Strong family connections to Portsmouth Dockyard with Father (Naval Stores), then son (Engineer) including uncles, and cousins (Whale Island, and HMS Sultan). A great film and a lasting historical record of a bygone era in railways!
I remember the dockyard railway in the early 1970s; the crossing gates on Edinburgh Road were a particularly nice feature. One could explore the derelict line - complete with track and signal - from Albert Road to Edinburgh Road until c.1987, when it was all cleared and urbanised.
Excellent documentary Peter! My Great Grandfather Harry George Knight was a locomotive driver on the dockyard railway from around 1873 until around 1920
Lots of memories, especially those white crossing gates and I can just about remember the railway before it was removed after my family had moved away to the west country. Plus my father worked for the MOD and had an office in the dockyard.
Fascinating, thank you Peter and Dave Marden 👍 ♥ historic industrial/private railways The stunningly good RU-vid recommendation algorithm bought me here, it must have known I'd read Kevin Robertson's, The Railways of Gosport.
When viviting relatives in the area with my parents I did see the line from Portsmouth and Southsea station down to the docks often in the 1960's , but never in use. I think embankment showed up in a couple of frames of cine film I took in 1971 too. Talking about the King and Queen, I was told I had "the King and Queen" in a photo of a trolleybus I took on The Hrd. It turned out to be the pub behind it, now merged with "the Ship Anson" and has lost its name. Very interesting to see the rest of the system taht I didn't notice when we went to see HMS Victiry in the dockyard.
A very informative and attractive presentation. But oops, at 19"52, Albert and Victoria were not "king and queen". The band at 23"10 is not a brass band but a "military band", the contemporary term used in 1920 for wind bands which included woodwind and French horns. I don't think there were any brass bands in existence in the Portsmouth area before 1939, when the Fire Service Band was formed.
I was there in about 68, but have absolutely no recollection of the railway along the front of the yard and up to P+Southsea. I do have vague recollections of the internal lines being used, mostly with extremely tatty box vans being used as sheds.
My family moved back to Pompey in 1967 (after RAF service) but I do remember the line curving off high level station and across Edinburgh Road. The odd light engine or short train of wagons were to be seen traversing the line from time to time. The gradient from the station down to the dockyard was severe. We saw how extensive the dockyard system was when the public were admitted to some areas during the Navy Days event each summer.
A truly fascinating video…many thanks! When I was based at HMS Nelson …working at the Navy News Editorial offices …I tried to discover what happened to the double armed signal that guarded the first level crossing. It was truly historic but disappeared when the tracks were lifted. Hopefully it has survived in a collection somewhere? During my time at NN there were several of the former Docks Railway staff still working in the dockyard and they had some interesting stories to share. Thanks again for the excellent video. Let’s hope the non-synched sound will sort itself out…but the non-synching of lips and sound doesn’t really detract from the otherwise excellent production. Rob in Bournemouth.
Thanks for you kind words its much appreciated. Regarding the non-synching you mention I've just taken a look at the youtube version, and I couldn't find anything wrong. If you can let me know at which point you saw the sync problems I can look again but at this stage I couldn't find anything. Thanks once again.
Hello Peter! Great to hear from you! I’ve watched it on several of my computers and the lip-synch is definetely out as I watched it. However, I have asked another friend to look to check…it could be my system playing up ….or a RU-vid problem. I’m sure you’ll get comments from other viewers if it happens elsewhere…but I’ll be embarrassed if it’s only me getting the problem! I thoroughly enjoyed the video and I’ve never seen so much detail about the railway jetty beforehand. As a keen railway enthusiast myself I learn something new every day thanks to the efforts of others such as yourself! Keep up the excellent work. Let’s hope you find the time to explore the railway towards Eastleigh and Southampton…if you do and produce videos…we’re in for a real treat! Best wishes, Rob in Bournemouth.
hello again Peter! The lip-synching problem has resolved itself. I don’t think it was actually your video…instead I think it was due to my system. I was watching a narrow gauge railway video from Bulgarian and noticed that on the highest resolution there seemed to be a slight ‘‘twitchy-ness’ on the video and the sound was very slightly out of synch. When I selected standard resolution (always offered first by the system) it resolved itself. Then when I selected the highest possible resolution it was perfectly in synch! It’s quite odd because my iPad is brand new as my old one failed (old age and over use in my language studies!). So, I offer my apologies. Looking forward to see many more of your productions I wish you and the team best wishes. Rob.
Hi, yes computers have some funny moments glad it's not to serious and at least the cause is known. Once again thank you for your comments reference my film. Best wishes.
