| The Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway opened on the 1 June 1901, and served the sparsely populated farming communities between the two towns. Stations were provided at Cliddesden, Herriard and Bentworth & Lasham.
The line witnessed little growth in traffic, and as an economy measure during WWI, services were suspended by the L&SWR after the last train had run on December 30th 1916. After the war many mothballed lines were re-opened, but the Basingstoke & Alton was not one of them. In 1919 local residents began petitioning for reopening of the line - even though the track had been removed! The grouping of the smaller railways into the 'Big Four' was fast approaching, and the LSWR did not have time to seek official closure. In 1923 the newly created Southern Railway inherited a mothballed line with no track, and a vociferous number of locals insisting on its reinstatement! After much wrangling, which escalated to political levels, the line was relaid and reopened in 1924. Services remained poorly loaded, and a motor bus service introduced in 1927 removed most of the remaining passengers from the infrequent trains. The last passenger train left Alton on the 10th September 1932. Goods trains from Basingstoke continued to serve Bentworth and Lasham until 1935. Shortly before track lifting was completed in 1937, Cliddesden station was used in the making of the Will Hay film 'Oh! Mr Porter', creating much excitement locally. |
A view of Cliddesden looking towards Alton. The area between the platforms has been filled in, to leave no discernible trace that a station once existed here. Buy Print |
Business over the line was expected to grow, so a passing loop was provided at Herriard. Sadly this proved not to be the case. The overgrown platform remains, looking down towards Basingstoke in 2000. Buy Print |
By a miraculous stroke of luck, the original station shelter survived at Bentworth and Lasham, as this April 2000 view shows. Buy Print |
Rickety is the best word to use to describe the waiting shelter, the platform appears to be in solid condition despite approaching its centenary.... Buy Print |
The station site was in use by a coal merchant at the time of my visit. It wasnt possible to inspect the building more closely as the yard was closed for the weekend. Buy Print |
Viewed from the adjacent Basingstoke to Alton main road. The houses behind were constructed for the railway workers, they dwarf the facilities provided for the passengers! Buy Print |
