It seems that "Bubbles" ended up at the Eastleigh
Lakeside Steam Railway. I rang these guys on 1 December 2016, apparently they are not
interested in the history of their engines. I’m pretty disappointed and so I am posting this just in case someone does give a damn.
I have an orignal postcard or two
I have an original ticket.
"Bubbles" March 1965 - The passengers are all my family.
This Fickr website was very useful for information:
"The brainchild of Dudley Alexander the 10 1/4"
gauge Meadow End Railway operated between 1954 and 1966 in the large grounds of
a private house (Meadow End) in Brockenhurst, Hants. It opened to the public on
occasional Sundays with all proceeds going to charity, mostly horse charities.
It was operated by this 4-6-4 steam loco named
'Bubbles' which had originally been built by H.C.S. Bullock in 1932 for use on
Captain Holder's private railway at Beaulieu, Hants where it was known as
'Audrey'.
The loco later changed hands a few times, and was
even regauged to 7 1/4", but nowadays it resides on the Eastleigh Lakeside
Railway where it's been converted back to 10 1/4" gauge and reverted to
its original name of 'The Monarch'.
Meadow End house still survives but the land
occupied by the railway was later sold and redeveloped with housing."
"The Last Day" 28th August 1966
"The Last Day" 28th August 1966
My grandparents, who knew Dudley Alexander well, are sitting on the bench.
Hi, just found this post about the Meadow end railway. Some of the pics no longer show, can you restore them? Also any more pictures beyond what is already posted here? Best D
ReplyDeleteI used to ride my bike from Highcliffe, with dad, to go on the train. The driver was Mark Abbott, from Lyndhurst, who worked for British Rail. Dudley Alexander ran a club for the boys in the village. Little did I know that one of the boys, Ken Honeybun, would become my husband!! Tidying out my parents house after they died, I was stunned to see that they had a picture of my brother and I in one of the carriages at Meadow End, and Ken taking the money! Mark, and his brother Paul, both worked for BR. One of them bought a steam roller from Eddisons in Dorchester, which spent some time at Meadow End. It gave Ken the idea of buying his own steam roller, he found an ex Southampton Corporation roller in Bakers Transport yard in Southampton. This lived for years near the railway bridge on Sway Road, I expect many locals remember that too? I used to have some leaflets for the railway, which I gave to Lakeside a few years ago.
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