Bramley Railway History Walk

Join us for our Bramley Railway History Walk.  A Ramblers Wellbeing walk with guest speakers from Basingstoke & District Railway Society who will be able to tell us about the fascinating history of the former railway depot at Bramley.  The site is still owned by the MOD and not open to the public but we will be able to walk alongside where the depot was and peep through the fence while our experts tell us more about the history of the site.

A Bramley Railway History Walk

The railway between Reading and Basingstoke, constructed to Brunel's 7 foot and 1/4 inch 'broad gauge', was opened by the Great Western Railway on 1 November 1848. There was no station at Bramley as the then Duke of Wellington refused to countenance a station on his estates. This stance later changed and a station was eventually opened on 1 May 1895. The station buildings standing today remain from that date, by which time the broad gauge had been converted to the 'standard gauge' of 4 feet 81/2 inches.

On both sides of the line to the south of the station the then Ministry of Munitions decided to establish an army ordnance depot in world war 1. Construction began in 1917 and continued through the 1920s. Rail connections to both the up (towards Reading) and down (towards Basingstoke) lines were established and an extensive railway network laid out on both sides, with connecting tracks beneath the main line at two points. The rail network within the site eventually reached a total of 33 miles.

Along the village road to the west of the station, a main entrance to the depot was established and the network's only 'station', the Ordnance Gate Platform, was built. From here, passenger trains for staff ran regularly around the extensive site.

Bramley Central Ammunition Depot, as it became known, contained a large number of store sheds dispersed across the extensive site, all connected by tracks linked to the main line exchange sidings. As many as six locomotives, steam until 1960 and subsequently diesel, worked the depot. Substantial administrative buildings and huts to accommodate workers were built and, at its peak in the second world war, over 4,500 military and civilian staff worked on the site. Although munitions requirements changed in subsequent years, the depot was still handling over 400 wagon loads in and 400 out every month as late as 1968. In the early 1970s, however, the decision was taken to close the depot and operations finally ceased in 1987. Most of the site is still owned by the MoD, used for training purposes, with the general public still excluded.

As a site of strategic military importance, none of this appeared on Ordnance Survey maps until the most recent editions in the 1980s. Indeed, although there was no public access to the depot, a public right of way across the site continued to be shown on maps, with the site itself simply shown as countryside.

Returning to the station, Bramley level crossing is a source of frustration to local people, with the frequent service of passenger and freight trains sometimes meaning that the barriers remain closed for significant periods of time. Just to the north of the crossing was the signal box controlling the crossing and the entrance to the small railway goods yard on the western side of the line. The signal box was closed when the crossing was converted to automatic barriers, controlled from Basingstoke, in 1977.

On the eastern side of the main railway line between the line and a public footpath is the site of the 'headshunt' of the railway yard area on this side. Although there was never a platform here, it is believed that the internal passenger service did pick up passengers here for the trains around the site.

Additional reading:

'Reading to Basingstoke' Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith (Middleton Press)

'The Secret Railway in the Woods' Christopher Hegg and Laurence Bindley (OEN Publishing):