A large workshop and rolling stock have been severely damaged in a fire on a heritage railway line in Hampshire.
More than 50 firefighters responded to the fire on Monday 26 July at a newly built 50m x 30m workshop on the Watercress Line, a popular tourist attraction that runs for 10 miles between Alresford and Alton.
The blaze was brought under control after around four hours. Half of the workshop and roof was damaged, as well as a locomotive engine and two carriages.
The workshop – which was used to restore engines and rolling stock – was part of a recently completed £1.1m restoration project, half of which came from lottery funding. The operators of the line – Mid Hants Railway – estimate it will take a year to reinstate the workshop, and that the fire has put back restoration work by around two years.
A joint police and fire service investigation into the fire continues.
