London And South-Western Railway

The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter and Plymouth, and to Padstow, Ilfracombe and Bude. It developed a network of routes in Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire, including Portsmouth and Reading.

The LSWR became famous for its express passenger trains to Bournemouth and Weymouth, and to Devon and Cornwall. Nearer London it developed a dense suburban network and was pioneering in the introduction of a widespread suburban electrified passenger network. It was the prime mover of the development of Southampton Docks, which became an important ocean terminal as well as a harbour for cross channel services and for Isle of Wight ferries. Although the LSWR's area of influence was not the home of large-scale heavy industry, the transport goods and mineral traffic was a major activity, and the company built a large marshalling yard at Feltham. Freight, docks and shipping business provided almost 40 per cent of turnover by 1908. The company handled the rebuilding of London Waterloo station as one of the great stations of the world, and the construction of the Waterloo and City line, giving access to the City of London. The main line was quadrupled and several of the junctions on it were given grade-separation. It pioneered the introduction of power signalling. In the Boer War its connections at Aldershot, Portland, and on Salisbury Plain, made it a vital part of the war effort, and later during the First World War it successfully handled the huge volume of traffic associated with bringing personnel, horses and equipment to the English channel ports, and the repatriation of the injured. It was a profitable company, paying a dividend of 5% or more from 1871.

Following the Railways Act 1921 the LSWR amalgamated with other railways to create the Southern Railway, on 1 January 1923, as part of the grouping of the railways. It was the largest constituent: it operated 862 route miles, and was involved in joint ventures that covered a further 157 miles. In passing its network to the new Southern Railway, it showed the way forward for long distance travel and outer-suburban passenger operation, and for maritime activity. The network continued without much change through the lifetime of the Southern Railway, and for some years following nationalisation in 1948. In Devon and Cornwall the LSWR routes duplicated former Great Western Railway routes, and in the 1960s they were closed or substantially reduced in scope. Some unsuccessful rural branch lines nearer the home counties closed too in the 1960s and later, but much of the LSWR network continues in busy use at the present day.

History

The London and South Western Railway originated as a renaming of the London and Southampton Railway, which opened in May 1840 to connect the port of Southampton with London. Its original London terminus was Nine Elms, on the south bank of the river Thames, the route being laid through Wimbledon, Surbiton, Woking, Basingstoke and Winchester, using what became the standard track gauge of .

The railway was an immediate success, and this encouraged the company to think of extensions, to Windsor, to Gosport (for Portsmouth) and to Salisbury. The company then saw potential from the area westward, which put it in direct competition with the Great Western Railway: it was important to secure lines and stations to seek to keep the competitor out. As the Great Western Railway used the broad gauge (), any gauge adopted by independent smaller lines dictated their permissibility for joint running, and this territorial competition became known as the gauge wars. The Nine Elms terminus was obviously inconvenient to most Londoners and the line was extended north-eastwards to Waterloo via the Nine Elms to Waterloo Viaduct in 1848; later the LSWR built its own tube railway—the Waterloo & City line—to connect to City station close to the Bank of England building in the City of London.

The Great Western Railway secured access early on to Exeter and Plymouth through its allied companies, and the LSWR aspired to build its own competing route to reach Devon and Cornwall, which would offer considerable traffic potential. It made a slow start but eventually had its own line from Basingstoke to Salisbury and Exeter, continuing by a northerly arc to Plymouth, and to north Devon and north Cornwall. Coming later than the Great Western to the area, it never achieved the solid prosperity there of its broad gauge neighbour.

The Southampton line had been extended to Weymouth via Ringwood, and the LSWR consolidated its home area building branches closer to London, and direct lines to Portsmouth, and to Reading. It also became joint owner, with the Midland Railway, of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, responsible for infrastructure and coaching stock on the latterly famous route. Shipping became significant also, with passenger and freight services to the Channel Islands, to Saint-Malo in France, and to the Isle of Wight.

