If you find yourself on St Giles Hill or walking along Chesil Street in Winchester, listen out for the ghostly whistle of a steam train or the clang of a signal bell. 

Here, at the foot of St Giles Hill, was Cheese Hill (later Chesil) Station, opened in 1885 as a stop on the ill-starred Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway line. From here Hampshire strawberries were carried to London, race horses to Newbury and thousands of troops to Southampton to embark on journeys to the Western Front, and, later, the Normandy beaches. The line closed in the1960s, but tantalising fragments of station and railway remain. 

Winchester tourist guide Clare Dixon talks to Julie Dypdal about the history of the railway, and takes us on a podcast tour of the bridges and buildings, tunnel and viaduct that still form part of the Winchester landscape.

For more information, including show notes and a transcript, please visit our website: https://www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/hampshire-histbites-episodes