Meon Valley Passing loop
| Meon Valley Passing Loop | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Hampshire, United Kingdom |
| Connections | Network Rail track at Alton |
| Commercial operations | |
| Name | Mid-Hants Railway |
| Built by | Alton, Alresford and Winchester Railway Company |
| Original gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge etc |
| Preserved operations | |
| Operated by | Mid-Hants Railway Ltd |
| Length | 10 miles (16 km) |
| Preserved gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Commercial history | |
| Opened | 2 October 1865 |
| Closed | 5 February 1973 |
| Preservation history | |
| 1975 | Line purchased from British Rail |
| 1985 | Re-opened to Alton |
| 2010 | Resignaled Alton[1] |
| Headquarters | Alresford |
| Website | |
| www | |
The Meon Valley passing loop is a passing loop on the Watercress Line. It is just to the west of Alton signalbox, which is to the west of Alton railway station. The maximum speed on the loop is 15 M.P.H (25 km/h) and 25 M.P.H (40 km/h) on the main track. The loop is part of the Mid-Hants Heritage Railway in Hampshire, England.[2]
History
British Railways ownership
The line was double track to Buts Junction where it became a single track with loops at Medstead and Four Marks railway station, Ropley railway station, Alresford railway station (Hampshire) and Itchen Abbas railway station before it arrives at Winchester railway station. With the development of motorised transport, the line declined during the inter-war and post-war periods of the 20th Century and was further compromised by the closures of the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway in 1932 and the Meon Valley Railway in 1955.
Heritage railway
The Meon Valley passing loop was re-laid to let trains pass during Gala days.[2] The reason why it was re-laid is to let trains pass at Alton instead of at Medstead and Four Marks railway station; also this lets them run more trains than if the Passing loop did not exist because they can pass at Meon.
Infrastructure
The Loop
The passing loop is 200 meters (656 Feet) long and is only used on Gala days.[2]
Signalling and safety systems
A new signalling installation has been commissioned at Alton. It is a colour-light system, running from the signal box control panel; this contrasts with the mechanical semaphore signals used on the rest of the line. The new system allows a more intensive train service, making use of the loop, and allows shunting within the station, operations which the previous manual flag signalling did not allow. The new installation makes use of track circuits to detect where the train is situated and can change points and signals accordingly. It can run fully automatically, so there is no need for a signalman, unlike the other signal boxes on the line. When there is no signalman, all Signal Post Telephones are diverted to Medstead & Four Marks signal box. It works on a system where a member of the locomotive crew inserts the token into a token switch, to allow the system to take the next steps.
The Watercress Line is currently the only heritage railway with a complete Automatic Warning System (AWS) system. It is used on all distant signals on the line and at all signals in the Alton colour light area, until an AWS gap is reached before the Meon Loop due to the large number of signals. Almost all of the locomotives and multiple units are fitted with it, apart from a couple of steam locomotives.
References
Further reading
- Hardingham, Roger (28 September 1995). The Mid-Hants Railway: From Construction to Closure (1st ed.). Runpast Publishing. ISBN 978-1-870754-29-3. Search this book on
External links
- Mid Hants Railway – "The Watercress Line" official website.
This article "Meon Valley Passing loop" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Meon Valley Passing loop. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
