A new postcard has been added to the Alton's Woodland page, in the other places in Alton section of the website.

Great Wood can be found between Brick Kiln Lane and the A339. This image was taken by someone on the A339 side of Great Wood with Warrens Farm behind them looking towards Alton.

The path on the left of the image would take you through Great Wood, across a field and on to Brick Kiln Lane. On the right of the image, you can see a section of railway line, this would have been part of one of Alton’s lost railways – The Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway.

The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway opened in June 1901, it was unprofitable from the start, so much so the owners must have been quite glad when the call came from the War Office, asking for / demanding railway track to lay on the Western Front. The last train ran on Saturday 30th December 1916, with the track lifted in 1917.

However, this was not the end of the line, it would have a new lease of life once the Great War was over.

Following local pressure and intervention by a House of Lords Select Committee, the line reopened in 1924, but once again the line was unprofitable, making heavy losses which sealed its fate. Its closure was ordered in 1932, closing to Passengers in September 1932 & Freight in May 1936.