Havenstreet Steam Railway

So here we are – myself (Paul) and Jan are sitting opposite a panel of directors from the IW Steam Railway, trying desperately to explain why I think it would be great location for an investigation.

For many years now I’ve always thought about this place, with its long history and always active steam railway, ‘Havenstreet’ locomotive depot should have some fantastic energies.

Thankfully for us we received the thumbs up!.. and as an added bonus we were to be given full access to every nook and cranny, we really where honored. (and luckily for us.. some really great people to work with!)

And so it was arranged that the team would investigate for the evening, and hopefully come up with some answers for some of the activity that had taken place over the years. Including clocks that would lose time on a certain wall, a box of files that had launched itself for a shelf, and a ghostly presence that could be felt (and sometimes seen from a window!) – around the yard and staff rooms.

Our hosts for the night, two of the senior railway staff – Di and Derek – both with spooky stories to share and full of useful knowledge of the railway and its history. Roger Millward a personal friend, and Fire man for the railway was also on hand during the night.

The team consisted of the usual motley crew – Myself, Jan, Steve, John, Karin, Marie with guests Paul Morgan & Suzanne. A quick reccie of the area, resulted in a whole host of possible active locations to focus on.

Starting with the old ticket office, we went through the usual process of tooling up for the night, K2’s, EM Pods, Mel Meters.. you name it – we had it with us. Four of the team turned on their k2’s which suddenly flashed into life, a pattern emerged – maybe a stray wifi signal was the cause!?

Jan asked out for any possible spirits to move away from her k2.. which it did, causing the lights on her k2 to stop flashing – and yet everyone else’s was still pulsing away. ‘If you’re here infront of me, light the lights please!’ – it did..

‘Ok lets all change places’, and yet still the spirit was reacting to Jan’s voice – turning off and on the lights at her command. All of a sudden the patterns stopped, all k2’s went quiet… Could it be that the spirit was using the extra boost of energy in the air to effect Jan’s k2?

Time to move on to the restaurant, a place that has on occasion been quite active – so I’m informed by the railway staff. Jan immediately sensed the presence of an older woman in the kitchen, who was there to ‘Nourish the Soul!’ – a very strange expression for Jan to say.

The spirit woman, possibly a former worker for the railway, ‘liked to keep the boys happy’, and would be most at home when talking to the menfolk – women however should not be stood around, especially in the kitchen area! – staff have previously reported hearing voices, and feeling not alone..

A quick reccie into the office area, resulted with the connection of residual energy to a young girl and french speaking lady. Unfortunately there was very little information we could glean from the both of them.

Quite interestingly a wall clock in one of the offices has been reported to lose time, even when replaced by a different clock – however once hung on the wall, will start to slow down. We noted that an electrical box just above the area was giving off a high energy reading – could it be the cause of the problems? we just can’t prove it. Steve & Di decide to conduct an experiment. They replace the battery for a new one, sync the time with another clock in the room, and finally seal the room up tight. Noone is getting in there tonight without us knowing!

Across the track we go, half of the team heading over to staff quarters (formerly a Gas Works) – while the rest of us walk up the platform to the waiting railway carriages. Paul picks up on some residual energy coming from one of the compartments, we enter..

There’s the energy of a young girl here’ he says. Over the course of the next few minutes a whole torrent of information is revealed. She’s a very pretty young lady, in her early 20’s, from the Victorian period. ‘Shes on her way to visit her intended in Brighton, she’s very excited! 

Derek, who is listening from the platform informs us that its correct – this carriage was from the mainland route that went to Brighton. Wow! – we have a hit.. Paul informs us that the spirit girl was impressed too, and is tickling the top of his head! – for me, its small discoveries like this that makes it all worthwhile.

We can hear noises coming from the train depo, maybe its time for us to join the rest of the team. I can see Janis up in the cab of a loco! Turns out that she’s been having a bit of a problem with an angry spirit who really doesn’t want her in the yard. ‘He’s in my face, very very angry – just keeps saying to me that I’ve no right to be here!’, she says.

Luckily for Jan, the train drivers have joined us – they want to know more about this angry spirit, and have ‘invited’ her into the cab of one of the locomotives. As you can guess, that really didn’t help her relationship with the spirit!

He’s definitely a railway man, although he refuses to give me his name’. Jan lurches forward, if it wasnt for the railing on the door and a helpful driver, the spirit would have successfully flung her from the cab. ‘This is his train’, she replies. ‘He’s worked on others, but this is his main one.

‘How do you feel on each side of the cab?’ asks Alan Brindley (driver), Jan moves back and forth across the cab – half expecting to be launched into the air at any moment. ‘The lefthand side feels worse than the right, I’m not suppose to be up here – but he’s told me as I already am up here, I’m to stay over this side’.

It turns out that in a steam locomotive, there are 2 roles – the Driver and the Fire Man, and this spirit did not want her on the drivers side. ‘He’s told me that its not kept as clean as when he had it!, but he’s very proud of you all for the work your doing and keeping the railway running’, says Jan.

The drivers decide that Jan should try the cab’s of the other engines, to see if she can pickup any additional information – When on one of the engines, Alan (a driver) – asks Jan what side feels less comfortable. ‘On this loco, I feel I should be stood on the other side for some reason’, this was later confirmed by the drivers as this engine and had had its controls reversed around.

‘Is there anything more you can give us?’ asks Alan, ‘Nope afraid not, he really doesn’t want to talk to me anymore’ says Jan. ‘Although he has told be to tell you this.. He will do something to the old bugger tonight to prove himself to you!’

We are later told by the railway staff that Alan – who was for the night staying over in the staff quarters – awoke at 4 o’clock with leg cramps, something he doesn’t usually suffer with. After jumping out of bed and walking it off, he returned to find a selection of loco-related equipment placed neatly upon his bed! – if only we had left a static camera fixed up in the room for the night!

‘Would you like to see the Royal Carriage?’ asks Guardsman Ian Pidgley – you bet! We leave Jan in the capable hands of the drivers and march off down the tracks, to a siding that houses these remarkable historic carriages.

Watching Paul M try to scramble up a good 4 foot into the carriage gave us all a bit of laugh, but finally here we were – inside the Royal Carriage. Reputed to be the carriage that carried Queen Victoria, and more recently our own Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to the railway a few years ago. Try as we might we could not pickup on any ‘royal’ activity.

But lets not forget Jan! on seeing us walking down the tracks – she felt the spirit of the driver she was communicating with become uncontrollably strong. She called out for John, one of our team for support.

John enters the cab to offer her some of his energy in a bid to control the spirit, not before the spirit has tried to push him out of it – he falls into Janis who somehow manages to stop them both from crashing down to the floor.

It’s coming to end of our time on the railway, but what a night we had, energy – both residual and active had certainly given us a night to remember!

With only half of the locations covered, we certainly hope to be back at the railway to uncover many more stories of our railway past. A few days after our initial investigation I received an email from Di, it seems they have a name for our ghostly driver – Tom ‘Jacko’ Jackman!

We would like to thank the Management and Railway Staff for their support and kindness in making this
investigation such an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

www.iwsteamrailway.co.uk