East Southsea was the name of a 1904 terminus railway station of the 1.25 mile"The Southsea Railway" Robertson,K: Southampton, Kingfisher, 1985

Southsea Railway The Southsea Railway was a branch of the Portsmouth Direct Line, located on Portsea Island, Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The railway was opened on 1 July 1885 and closed on 6 August 1914. History In 1879, South Parade Pier was opened by Pr ...

, which linked the

Southsea Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea is not a separate town as all of Portsea Island's s ...

seaside resort with the Portsmouth Direct Line at

Fratton railway station Fratton railway station is a railway station in the city of Portsmouth, on Portsea Island in the United Kingdom. It was opened in the Fratton area of Portsmouth on 1 July 1885 as an interchange station between the London, Brighton and South Coast ...

. It replaced a larger, grander earlier station building named Southsea railway station, which opened in 1885.

History

Southsea railway station (1885-1904)

The first terminus station of the Southsea Railway was named Southsea and was built in a grand Queen Anne style. The station was located to the north of Granada Road, Southsea, and south of the southern side of St. Simon's Church, in St. Ronan's Road, Southsea. The station and its tracks were orientated diagonally north-east in parallel with the southern side of St. Ronan's Road, and had three long platforms under a glass paned roof. Southsea station, along with the

and

were jointly opened on 1 July 1885 by Lady Ada Mary Willis (née Neeld), wife of General Sir George Willis, the Lieutenant Governor of Portsmouth. The Southsea Railway was built to serve the fashionable Victorian seaside resort of

, and at its northern end, the Southsea Railway connected to the Portsmouth Direct Line at Fratton railway station.

East Southsea railway station (1904-1914)

By the twentieth century, the Southsea Railway was experiencing competition with

Portsmouth Corporation Transport Portsmouth Corporation Transport was a tram, trolleybus and bus operator formed in 1898, serving the city of Portsmouth, and owned by Portsmouth Corporation. Tram services ended in 1936, trolleybus services in 1963, while bus operations continu ...

trams and trolleybuses. Conventional steam trains on the line were replaced in 1903 with long steam railcars. The steam-powered railcars had small wheels and allegedly gave passengers a bumpy ride. As a cost-cutting measure, the Southsea Railway leased out the original 1885 Southsea station building in 1904, which become a motor engineers garage. The terminus was then moved south down the station driveway to a small wooden single platform with a waiting room, built directly on Granada Road named East Southsea station. In 1904, East Southsea station was joined by two unstaffed halt stations at Albert Road and Jessie Road, added to the Southsea Railway line."Hampshire railways remembered" Oppitz,L Newbury, Countryside 1988 These additions were initially a success, but were unable to compete with Portsmouth's burgeoning tramway network and passenger numbers began to decline."Portsmouth’s tramways" Petch,M: Midhurst, Middleton Press,1996

Closure, First World War and fate

By 1914, the threat of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

loomed. The final nail in the Southsea Railway's coffin was a government directive issued shortly after the declaration of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

to the effect that railways unable to support themselves would cease operations at the earliest opportunity; and, as the line clearly fell into this category, the last train ran on 6 August 1914. The original 1885 Southsea station at Granada Road was used as a munitions store during the war., while the rail line itself served as an additional overflow siding from Fratton railway station's goods yard. After the war, the Southsea Railway and its stations lay abandoned. Partial removal of the line was sanctioned by Section 55 of the Southern Railway Act 1923. The 1885 Southsea station at Granada Road was converted into a road vehicle garage business, until it was fully demolished and cleared in the 1970s.

Legacy

After the demise of the Southsea Railway, ''Fratton & Southsea'' station reverted to its original ''

Fratton Fratton is a residential and formerly industrial area of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. Victorian style terraced houses are dominant in the area, typical of most residential areas of Portsmouth. Fratton has many discount shops and "greasy spoo ...

'' name on 1 December 1921. The ''Southsea'' name was later transferred to Portsmouth's main '' Portsmouth Town'' railway station in 1925 creating the present-day Portsmouth & Southsea railway station name. The site of Southsea's terminus station is now occupied by a late twentieth century residential cul-de-sac named Chewter Close, just to the north of Granada Road in Southsea. The original 1885 terminus station building was located at the northern end of today's Chewter Close until its demolition in the 1970s. A mural commemorating the station was unveiled on the northernmost wall in Chewter Close on 26 August 2011. This wall was not part of the original Southsea station building, as the wall was built after the railway line closed and was built as a boundary wall between the rear gardens of newer

inter-war period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

houses that became Parkstone Avenue and the garage business that occupied the original station building. The smaller, later East Southsea station site is now occupied by modern houses close to the junction of Chewter Close and Granada Road.

References

External links

Fate of old station
{{coord, 50.781075, -1.077263, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Disused railway stations in Portsmouth Former Portsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1885 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1914