In the twentieth century, it embarked on a programme of electrifying the suburban routes, at 600 V DC using a third rail. Eventually this covered the entire suburban area. Freight traffic, especially from the West Country was important, but the emphasis on suburban electrification led to weaker development of steam traction for fast passenger and goods services to Devon and Cornwall, and to Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Weymouth.

At the grouping of the railways, the LSWR amalgamated with other railways to create the Southern Railway, and the independent Isle of Wight railways were absorbed, becoming part of the former LSWR section within the Southern Railway. Its enlightened and unorthodox Chief Mechanical Engineer, Oliver Bulleid, put in hand the construction of a fleet of powerful express steam locomotives, the Merchant Navy class, followed by a larger fleet of so-called light pacifics, built with lighter axle loading to give access to branch lines with weaker track and bridge strengths; this enabled radical improvements to main line passenger services, and the streamlined profile of the new fleet made an impact as a modern design, and it remained an iconic image. At the same time they revolutionised express passenger train speeds to Weymouth and the West Country, although their technical innovation incorporated a number of difficulties. Electrification of the Portsmouth line was now carried out.

Capital infrastructure works were also undertaken, including the Feltham marshalling yard, major improvements to Southampton Docks and Waterloo station, a new locomotive workshop at Eastleigh, and grade separated junctions on the main line, as well as signalling modernisation schemes. A concrete manufacturing works was established at Exmouth Junction in Exeter, producing standardised precast components such as platform units, lamp posts and platelayers' huts; the designs became familiar throughout Southern Railway territory.

Nationalisation of the railways in 1948 brought relatively little immediate change to the former LSWR system, now part of the Southern Operating Area of British Railways, later the Southern Region, although national centralisation of locomotive design made Bulleid's position untenable and he retired. However, in 1966 the geographical limits of the British Railways regions was rationalised, and the Devon and Cornwall lines were transferred to the Western Region. Many of the branch lines had declined in traffic in the 1950s and were considered uneconomic, and following the Beeching Report, the Reshaping of British Railways, many of the branches were closed, as was the Plymouth main line.

The Bournemouth line was electrified in 1967, at first with converted steam coaching stock, later replaced by purpose built stock; the electrification was extended to Weymouth in 1988. In recent years the system has remained constant, with gradually increasing train frequency from about 1990 now forming a limitation.

When international train services from London to Paris and Brussels were initiated in 1994, they required space for very long trains, and this was provided at Waterloo: the Eurostar terminal was built on the north side of the station with the international trains using the first of the LSWR main line before diverging. The services were transferred to St Pancras International in 2007 and the Eurostar terminal, having sat dormant for a decade, was re-developed in 2017 and re-opened for use by Windsor and Reading services.

The first main line

The London and South Western Railway arose out of the London and Southampton Railway (L&SR), which was promoted to connect Southampton to the capital; the company envisaged a considerable reduction in the price of coal and agricultural necessities to places served, as well as imported produce through Southampton Docks, and passenger traffic.

Construction probably started on 6 October 1834 under Francis Giles, but progress was slow. Joseph Locke was brought in as engineer, and the rate of construction improved; the first part of the line opened to the public between and Woking Common on 21 May 1838, and it was opened throughout on 11 May 1840. The terminals were at Nine Elms, south of the River Thames and a mile or so southwest of Trafalgar Square, and a terminal station at Southampton close to the docks, which were also directly served by goods trains.

The railway was immediately successful, and road coaches from points further west altered their routes so as to connect with the new railway at convenient interchange points, although goods traffic was slower to develop., chapter 2

First new branch, and change of name

The London and Southampton Railway promoters had intended to build a branch from Basingstoke to Bristol, but this proposal was rejected by Parliament in favour of the competing Great Western Railway's route. The parliamentary fight had been bitter, and a combination of resentment and the commercial attraction of expanding westwards remained in the company's thoughts.

A more immediate opportunity was taken up, of serving Portsmouth by a branch line. Interests friendly to the L&SR promoted a Portsmouth Junction Railway, which would have run from Bishopstoke (Eastleigh) via Botley and Fareham to Portsmouth. However resentment in Portsmouth—which considered Southampton a rival port—at being given simply as branch and thereby a roundabout route to London, killed the prospects of such a line. Portsmouth people wanted their own direct line, but in trying to play off the L&SR against the London & Brighton Railway they were unable to secure the committed funds they needed.

