A TREASURE trove of photos from a bygone era has been sent to the Hampshire Chronicle by the daughter of a former correspondent of this newspaper.

They capture the autumn of days for steam travel in Hampshire in the 1950s. Within ten years steam had been replaced by diesel and electric.

The photographs were sent to us by Di Jeans and were taken by her father, Dr. J.L. Farmer who was a railway enthusiast.

He wrote articles ‘Railway Notes’ for the Hampshire Chronicle under the initials T.J. during the 1950s, before he died aged 46, in February 1960 when Di was 10 years old and her sister aged 15.

Di told the Chronicle: “I do remember spending much time alongside railway lines and viewing locomotives! As medical officer of health for Winchester Rural District and responsible for organising mental health facilities in Hampshire he managed to combine his travels around the county visiting patients and training centres with viewing railways pre-Beeching.

“As a pastime he would spend many Friday evenings in the signal box at Shawford Junction with his friend, the signalman, Clive Timpson (‘Tinny’) and my sister and I would sometimes be taken there as a special treat and allowed to move the levers!”

Di, who now lives at Broad Chalke, near Salisbury, is often pictured in her St Swithun’s School uniform and the family access to the tracks suggests health and safety was less of a consideration in the 1950s. Her mum died in 2003.

“Sadly I don’t know where they were taken apart from the ones with station and signal box names on them”, said Di, so if anyone knows please contact news@hampshirechronicle.co.uk.

The pictures capture the era of gradual decline in the railways as more people bought cars. Many of the photos were taken on the Meon Valley line which ran from Alton to Wickham and closed to passengers in 1955. The photos of Winchester station show the goods yard that is now parking for commuters.