Hayling Billy - Havant & Hayling Island Branch Line

[NIR111Class]

One of Terriers in this video, 32650 survives today. She's at the Spa Valley Railway under overhaul.

[Sopwith16]

if i won the lottery twice i would rebuild this line and the banstaple to bideford line exactly. people say it's just a waist of time trying to rebuild them exactly, but then you don't get the feel. who's with me?

[BuffersYeoman]

Also named "Puffing Billy"

[Tomthetrainfan]

i pass the remains of this lovely little line on essentially a daily basis....

god i wish they'd kept the billy going...

[TheHaylingTerrier]

Where did you get this clip? I know it's off of Portsmouth TV but I can't find this clip

[splinter196]

so would i my grandad was a driver when ur sat in the traffic i think how cool it would be to be on the train

[nolicnotrut]

I cycled the route at the weekend. It is now wonderful for cyclists and walkers, and an excellent way of using the old track bed.

I share other commentators regrets about loss of this, and many other, railways. For an island, Hayling seems to be very busy with motor traffic. Would that improve if the railway was restored? I doubt it!

Wonderful archive footage on the vid.

Thank you.

[MiLLwallpaul231258]

i wonder if dr beeching was still alive today what he'd think of the mayhem he caused closing down all these wonderful little branch lines?

[124roger]

I suggest that Britain's impoverished bankers finance and rebuild this line - and I mean rebuild it - with their sodding bare hands. Hopefully one or two might fall into the mud at Langstone while reconstructing the bridge. Wouldn't wish them any harm but I'd be there to watch.

[tenterden16]

2.43, Southdown Bus.

[thomasbranchline]

if only this was still there my favorite engine's the terrier and i live in portsmouth so i would volunteer right away.

[frediey1]

i used to go to school on the train ,coach from vilage to station change at havant for the brighton line next stop warblington walk 100 yds to school took about 40 minutes could cycle it in 25 minutes

[T1carus]

havign spent the best part of an horu queing in traffic this afternoon on hayling, this definatly needs to return!

[magicknuns]

This sooo brought a tear to the eye. I was brought up in Emsworth, so the Hayling Billy was a bit of a local icon! Any of those small kids in the video could easily have been me. We used to sit in the car park of The Ship Inn at dusk with crisps and and Coca Cola, watching the illuminated carriages trundling over the bridge... In the 70s the disused line became a regular playground! *sigh*....

[16eruss]

if only it ran today .....,no queing for what seems hours to get on to hayling ! less congestion and pollution

nice film .

[cp35005]

love this vid wish thay would rebuild that bridge tho.

[UBIQUEROL]

i have a couple of the bolts from a sleeper from this railway, sad it is all gone, i pass the bridge all the time and sometimes stop and look and imagine the steam and the sound of the locomotive

[fxtraderuk]

I lived on Hayling Island during the 1960's and often played on the disused railway line. The great thing was at that time so much was still there, track, signals and off course the bridge itself was still relatively intact. We would often walk out to the gap in the middle. Really great to see footage of the train in action, my only memory of the train was a pub called the 'puffing billy' or Hayling Billy' which actually had a train in the garden which you could climb on.Long since gone I expect

[katherine232]

fxtraderuk "Long since gone I expect " Well yes and no. No longer used as a pub sign at the hayling Billy pub. That loco was 32646 - built in 1877. It had also worked o the Isle of Wight & you might be pleased to know that it has gone back there & is once again pulling trains.

[TheDepotCat]

@fxtraderuk I only just remember the Hayling Island branch as a kid. In 1974 I stumbled upon the old station with all the buildings intact. I went back in 1975 with a camera and the whole lot had been demolished :( I've got a photo of the Terrier outside the Hayling Billy Pub that you mention...I'll have to try and find it. I believe that the pub is still there without it's pub sign loco.

[r0g3r5m1th]

This line today would have been a gold mine,but sadly it was not to be.I'm afraid to say it was another case of use it or lose it,and now it can never be replaced...

[philgf65]

hi all, this video is important to me for one special reason, my dad drove the last hayling billy . i have the official photo's of the occasion .

[newenglandgirl57]

happy days . I was on the last train

[vid30fps]

Fantastic! Never thought I would see ol' Puffing Billy' in action again. I lived on Hayling in the late 50's and rode the train many times. As a rare treat, I rode in the engine a few times when it switched from one end of the train to the other for the 'turn around.' Also, in summer I used to meet the train with a home-made cart and carry folks luggage to various B&B's or holiday camps. It was good for a few extra shillings spending money!

[steamybrian2]

Excellent film--well done.

Terrier no. 32650 is being restored at the Spa Valley , Tunbridge Wells.

[UBIQUEROL]

you're joking? is she?

[oakpark58]

The A27 now cuts through the route of the line at Havant.

[butterflykiss52]

thank you, it was my grand dad working the gates at langstone

[amourdillo]

i have often walked this route and always wondered what the train would have been like, thanks so much

[pompeyboycat]

if i won the lottery, i would love to rebilud this line exactly as it was then, i think the blubell line has a terrier,it might be one of the originals. i think last time it was considered they said it would cost £1 million just to rebuild the bridge!! as i said if i had the money hayling would have there railway back! happy days!! great film

[UBIQUEROL]

you would have to put new concrete in, with steel supports, and then build the bridge out of steel, i'd help rebuild it, we could buy the locomotive from the Spa Valley, restore it and then run the trains like 50 years ago

[TheHaylingTerrier]

Tryed and failed the local Council aren't having any of it a bike route now what a waste

[pompeyboyy]

was on that train many many many times, in summer, stick our heads out of windows, and feel the spit from the steam, it was just grrrrrrreat, and thanks for the trip down memory lane, it was good.Shame we couldnt have saved the PUFFIN BILLY, Lottery would ahve saved it, and then our area would be well off, other places like watercress etc etc, think of money and TRAFFIC going over and coming back, it would saved a lot of that, but HEY thats our council isnt it....

[rogertra]

Rode the train many times as a young teen and pre-teen. Rode in the carriage, guards compartment and on the footplate many times, usually with just a platform ticket. The train crew didn't care.

Also rode the very last public train from Hayling to Havant. Sad day when the line closed. BR said it was because of the bridge but the Portsmouth Evening News paid for an independent survey and they found the bridge to only be in need of minor repairs.

[puffingbillie]

excellent film - a real important archive illustrating the operation of one of the South Branch Lines

[thewizeard]

As a child I traveled on the Billy...

Nice clip, the music is well chosen, I shut my eyes, and imagined myself chugging across Hayling Railway bridge...now who removed the centre part?

[naolegg]

What a lovely sight,I live near the the hayling Billy line and often walk my dogs along it,but could never really imaging the train on it

[funcouple2536]

wow that was great.i used to work with the edlerly in havant and lots used to go on about the hayling billy walked it a few times too thank you for a wonderfull vid

[Lloydydoydy]

amazing being able to see the puffing billy again. i was 8 years old in '63 and went crabbing down at langstone - only looked up when the puffing billy went by. thanks.

[BetaEpsilon2]

A great piece of railway history - times long past but never forgotten.

[JJKF1]

I was only born in 1989 so I only got to walk along the line from Havant to Langstone looking over at the pillars in the water.

[sahajasam]

WOW. Thank you....it also had me in tears, the way she glides over the bridge...beautiful. This is a sight I'd always wanted to see and never thought I would. I was born at The Royal Oak, Langstone in 1965....and could only enjoy the abandoned lines as my playground. Bless you for sharing this.

[mealsgateboys]

Brought a tear to my eye and the memories came flooding back, Thankyou.