The L&SR now promoted a cheaper line to Gosport, on the opposite side of Portsmouth Harbour, shorter and simpler than the earlier proposal. Approval had recently been given for the construction of a floating bridge (chain ferry) giving connection between Gosport and Portsmouth, and the L&SR secured its Act of Parliament on 4 June 1839. To soothe feelings in Portsmouth, the L&SR included in its bill a change of name to the London and South Western Railway under Section 2.''An Act to amend the Acts relating to the London and Southampton Railway Company, hereafter to be called the "London and South-western Railway Company" and to make a branch railway to the port of Portsmouth'', 2 & 3 Victoria, cap xxvii, given royal assent on 4 June 1839.The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 2 & 3 Victoria, 1839, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1839

Construction of the Gosport branch was at first quick and simple under Thomas Brassey. Stations were built at Bishopstoke (the new junction station; later renamed Eastleigh) and . An extremely elaborate station was built at , tendered at £10,980, seven times the tender price for Bishopstoke. However, there was a tunnel at Fareham, and on 15 July 1841 there was a disastrous earth slip at the north end. Opening of the line had been advertised for 11 days later, but the setback forced a delay until 29 November; the ground slipped again four days later, and passenger services were suspended until 7 February 1842.

Isle of Wight ferry operators altered some sailings to leave from Gosport instead of Portsmouth. Queen Victoria was fond of travelling to Osborne House on the island, and on 13 September 1845 a branch to the Royal Clarence Victualling Establishment was opened for her convenience.Williams, chapter 5

Gauge wars

Between the first proposal for a railway from London to Southampton and the construction, interested parties were considering rail connections to other, more distant, towns that might be served by extensions of the railway. Reaching Bath and Bristol via Newbury was an early objective. The Great Western Railway (GWR) also planned to reach Bath and Bristol, and it obtained its Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835, which for the time being removed those cities from the LSWR's immediate plans. There remained much attractive territory in the South West, the West of England, and even the West Midlands, and the LSWR and its allies continually fought the GWR and its allies to be the first to build a line in a new area.

The GWR was built on the broad gauge of while the LSWR gauge was standard gauge (), and the allegiance of any proposed independent railway was made clear by its intended gauge. The gauge was generally specified in the authorising Act of Parliament, and bitter and protracted competition took place to secure authorisation for new lines of the preferred gauge, and to bring about parliamentary rejection of proposals from the rival faction. This rivalry between the GWR and the standard gauge companies became called the '' gauge wars''.

In the early days government held that several competing railways could not be sustained in any particular area of the country, and a commission of experts referred to informally as the "Five Kings" was established by the Board of Trade to determine the preferred development, and therefore the preferred company, in certain districts, and this was formalised in the Railway Regulation Act 1844., chapter 3

Suburban lines

The LSWR was the second British railway company to begin running what could be described as a commuter service, after the London and Greenwich Railway had opened in 1836.

When the first main line opened, the LSWR built a station called Kingston, somewhat to the east of the present-day Surbiton station and this quickly attracted business travel from residents of Kingston upon Thames. The availability of fast travel into London encouraged new housing development close to the new station. Residents of Richmond upon Thames observed the popularity of this facility, and promoted a railway from their town to Waterloo; the branch opened in July 1846 and became part of the LSWR later that year. Already a suburban network was developing, and this gathered pace in the following decades.

Branches off the main line were made to in 1848 and Hampton Court in 1851,Alan A Jackson, ''London's Local Railways'', David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1978, , pages 97 to 99 while the Richmond line was extended, reaching in 1851, while a loop line from via rejoining the Windsor line near had been opened in 1850. In 1856 a friendly company, the Staines, Wokingham and Woking Junction Railway, opened its line from to , and running powers over the line shared by the South Eastern Railway and the Great Western Railway gave access for LSWR trains over the remaining few miles from Wokingham to .

