Great British Railway Journey

[for_heaven's_Saint]

I'm not entirely sure how or why I started watching this, but on BBC2 today the Great British Railway Journey visited Winchester, Eastleigh, Soton Central and the Isle of Wight. Thought some of you may be interested if you didn't catch it. Here it is:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019j19t/Great_British_Railway_Journeys_Series_3_Winchester_to_Isle_of_Wight/

[ecuk268]

I was at Barton Peveril in the 60s and, after school, we used to sneak into the railway works to get up close to these enormous steam engines.

 

Fascinating place. Most of the blokes were happy to chat to us but eventually some jobsworth would spot us and sling us out.

[Wurzel]

Interesting series but always more so when you have a bit of local interest. Where was that fly fishing done from? He got off at Swaythling so I'm only guessing somewhere between M27 and Woodmill, but looked like it was miles from anywhere.

[Sheaf Saint]

Where was that fly fishing done from? He got off at Swaythling so I'm only guessing somewhere between M27 and Woodmill, but looked like it was miles from anywhere.

 

It looked like it was further upstream from Mansbridge, past The White Swan, along the Itchen Towpath.

 

I did notice a couple of continuity errors with the program though. After rejoining the train at Swaythling the film showed it running through some open countryside, but there isn't any between there and Southampton Central. Also, Mr Portillo seemed to be totally unaware that the Southampton station described in his guide book was the now defunct Southampton Terminus and not the current Southampton Central where he got off. Probably not his fault, just poor researching from the program makers.

 

Interesting watch though. I didn't realise that Eastliegh was only built to house the workers at the railway works, though it does make perfect sense when you think about it.

[Whitey Grandad]

The name for Eastleigh station was originally Bishopstoke but the Railway changed this to avoid confusion with Basingstoke. One of my suppliers is a metalbasher. He and his family (Frith) used to word in the engine-building sheds - now the bus station. He says that the noise was so loud that if you wanted to talk to someone you went up to them, cupped your hands over their ear and shouted into it. He's now partially deaf, of course.

[OVER THE HILL]

I laughed when Portillo got off at Eastleigh and asked three people what Eastleigh was famous for and they all said trains or railways,he then asked a railway worker and got the reply "I don't know ,I'm from Portsmouth "