Hampshire's flagship heritage railway: ten miles of proper main-line steam between Alton and the watercress town of Alresford, an easy add-on to a New Forest trip.
The Watercress Line — officially the Mid Hants Railway — earned its name carrying fresh watercress from Alresford's beds to London's markets. Today its big steam locomotives climb "over the Alps", the steeply graded line through Ropley and Medstead & Four Marks (Hampshire's highest station), with dining trains, real-ale evenings and family events through the year.
Getting there from the New Forest
It's about a 45-minute drive from the central Forest villages up the M3/A31 to Alresford. Prefer rail all the way? Alton station shares its platforms with South Western Railway — trains from London Waterloo terminate there — so from the Forest you can ride via Winchester or Woking and arrive by train, which feels like the proper way to visit a railway.