South of the main line, the important towns of Epsom and Leatherhead needed to be served; the rival London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) reached first (from ), but in 1859 the LSWR opened a line from , closely paralleling the main line as far as the present-day and then turning south to Epsom. Between Epsom and a joint line with the LB&SCR was built, also opening in 1859.

Parts of Kingston were from station and in 1863 the town got its own terminal station, reached westward via . A single-track branch was laid in 1864 to reach westwards up the Thames Valley to . In 1869 the Kingston line was formed into a loop by the extension from Kingston to .

The daily inconvenience of the LSWR London terminal at Waterloo, close to Whitehall via Westminster Bridge but poorly connected at the time to the City of London, became increasingly prominent as daily commuting increased. This was partly alleviated when friendly relations with the LB&SCR and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR) gave access for LSWR trains to its Ludgate Hill (City) station from Wimbledon via Tooting, Streatham and Herne Hill: this service commenced in 1869, and in the same year the LSWR opened a new route from Waterloo to Richmond via and on the West London Extension Railway, over new track through and the present-day and . Although circuitous, this route swept up considerable inner-suburban business.

At the end of the independent life of the LSWR its trains reached, with the help of running powers and friendly companies, to today's suburban destinations. The railway was only convenient for Westminster as to commuters, lacking an underground station, and made strenuous exertions to get direct access for its trains to the City of London, the destination of the majority of business customers in the later decades of the nineteenth century, but in most cases these were circuitous and thus slow. The problem was resolved by the opening of the Waterloo & City Railway, an electric tube railway, in 1898.Williams, chapter 6

Quadrupling, grade-separated junctions, and electrification all enhanced the efficiency of the service offered.

Westward

The Southampton and Dorchester Railway

The London and Southampton Railway promoters had lost the first battle for authorisation to make a line to Bristol, but the objective of opening up the country in the southwest and west of England remained prominent. In fact it was an independent promoter, Charles Castleman, a solicitor of Wimborne Minster, who assembled support in the South West, and on 2 February 1844 proposed to the LSWR that a line might be built from Southampton to Dorchester: he was rebuffed by the LSWR, who were looking towards Exeter as their next objective. Castleman went ahead and developed his scheme, but relations between his supporters and the LSWR were extremely tense, and Castleman formed a Southampton and Dorchester Railway, and negotiated with the Great Western Railway instead. The Bristol & Exeter Railway, a broad gauge company allied to the GWR, reached Exeter on 1 May 1844, and the GWR was promoting the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway which was to connect the GWR to Weymouth. It seemed to the LSWR that on all sides they were losing territory in the west country that they considered rightfully theirs, and they hastily prepared plans for their own lines crossing from Bishopstoke to Taunton. Much was made of the roundabout route of the Southampton and Dorchester line, and it was mockingly referred to as ''Castleman's corkscrew'' or ''the water snake''.

The ''Five Kings'' (referred to above) published their decision, that most of the broad gauge lines should have preference, as well as the Southampton and Dorchester line which was to be built on the narrow gauge. Formal agreement was reached on 16 January 1845 between the LSWR, the GWR and the Southampton & Dorchester, agreeing exclusive areas of influence for future railway construction as between the parties. The Southampton and Dorchester line was authorised on 21 July 1845; there was to be an interchange station at Dorchester to transfer to the broad-gauge WS&W line, which was to be required to lay mixed gauge to to give narrow gauge trains from Southampton access. To demonstrate impartiality the Southampton and Dorchester would be required to lay mixed gauge on its line for the same distance east of Dorchester, even though this did not lead to any source of traffic as there were no stations or goods sidings on the dual-gauge section. Interests in Southampton had also forced a clause in the Act requiring the S&DR to build a station at Blechynden Terrace, in central Southampton. This became the present day ; the Southampton and Dorchester was to terminate at the original LSWR terminus in Southampton.

The line opened on 1 June 1847 from a temporary station at Blechynden Terrace westwards, as the tunnel between there and the LSWR station at Southampton had slipped; that section was finally opened on the night of 5–6 August 1847, for a mail train.

