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August
1960 saw the demolition of the arch at Clayhall Road :this undertaken by the Royal Engineers as an
operational exercise. With regard to the pier and the pier station itself , the buildings were removed in the mid sixties and the decking also removed to stop
vandalism and accidents. During the early 1970's most of superstructure of the pier was removed and again the
Royal Engineers were offered opportunity for a contract for the demolition of the remaining support piers as another operational exercise. Several attempts were made using a variety
of methods and explosive techniques and most of the remains were removed in 1974 although, even after several further attempts, at a very low tide traces of the supports can still be seen.
In its heyday the pier station must have been a busy place as we read that it had a
permanent staff of ticket collector, craneman, night watchman, carpenter and an odd job man a during the summer these were supplemented from Gosport station by a clerk and a porter.
But what of the royal connection. The question still
remains. Did Queen Victoria ever use Stokes Bay pier ?
Local hearsay says yes but
the Queen's well-known desire for privacy leads one to disbelieve the local tales. Her own private station was opened in the Royal Clarence Yard in 1845 well away from the public gaze, and it seems
logical that this was the station that she used. Research so far has not revealed any occasion when her majesty ever used the pier at the bay, whereas there is a wealth of evidence as regards the Royal
Clarence Yard. However it is well documented that the Queen's luggage travelled via pier, in fact the forgan in which it travelled was usually removed from the royal train at Basingstoke and then run
directly to Stokes Bay, onto the pier.
One cannot help thinking that she would have been far from 'amused' with the
strength of the wind and the height of the seas at some times if she had travelled this route. GP Neale, who attended her on most of her journeys from Osborne to Balmoral states that shewent only to her
private pier in Gosport, ie Royal Clarence Yard, in his 'reminiscences' but he does refer to the luggage going by the other route,Stokes Bay.
An indication of the
popularity of the line in the 1880's can be gauged from an incident that occurred on 15th January 1884. The 10.50 up train from Stokes Bay, traveling at 45 mph ran off the rails just north of
Brockhurst station. The train was being hauled by a Beattie 2 - 4 - 0 well tank locomotive no. 248 running bunker first followed by a six wheeled composite coach ( the body of which was hung from the
springs by chains of varying lengths (12" - 18"). This was described as their newest and best stock,; behind the composite was a four wheeled brake van 23' 6" long on a 10' 6"
wheelbase. The investigating officer, Col. F.H.Rich, had things to say about the stability of these vehicles, each were liable
to run unsteadily at high speed he commented. However no one was seriously hurt there were only 9 or 10 passengers on board at the time.
Even without royal patronage the Stokes Bay line conveyed many thousands of trippers
over to the Island, at least until the opening of the station at Portsmouth Harbour and the ferry service from that station to Ryde.
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