Meon Valley Railway
Wickham Station once stood on the site of the car park where you are standing now.
The Meon Valley Railway opened in 1903 as part of a through route from London via Alton to Portsmouth. It was one of the last railways to be built to main-line standards in the UK.
The line took 5 years to build and was expensive to maintain, with long tunnels and chalk earthworks.
Wickham was a special challenge for the navvies, with two river crossings and two road bridges to construct. The photo shows the bridge over the River Meon to your right under construction, with the spire of St Nicholas Church just visible on the left.
Although there was little passenger traffic, Wickham was a relatively busy station kept alive by freight. Its four goods sidings handled cattle and sheep from the weekly market and milk, and strawberry specials ran in the summer. The line was never profitable, however, and closed to passengers and through goods services on 5 February 1955. Parts of the line, including the section from Fareham to Droxford, survived for several more years.
