led to the development of a cheese market on a site close to the station on the eastern side of the railway on what is still railway land just north of Bishopstoke Road Bridge.
In 1868 the villages of Eastley and Barton were combined into one parish. A lady named Charlotte Yonge, an author from nearby Otterbourne, donated £500 for the construction of a church. She was asked to name the place and decreed that it would be Eastleigh with the modern spelling. A sculpture of her on a bench was erected on a bench outside the station in 2015.
The LSWR constructed a carriage and wagon works at Eastleigh in 1889 and the town grew in size as houses were constructed for the workers. Examples of stock built were illustrated including 2-BIL, 4-COR, 4-SUB and 4-CEP emus and dmus for the Hastings line, Hampshire, and the Oxted line.
A separate locomotive works was built nearby to replace the facility at Nine Elms in 1909. The first locomotive constructed was S14 Class number 101. Eastleigh became responsible for the construction of many locomotives, including the Lord Nelson and Merchant Navy classes, and the overhaul of many others. During the Second World War part of the works was turned over to the production of aircraft parts and landing craft.
With the cessation of overhauls to steam locomotives there was capacity for the locomotive works to take over the functions carried on by the carriage works which closed. Work on carriages declined in the 1990s as new rolling stock replaced electric units of the 1950s and 1960s and it closed in 2006. However, in 2007 Knights Rail Services started to use the site and it is currently operated by Arlington Fleet Services. Work carried out there includes repainting locomotives for GBRf and repairs to Hitachi Class 800 series units.
Our thanks to Gordon for giving us an insight into local history