EAW001352 ENGLAND (1946). The King George V Graving Dock, Southampton, from the south, 1946

2ndWW pillbox.

2ndWW pillbox.

Royal Mail Lines ASTURIUS or ALCANTARA undergoing commercial restoration.

Interesting to see two relatively ships in the dock at the same time. They both look like P&O vessels but this is only based on the colour and shape of their funnels. The dock is in wet state. Not sure how it would be possible to support two ships at the same time in the dry state especially as they overlap and so cannot stand in the middle while supported equally from the sides.

I suspect these are heaps of former military material awaiting disposal just over a year after the end of the recent war.

This yard dealt with Southampton's local good traffic. Today it is the Southampton Freightliner Terminal, which deals with a lot of traffic from the nearby container terminal as well as local traffic. In effect it is an overflow terminal from the larger terminal to the south of the line west of the graving dock that is inside the modern dock complex. When the graving dock was built it was the end of the Southern Railway development at Southampton. The modern container port extended the port still further inland almost to the some degree as Western Docks had extended the old town docks. The London model for dock development was to move down stream, whereas the Southampton model was to move up stream. Discuss! It would make a good traditional geography question.

A five coach set Maunsell set. The Southern had nearly all of its coaches in sets. This could be a Bournemouth train from Waterloo or, at this length, perhaps more likely a cross country train from Portsmouth to Bristol.

A typical group of goods brake vans (some Southern, some exLSWR) found at many yards were freight trains started their journeys.

This train may have a GWR loco on the front, but it has a Southern Railway goods brake on the back. It would appear to be a string of empty, mostly private owner, coal wagons which would provide plenty of work for the guard in keeping these hand brake only vehicles under control. It is mostly likely waiting the 'road', once the passenger train has gone by, to turn right at Redbridge Junction, off towards Salisbury and the Bristol or South Wales coalfields.

Urinal

Sliding gate that moves into the pool beside the entrance.

A store of ships' boats

A GWR 2-6-0, designed by G J Churchward, at the head of a goods train

A Southern Railway, ex-LSWR, steam locomotive - a 4-4-0 possibly designed by Drummond, with a set of coaches. Probably a local train

Text - Toogood & Sons The King's Seedsmen