Priddy's Hard 18inch railway
parish:
county:
RNAD Gosport
Gosport
Hampshire
Period - 19th century, early & 19th century, late & 1900s & 1910s & 1920s & 1930s & 1940s & 1950s
An 18inch railway may have been in place as early as 1848 at Priddys' Hard. It was a single line system with spurs into all magazines, explosives stores, cartridge filling rooms, and landing sheds. It extended out on the New Powder Pier in a double line. The rails were made of Delta Metal, an alloy of Copper and Zinc, ie a brass, plus a little Iron, as a precaution against sparks. A remnant of the line behind store N.372 shows it had grooved rails set flush with ground level. In 1904 it had 78 trucks. It was superseded by the 30inch line; but part continued in use inside some workshops and stores to about 1960.
: 1883:: Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle
... the Laboratories, where cartridges are filled ... Outside of, but attached to the buildings, is a covered-way and a narrow line of railway for wheeling truck loads of missiles into tjhe magazine. In fact all the magazines are connected by such lines
Powder Pier (New):- One arm from shore 550 feet long ... 'T' head 161 feet long ... Tramway, 18 inch gauge whole length of arm and along head, ...
