A SMALL team of people involved in the Mid Hants Railway Watercress Line’s project to restore its flagship steam locomotive, Canadian Pacific (CanPac), embarked on a journey of discovery in December 2016 to collect people’s memories of the railways in the Hampshire area.

The aim was to build up a bank of memories from a wide range of people relating to the railways during the Second World War and up until the 1960s.

This valuable oral history project is just one of a wide range of outreach and educational activities which have been part of the ambitious Heritage Lottery-funded CanPac project. These activities reflect how the rich and precious heritage of railways lies not only in preservation work but also in the very human stories that show how these railways impacted the everyday lives of so many people.

The stories that have so far been gathered from the public cover a wide range of fascinating and treasured memories, including those of a former resident at the railway orphanage in Woking, a draftsman in Southern Railway’s civil engineers department in the late 1930s, a fireman’s witnessing of a Canadian Pacific journey in record time, travel adventures by rail by one young boy during the 1950s and 1960s, memories of an evacuee, a boy’s recollections of travelling to school by train during the war, and memories of a former volunteer driver on the Watercress Line.

A spokesman for the project said: “These are just some of the many stories that the Watercress Line team have come across and they would like to add more to their collection. So if you have a recollection about steam travel, you went on holiday by train, worked on the railway or you were a train spotter, please get in touch.”

Sharing your memories will usually involve a simple face-to-face interview and voice recording. However, if you would rather write your story or share pictures or film, you are welcome to do so. You can get in touch with the CanPac project’s outreach and interpretation officer, Becky Peacock, to arrange an interview by e-mailing [email protected], calling 01962 733810, or writing to Becky at the Canadian Pacific Project, The Railway Station, Alresford, Hampshire, SO24 9JG. Images, films and written stories can be e-mailed or sent by post.

For more details, visit watercressline.co.uk.