The billy passing over the viaduct at sunset I was born and lived on Hayling Island as a child; my mother was a dancer and taught there. I travelled on the Billy Line from as young as three months old. My grandmother used to take me, I used to go to school in Woking so would travel on [...]
Hayling Halt (also known as North Hayling) William, Ernest, Beatrice, Kathleen and John Dedman were born between 1914 and 1923. In the summer holidays they travelled by train with their mother from Tottenham to Langstone to stay with ‘Grandpa and Grandma Dedman’ at The Old Mill, near The Royal Oak. Grandpa Dedman was a cowman and the family sometimes [...]
I only had one trip on the Billy and that was in about 1949 when I was 12. I was with a school friend who was a railway nut and was rhapsodising about ‘longitudinal sleepers’ and so forth. For me the trip to the seaside was the thing, but for him it was the train ride. However, long [...]
Triggs house behind the station buildings where Martin and others had their bicycles stored for 3d per week. Martin moved from Birmingham to Hayling Island because his sister was sick with asthma; she went to St Patrick’s the open-air school. She came down two years before the family, but her asthma was so much better that the whole [...]
The railway viaduct where Brian and his school friends would ‘grope’ for mullet. As a child I lived in Hayling at 117 Kings Rd. My father used to work at Hayling Fairground; it’s where he met my mother. They got married and I have fond memories of my childhood there. Hayling was a different place then, we’d have [...]
During my childhood our summer ‘holiday’ involved long walks and homemade picnics. However, one day was always special. Sandwiches, homemade shortbread, fairy cakes filled with fruit and topped with a crunchy, sugar coating, flasks of milky tea, swimwear and most importantly buckets and spades, were soon packed and ready for a grand adventure. Everyone carried [...]
Ken and Mavis both lived in Portsmouth at the time Ken was working on the Billy (he was a driver). Ken started working on the railways in 1947. They married in 1954. Ken was based at the Fratton, Portsmouth Depot. He remembers working long hours and shifts operating from midday to midnight and vice versa. [...]
Memories related by his wife George was employed by the Southern Railway from 6th January 1940 and retired from British Rail 31st December 1989. We often have a laugh about this story which is just one of quite a few memories. My husband is now nearly 89 and the majority of his mates have passed on. My husband, [...]
The Billy Track Along the Billy track, turn right through the kissing gate, Past former oyster beds, now a haven for seabirds, And the Brent geese are building ranks, Serried together along the shore in their Grey uniform with white cuffs showing Like office workers crammed together crossing Waterloo Bridge. That was March, now [...]
After just over a year following the signal’s removal, it was time to re-install the signal. The previous day, HCC arrived on site, with a digger, to excavate the original signal site in preparation. Signal installation The work was managed by Ian Clark Restorations and carried out by S&T Cover of Eastleigh with funds provided [...]
