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Question

I believe my great grandfather walked the first train across Salisbury Plain in the early 1900s. Is there any documentation or photographic evidence on the construction of the railway.

Question asked on

04 July 2003

Answer

No railway line has ever been built across Salisbury; instead they follow the valleys and lower ground around the edge of the Plain. The closest to the Plain is the Swindon Marlborough and Andover Railway that followed an eastern valley between Marlborough and Ludgershall in 1882.

There were three military railways on the Plain;
The Tidworth Military Railway of 1901, from the main line at Ludgershall.
The Amesbury Military Camp Light Railway of 1902; extended to Bulford Camp in 1906.
The Larkhill Military Railway of 1906, which was the longest at over 7 miles on the 'main line'.

We have no photographs of their construction, which is not unusual as they were military constructions. It may be possible that the Imperial War Museum may hold some official photographs however. I am not certain if at that comparatively recent period anyone would have needed to walk alongside an engine travelling on newly laid rails.

Bibliography

The Victoria History of Wiltshire, volume 4, 1959

Plain Soldiering: a history of the Armed Forces on Salisbury Plain, by N.D.G. James. Hobnob Press, 1987, 0 946418 03 9