Powers were taken for the LSWR to amalgamate with the Southampton & Dorchester, and this took effect on 11 October 1848.

The Southampton and Dorchester line ran from in a northerly sweep through and , bypassing Bournemouth (which had not yet developed as an important town) and Poole; the port of Poole was served by a spur line to Lower Hamworthy on the opposite side of Holes Bay. It then continued via to a terminus at Dorchester which was sited to facilitate a further extension in the direction of Exeter. The link to the WS&W line was awkwardly sited due to the presence of Maumbury Rings, requiring through trains to to either reverse in and out of Dorchester station or skip it altogether.

Salisbury

While Castleman was developing his Southampton and Dorchester line, the LSWR was planning to reach the important city of Salisbury. This was done by a branch from by way of and the Dean Valley. By launching from Bishopstoke, the Company wished to connect the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth with Salisbury, but this made the route to London somewhat circuitous. The necessary Act was obtained on 4 July 1844, but land acquisition delays and inefficient contract arrangements delayed the opening until 27 January 1847, and then only for goods trains; passengers were conveyed from 1 March 1847. The Salisbury station was at Milford, on the east side of the city.

Business interests in Andover were disappointed that the Salisbury line was not to pass through their town, and a London to Salisbury and Yeovil line through Andover was being promoted; it might ally with a line from Yeovil to Exeter with a Dorchester branch, forming a new, competing London to Exeter line, so that the LSWR territorial agreement with the GWR would be worthless. When the LSWR indicated that they would themselves build a line from Salisbury to Exeter, the GWR complained bitterly that this broke the 16 January 1845 territorial agreement, and the Southampton and Dorchester complained too that this new line would abstract traffic from them. As the railway mania was now at its height, a frenzy of competing schemes was now proposed. The LSWR itself felt obliged to promote doubtful schemes in self-defence, but by 1848 the financial bubble of the mania had burst, and suddenly railway capital was difficult to find. In that year, only a few more realistic schemes gained Parliamentary authority: the Exeter, Yeovil and Dorchester Railway, for a narrow-gauge line from Exeter to Yeovil, and the Salisbury and Yeovil Railway.

At the end of 1847, work had begun on the LSWR's own line from to via Andover, and the scene seemed at last to be set for LSWR trains to reach Exeter. This apparent resolution of the conflict was deceptive, and in the following years a succession of disruptive pressures exerted themselves. The Southampton and Dorchester Railway insisted that it should be the route to Exeter via Bridport; the GWR and its allies were proposing new schemes intersecting the LSWR's route west; the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth line resumed construction and appeared to threaten the LSWR's future traffic; the Andover and Southampton Canal was to be converted to a broad gauge railway; and residents of towns on the proposed LSWR route were angry at the delay in actually providing the new line.

The outcome of all this was that the Salisbury and Yeovil Railway was authorised on 7 August 1854; the LSWR line from Basingstoke resumed construction, and was opened to Andover on 3 July 1854, but it took until 1 May 1857 for the line to open from there to Salisbury (Milford). The LSWR had given undertakings to extend to Exeter and it was compelled to honour these, obtaining the Act on 21 July 1856. The narrative "West of Salisbury" is continued below.

London terminal stations

The company's first London terminus was at Nine Elms on the southwestern edge of the built-up area. The wharf frontage on the Thames was advantageous to the railway's objective of competing with coastal shipping transits, but the site was inconvenient for passengers, who had to travel on to London either by road or by steamer.

The "Metropolitan Extension" to a more central location had been discussed as early as 1836, and a four-track extension to was authorised by Act of Parliament on 31 July 1845 with a supplementary Act of 1847; the capital authorised was £950,000. The line had an intermediate station at .

Opening was planned for 30 June 1848, but the Board of Trade inspector did not approve some of the large-span bridges at the eastern end, however his superior was satisfied by later load tests, and the line opened on 11 July 1848. At first incoming trains stopped outside the station and were pulled in by capstan after the locomotive had been detached.

