The Station at Barton (Eastleigh)

The first train to travel on the newly laid London and Southampton Railway left the station at New Road, Southampton, (the terminus in the Marsh not yet being completed) shortly before 8 a.m. on Monday, 10th June 1839. Hampshire newspapers reported that thousands of people came to witness the event. “Booths had been erected, with the double view of affording opportunity for obtaining refreshment and a sight o f the departing or arriving train; and in addition to the great numbers that availed themselves o f such accommodation, the skirting of the road on every accessible part was lined with a living mass, which, in some places was five or six persons deep, extended a considerable distance without any interval, and then a series o f broken groupings studded the green pastures or crowded the verdant slopes, or thickly lined the battlements of bridges, as far as the eye could reach. ” The locomotive was called Pegasus, “a very powerful engine, beautifully made, and glittering in a profusion ofbrasswork”. The train consisted of the steam carriage, four other carriages and a truck to carry a stage coach from the Royal Hotel which arrived late and delayed the start scheduled for 7.30.a.m. The train took twenty-six minutes to reach Winchester and on its way, it passed through the tithing of Barton in the parish of South Stoneham. Later, the regular service stopped at all stations to London.