THE GREAT exodus of workers from Eastleigh's doomed giant railway plant has begun.

Last Christmas Alstom dropped the bombshell news that it was closing its train renovation business by the end of this year.

The engineering giant said falling orders and over-capacity left it with no option but to shut the Campbell Road depot.

But the loss of 550 jobs - 450 staff and 100 contractors - has come as a massive economic blow to the town, which will wipe out one of Eastleigh's biggest centres of employment.

Now the harsh reality of redundancy is coming home to roost as an Alstom spokesman said the first tranche of 78 workers had left the company.

The second round of redundancies will come in July or August, followed by more in October. The final batch will leave at the end of the year.

Employees have been working on two or three major contracts before the gates are finally shut on the Campbell Road complex.

Following the announcement that the works was closing a job shop was immediately set up at the plant, giving advice on further career opportunities and help in writing CVs.

When the last worker leaves the plant it will signal the end of the town's links with the railways which goes back more than 100 years.

Without the railways there would simply not have been an Eastleigh.

For a new town was born at the turn of the 19th century when the London and South Western Railway moved its carriage and locomotive works along the line from Nine Elms to Eastleigh.

In its heyday the works employed thousands and was the major workplace for generations of Eastleigh families.

From being just a dot on the map Eastleigh grew to become a railway mecca. Between 1891 and 1901 its population soared by 54 per cent.

Eastleigh is world famous for building fire-eating locomotive legends such as King Arthur and Lord Nelson.

Once the works has closed the future of the massive site will come under focus.

Eastleigh council leader Keith House has already said the council has identified the railway works and surrounding land, including the proposed northern business park at the airport, as one of southern Hampshire's employment sites for the next 20 to 30 years.

Bringing it into effective use - which meant providing the Chickenhall Link southern bypass of the town - was vital to the success of not only Eastleigh but also Southampton.