Carnival 'royalty' visit Hayling's railway, as 'Hornby Halt' becomes 'Mengham Road'.

- Mon 4th Aug 2008

‘Hornby Halt’ the Hayling Seaside Railway station and passing place, recently smartened up by local residents from the Hayling Forum after an attack by Christmas vandals, has taken on a new identity. Originally named following a sponsorship deal with the world famous model railway manufacturers, Hornby Halt has now taken on a new title more suited to its location.

Following a brief rededication on Carnival Day 2nd August by Her Majesty Queen Natasha, Carnival Queen of Hayling Island and her attendent Carnival Princesses, accompanied by the Worshipful Mayor of Havant Councillor John Smith as they paused in their Seaside Railway ‘Royal Train’, from Eastoke Corner to Beachlands (Funland), the station will now be known by the geographically more relevant name of ‘Mengham Road’.

The renaming stems from an approach from Hayling Scarecrow Festival organiser Colin Telford, owner of the Hayling Island Bookshop in Mengham village, who observed that although many thousands of visitors flock to Hayling beach every year there is very little on the sea front to indicate that the nearby village shopping centre even exists.

But why ‘Mengham ROAD’ when the station is located squarely by the corner of Sea Front Road and Sea Grove Avenue? Well the suffix ‘road’ in this case is a purely railway term rather like ‘junction’, or the ‘parkway’ stations beloved of the Jimmy Saville era ‘Age of the Train’ British Rail. A term often used in Victorian times when railway promoters neglected to build a station, that was actually within the boundaries of the town or village it purported to serve.

A local example of this is ‘Beaulieu Road’ in the New Forest, located some three and a half miles from its namesake Hampshire village, but travellers on the Hayling Seaside Railway will find reaching their destination somewhat easier. Hayling’s principal commercial centre of Mengham Village, with its popular shops, pub and cafe’s is to be found only a few hundred yards away, and can actually be seen by light railway passengers as they pass by the end of Sea Grove Avenue.

However the name ‘Hornby Halt’, and the Hayling Seaside Railway’s ongoing link with Hornby Model Railways is not to be forgotten. The nameboard for the station is to be preserved on the wall at Beachlands station next to the Funland Amusement Park, where it will join other pieces of Hayling railway history on public display, including the old Southern Railway green ‘Hayling Billy’ station name boards from “Hayling Island” and “Havant for Hayling Island”.

By forum user, Hayling Seaside Railway

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