Tunnel under disused line near WM station
West Meon railway station was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley line which ran from Alton to Fareham during the first half of the 20th century. Opened on 1 June 1903, it formed part of a comprehensive set of transport links serving the village.[1] A particularly difficult line to construct (it cost the equivalent of 27 million pounds[2]). The terrain around West Meon was very uneven, requiring large works of civil engineering to build the railway. In quick succession heading into West Meon from the north the line required a tall embankment with a large tunnel driven through it to carry it over the A272, a tunnel and, immediately before the station, an impressive wrought-iron viaduct over the Meon Valley itself.
Never a busy station, its only substantive commission was to move a complete farm in 1933;[3] it was finally closed on 7 February 1955. The station buildings remained for several years, they were eventually demolished for hard core rubble for a car park in Denmead. The only remains today are the 600-foot-long (180 m) platforms (heavily overgrown)[4] and an Ordnance Survey "Bench Mark".[5] The site of the former goods yard is now a car park for users of the Meon Valley Trail and the approach road from the village is still called 'Station Road'.
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