Portsmouth’s lost second rail network remembered as railway gate in the centre gives hint of city's history

An aging railway gate in Bishop Crispian Way is a reminder of the once vital dockyard railway which opened in 1857 but has been lost over the decades. The dockyard railway system had an amazing 23 miles of track and was self contained with its own locomotives, engine sheds and staff mess rooms. In its heyday every dry dock and sea lock could be accessed by the railway. There was even track across the caissons - the movable gates which held the water back from the locks.

Until 1876 the main line from London terminated at Portsmouth station, but in that year it was extended to Portsmouth Harbour. To achieve this the mainline was elevated in order to bridge Commercial Road and this offered the opportunity to replace the original link to the dockyard using a branch from the high level station.

This route required a steep descent from the station, along the back of Victoria Park where it linked up with the original track. Little of this section of the route can still be seen though the track from Edinburgh Road to the Unicorn Gate is now marked by a cycle way.

There were two entrances to the dockyard from the main British Railways line. One was from Portsmouth Harbour via a viaduct across the mudflats to South Railway Jetty which was taken out of use in 1941 when the swing bridge on to the jetty was bombed.

The other, more well-known one was the dockyard branch line. This left the main line adjacent to the up platforms of the High Level at Portsmouth & Southsea station which was used until the line’s end in 1981.

The line crossed Edinburgh Road, Union Road (later Commercial Road) and Alfred Road by level crossings and then entered the dockyard crossing Flathouse Road via a gate alongside Unicorn Gate. Flathouse Road was a public right of way from Lennox Road to what is now Trafalgar Gate, now the main gate of the naval base.

At the end of the jetty in Basin No3 is where the massive 240-ton crane also once stood. It could be seen for miles around until it was demolished in 1984.