The Tramway
A 1910 Map showing the main tramway shared with the 18″ narrow gauge railway which also ran from the Haslar Jetty turning left at the Main Gate to run along the shore line to Fort Gilkicker and Fort Blockhouse for transfer of munitions and also possibly conveying patients to the Zymotics hospital.
The Haslar Tramway was constructed in 1877 as a single line running from the Haslar Jetty into the Main Arcade of the hospital. At the jetty there was an ambulance shed with a junction for the storage of the ambulance tram and a similar junction at the Arcade. The two trams were built by the London and Midland Railway.
Hospital boats or cutters collected the sick, wounded or dead from the anchoring fleet at Spithead and the dockyard and ferried them to the Haslar Jetty. On arrival at the jetty the patients were landed and transferred to the ambulance. Sick Berth staff then pushed the ambulance to the Main Arcade.
On arrival at the Arcade the patients were then carried to the hospital receiving room for admission.
An example of the Ambulance boat that ferried the sick and wounded sailors from the anchoring fleet at Spithead, in Portsmouth Harbour and the Dockyard to Halsar Jetty and the rail ambulance.
Some remains of the rail tracks can be seen at the Central Arcade inside the Royal Hospital Haslar and in the grounds of Fort Blockhouse between the old Main Gate and Haslar Jetty (Access to Submarine Museum).
A photograph showing the rail ambulance pushed through the Main Gate - 1900.
Haslar Staff pushing the tram with King George V and Queen Mary onboard back to the jetty during their visit to Haslar on 23rd July 1910.
King George V and Queen Mary alight he jetty possibly returning to the Royal Yacht and Cowes, Isle of Wight. It is evident that a change of 'pushing crew' had taken place on route.