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The "Loco, Carriage & Wagon Department, Aberystwyth" signboard is not in Wales at all. Where is it?
Please send your answers to raildate.co.uk@gmail.com.
This lengthy undersea tunnel is marked on a Bartholomew Half-Inch map of 1902. Where is it?
Answer: The western Solent. Congratulations are due to the following for their correct answers: Colin Penfold, Richard Whitbread, Andrew Twynham, Chris Neale, Andrew Treves, Bernard Gudgin, Chris Gibbard, John Musselwhite, Neil Kearns, Peter Tatlow, Ian Morgan, Ian Bromley, Philip Hastings, Simon Wass, John Lacy, Neil Spencer, Mark Brinton, Jeremy Harrison, Paul Hopper, Richard Maund
Sorry, a trick question: The tunnel was never built. The approaches are shown as solid (built) on the IoW side but as a hashed line (projected) on the GB mainland.
A company was promoted by Frank Aman (a West Wight hotellier and landowner) in 1901 to obtain the required Act of Parliament, to build the 2.5 mile-long tunnel and the five miles of approach lines. It was to be operated by electric traction and was justified by the expected tourist traffic - and for defending the Solent and the naval dockyards at Portsmouth. It's the shortest crossing but most of the traffic was on the other side of the island. Investors were not to be found, and the L&SWR were not on board either. The company limped on until 1924 when the Act expired.
A fuller story is available on the St Barbe Museum, Lymington, website. A 1953 booklet by Fred Turton is currently selling for £20 + postage.
Campaigns for a fixed link are a long-standing part of island life, not least because of the eye-watering fares on the ferries.
Frank Aman was also involved in launching the Bournemouth-Sandbanks ferry service in 1923.
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© Matthew Shaw 2024