Langston railway station

Langston was a small station on the Hayling Island branch.[2] The station along with the rest of the line closed in 1963,[3] and it served the Langstone area of Havant, a former village which had become contiguous with the larger town to its north. The railway companies always used the old spelling "Langston" for the station, in spite of this form not being used by the local community,[4] and it can be seen in many photographs of the station sign.[5]

Langston
Stationmaster's House
Location	Langstone, Havant, Hampshire England
Grid reference	SU716049
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Pre-grouping	LBSCR
Post-grouping	Southern Railway Southern Region of British Railways
Key dates
16 July 1867	Opened as "Langstone"
1873	Renamed "Langston"
4 November 1963[1]	Closed

Hayling Island Branch Line
West Coastway Line to Brighton Portsmouth Direct Line to London Havant West Coastway Line to Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton Langston Hayling Bridge over Langstone Harbour North Hayling Hayling Island

A 1910 Railway Clearing House map of local lines, showing the Hayling Island Branch Line

The line itself crossed the sole road on and off Hayling Island, which is now the A3023, with a gated level crossing[6] and wooden platform (upgraded to concrete in 1950[7]). This would cause huge traffic jams during peak hours, especially in summer, since the Island had the closest sandy beach to Portsmouth, and trains ran every fifteen minutes at peak times.[8]

The station had no freight facilities[9] (neither did North Hayling, the other intermediate station), however in the Victorian period, there was a slipway for a train ferry to the Isle of Wight immediately south of Langston station.[10] The ferry ran to Bembridge, where there was also a railway station, this being prior to the construction of the pier stations at Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier Head by the LSWR to create a direct rail-ferry link for the Island.

The station structure has since been demolished, but one can still walk the route up to Havant station.[11]

The stationmaster's house was destroyed by fire in December 2018.[12]

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Havant		Southern Region of British Railways Hayling Island branch line		North Hayling

Notes

1. Old Hampshire Gazetteer
2. "Southern Holiday Lines in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight" Bennett,A Cheltenham, Runpast 1994 ISBN 978-1-870754-31-6
3. "A Guide to Hayling Island " Pierce Jones,V/Walton,R. :Hayling Island, waltondesign, 2005.
4. See similar story-Petrockstowe railway station
5. Photos of Langston Station, including B.R. Photo of distinctive nameplate/spelling
6. Memories of the Hayling Island Branch:Produced by Ian Heys for "Branch Line Videos", Catalogue Number 418-514424
7. "The Book of Hayling Island - more than a millennium". Rogers, P.: Tiverton, Halsgrove, 2000. ISBN 978-1-84114-078-0.
8. "Catching the train to Hayling Island: a history" Newell, L: Havant, Havant Borough Council, 2005.
9. "Hampshire railways remembered". Oppitz, L. Newbury, Countryside, 1988. ISBN 978-1-85306-020-5.
10. "Branch Line to Hayling" Mitchell,V./Smith,K (In association with Bell,A): Midhurst, Middleton Press, 18984 ISBN 978-0-906520-12-3
11. "The Hayling Billy Leisure Trail" Marshall, B Havant, Bosmere Hundred Society, 1992.
12. "Fire that destroyed listed building in Langstone is being treated as arson". www.portsmouth.co.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2018.

External links

• Langston station on navigable 1946 O. S. map