The Nine Elms site became dedicated to goods traffic and was much extended to fill the triangle of land eastwards to Wandsworth Road. The independent Richmond Railway was promoted, joining the LSWR at Falcon Road (near the present-day Clapham Junction). The LSWR adopted the Richmond line and there were four tracks from Falcon Road to Waterloo Bridge. There were four platforms with six platform faces, about where platforms 9 to 12 are today. They were doubled in length soon after opening.

In 1854 the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company opened its one-platform station adjacent to Waterloo on the south side between York Road and Westminster Bridge Road. The company arranged for the transport of the dead and the funeral parties, to a burial site near Brookwood, using LSWR locomotives.

More platforms at Waterloo

On 3 August 1860 four additional platforms were opened on the north-west side of the original station, separated from it by a cab road. This became known as ''the Windsor station'' and served the Windsor line and outer suburban traffic.

The LSWR was aware that Waterloo Bridge, being on the South Bank, was still not convenient for the increasing number of business people travelling to the City of London; the company tried repeatedly to get access independently, but these plans were dropped on the grounds of expense. The Charing Cross Railway (CCR), supported by the South Eastern Railway (SER), opened a line from London Bridge to Charing Cross on 11 January 1864, and was obliged to make a connection from that line to the LSWR Waterloo station. It did so but declined to operate any trains over the connection.

The single line connected through the station concourse and ran between platforms 2 and 3; there was a movable bridge across the track. In 1865 a circular service started from Euston via Willesden and Waterloo to London Bridge. The SER was clearly reluctant to encourage this service, and diverted to Cannon Street it struggled on until ceasing on 31 December 1867. A few van shunts, and also the Royal Train, were the only movements over the line after that.

By opposing a parliamentary bill that was important to the SER, the LSWR got that company's agreement to build a Waterloo station on its Charing Cross line, and this, at first called Waterloo Junction, opened on 1 January 1869; this is the present-day station.

More widening, and renaming to "Waterloo"

Further widening in the throat area of the station took place in 1875, and the Necropolis platform was taken for this work, a new platform for them being provided nearer to Westminster Bridge Road. On 16 December 1878 a two-sided platform was added becoming ''the South station''. In November 1885 six more platforms, ''the North station'', for the Staines (Windsor and Reading) lines opened. The original four tracks therefore fed into 16 platforms and between 1886 and 1892 for the course to Surbiton an additional two tracks were added, followed by one more in 1900 and another in 1905 of much shorter distance.

In 1886 the station name was changed to ''Waterloo''.

Connecting to the City

A number of independent schemes to reach the City of London were promoted, and in 1893 a Waterloo & City Railway obtained its Act of Parliament, to build a tube railway (then an extremely novel concept) from below Waterloo station to a City station at the Mansion House. This was successfully built, and it opened in 1898, running electric trains at frequent intervals. Through ticketing from LSWR stations were available, and the LSWR worked the line. The City station was later renamed Bank to match the adjacent tube stations of the Central London Railway and the City & South London Railway.

Major expansion at Waterloo

The incremental expansion of Waterloo station in the nineteenth century had led to a chaotic and difficult terminal installation, and in 1899 the company obtained powers for a major reconstruction and further expansion of the station; subsequent Acts further extended the powers. A considerable land take was involved, and the Necropolis station had to be moved, again, this time to the west of Westminster Bridge Road, where it opened with two platforms on 16 February 1902; the Waterloo & City Railway station was largely to be built over. The huge task cost £2 million, and was largely implemented in the years 1906 to 1916, although some work was not complete until 1922.

It was only as part of this work that the defunct through line to the SER route was finally removed, authorised by Act of 1911; Westminster Bridge Road bridge was widened to carry 11 tracks. The numbering sequence of platforms was rationalised, and the new platforms 1 to 3 opened, on new ground, on 24 January 1909, followed by platform 4 on 25 July 1909, roughly on the site of the southernmost of the former platforms; platform 5 followed on 6 March 1910.

