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The Mid Hants Railway
We are Mid Hants Railway, affectionately known as the ‘Watercress Line' due to our connection with transporting watercress from the beds in Alresford all the way in to London. This heritage railway was saved from total extinction by a band of enthusiastic volunteers in 1973. They raised enough money to re-open the line as a visitor attraction from Alresford to Ropley in 1977 and continued to raise funds to relay the track to join up with the South West Trains station at Alton by 1985, with our own station buildings on Platform 3.Today the railway runs the full 10 miles between the market towns of Alresford and Alton, preserving an important piece of our 1940's - 70's railway heritage for this generation and many more to follow. Famous for its gradients our railway was nicknamed 'going over the Alps' by locomotive crews during the days of steam, due the the sheer effort required by man and machine to crest the summit at Medstead & Four Marks, the highest station above sea level in Southern England. We operate a fleet of steam locomotives, most of them of the larger classes, as they are required to work hard to haul trains up and over the 'Alps'. Everytime a steam train runs along our line this battle on the footplate is relived and the full power of these magnificent machines can be seen, heard and appreciated by all.