Granddad's Block

Sometime during WW2 a number of USATC 2-8-0 locos came to Eastleigh shed. My Grandfather, a Driver there, was tasked with turning one of them on the triangle behind the shed, off the line round to the works. He wasn't warned that the steam brake, being pretty useless at the best of times, needed warming up well before a stop was required. Once he reached the stub end of the triangle his loco rolled ponderously into the buffer stop and loco, stop and all rolled off the end of the embankment. Later that day my Father, who must have been on leave, took my brother to see what his Granddad had done!

Last week my brother and I visited the site to retrace our lost youth and to see the concrete block that was put in place of the buffer stop. I estimate that it weighs about 20 tons. It is cast in five sections with five through bolts holding them together and with a draw hook on a stud that runs right through the five blocks. Each block has two lifting eyes cast in. I have no idea why on earth a draw hook was required. There are the remains of a wooden buffing block bolted in place.

 

It has just occured to me that the draw hook would be to enable the block to be dragged back into position after Granddad had hit it with something else.

 

If the gradient falls away from the block, the coupling hook enables wagons to be coupled to it and eliminate the risk of them running back. If the gradient doesn't fall away, I don't know the reason why!!

 

Good point Steve, there used to be a number of old tenders near the water tower that always appeared to be covered in chalk - something to do with the water treatment plant I think. They used to be moved to the stub of the triangle where the contents were transferred to tipper wagons on a hand worked narrow gauge line. These were then tipped further along the embankment. Perhaps the tenders were anchored there while being discharged. I've been led to believe that this embankment was the part built original alignment of the line from Eastleigh to Fareham, abandoned because of soil problems near the crossing of the river Itchen, so it could have been rising in the Fareham direction towards a proposed bridge.

 

Since I wrote this I've been back to the site and communicated with a number of people. The embankment does rise and there is one bridge abutment on the western side of the Itchen Navigation which itself is on the western side of the River Itchen. The consensus is that the LSWR originally intended building the shed and works on the station side of the Eastleigh - Gosport branch but fell foul of the poor ground conditions so the shed ended up on the proposed route. I've read that some old maps show track on the east side of the river but I've not seen one.