Story of schoolboy caravanning and steam trains leads to book deal

by Damien Sharkov
There is enough noise in the city as is. Ordinarily towing your caravan to a nice, serene corner of green is the perfect prescription for an overdose of the smog and sounds of urban living.
Andrew Britton’s memories of caravanning in his schooldays are rather different, as his family opted for a different patch of land to set up shop in.
Loving steam trains as they did, the Britton family would park their leisure home by Beaulieu Road station, just outside Southampton.
The station was one of the docking points for Britain’s last steam railway line. The Waterloo to Weymouth line was closed in 1967.
“I never thought it would end but it did,” says Andrew.
“I woke up on the day after, July 9, and that was it, they were gone.”
From his family’s caravan Andrew would wave to the drivers, who quickly warmed to their young fan and soon invited him and his father for a behind the scenes look.
“They would throw a lump of coal with a note saying ‘Come up to Bournemouth station tonight with your dad’,” says Andrew.
There he was allowed to turn the engines at Bournemouth Central and would ride the plate between sheds there and at Bournemouth West station.
“One of my relatives was an engine driver in Weymouth and I used to like to go to the Weymouth shed as well.”
To commemorate his fond memories of his caravan holidays by the Waterloo to Weymouth line, Andrew is releasing a book, collecting photographs from his cherished line’s history.
“It was a cathedral to steam,” smiles Andrew.
Waterloo to Weymouth: A Journey in Steam is available now, priced at £19.99 from the History Press.