As well as platform accommodation, a new mechanical departure indicator was provided, and there were spacious new offices for the LSWR headquarters. The new roof over platforms 1 to 15 was built, with its bays transverse to the tracks; the roof over what became platforms 16 to 21 retained the longitudinal roof built in 1885, making the ''Windsor line station'' obviously different. The last of the new platforms was commissioned on 28 February 1915. The new station was formally opened by Queen Mary on 21 March 1922; the cost of the reconstruction had been £2,269,354.

West of Salisbury

To Exeter

After a long period of conflict, the LSWR's route to the West of England was clear; the earlier connection to Milford station at Salisbury from Bishopstoke had been opened on 17 January 1847. The route from London was shortened by the route from Basingstoke via Andover on 2 May 1859, with a more convenient station at Salisbury Fisherton Street. The conflict had centred around the best route to reach Devon and Cornwall, and this had finally been agreed to be the so-called "central route" via Yeovil. The Salisbury and Yeovil Railway opened its line, from Salisbury to on 1 May 1859; from there to on 7 May 1860, and finally to on 1 June 1860.

The controversy over the route to Exeter having been resolved, the LSWR itself had obtained authority to extend from Yeovil to Exeter, and constructing it swiftly, it opened on 19 July 1860 to its there.

Exeter to Barnstaple

Local railways towards North Devon had already opened: the Exeter and Crediton Railway opened on 12 May 1851, and the North Devon Railway from to opened on 1 August 1854. Both lines were constructed on the broad gauge. The LSWR acquired an interest in these lines in 1862–63 and then bought them in 1865. The Bristol and Exeter railway had reached Exeter at St Davids station on 1 May 1844 and the South Devon Railway had extended southwards in 1846. The LSWR Queen Street station was high above St Davids station, and a westward extension required the line to descend and cross the other lines.

The LSWR built a connecting line that descended to St Davids station by a steep falling gradient of 1 in 37 (2.7%). The authorising Act required the Bristol and Exeter Railway to lay narrow gauge rails as far as Cowley Bridge Junction, a short distance north of St Davids where the North Devon line diverged. Under the terms of this concession, all LSWR passenger trains were required to make calls at St Davids station. LSWR trains to London ran southwards through St Davids station, while broad gauge trains to London ran northwards.

Plymouth

The North Devon line formed a convenient launching point for an independent LSWR line to Plymouth. The LSWR encouraged local interests, and the Devon and Cornwall Railway opened from Coleford Junction to on 1 November 1865, and in stages from there to Lidford (later ) on 12 October 1874. The LSWR obtained running powers over the South Devon and Launceston Railway, giving it access to Plymouth over that line.

Another nominally independent company, the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway built a line from Lidford to , and the LSWR leased and operated the line, gaining independent access to Devonport, and its own passenger terminal at .

Holsworthy and Bude

The line from Okehampton to Lydford itself provided a good starting point for a branch to , in northwest Devon, and this opened on 20 January 1879, and was extended to in Cornwall on 10 August 1898.

North Cornwall

The line to Holsworthy itself provided a further starting point for a branch to what became the LSWR's most westerly point at , from Waterloo). The line was promoted by the North Cornwall Railway, and opened in stages, finally being completed on 27 March 1899.

Branches east of Exeter

The topography of the line from Salisbury to Exeter is such that the main line passed by many significant communities. Local communities were disappointed by the omission of their town from railway connection, and, in many cases encouraged by the LSWR, they promoted independent branch lines. These lines were worked, and sooner or later absorbed, by the LSWR, so that in time the main line had a series of connecting branches.

West of Salisbury there were branch lines to:

* Yeovil; the line ran from to station;
* Bath and Bournemouth; with a junction at , the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway ran north to and south to ; this line was leased to the LSWR and the Midland Railway jointly for 999 years from 1 November 1875, and operated jointly by the two companies;
* Chard; the branch opened on 8 May 1863, from Chard Road (later ) to ;
* Lyme Regis; the branch line from to opened on 24 August 1903;
* Seaton; a branch line from to opened on 16 March 1868;
* Sidmouth and Exmouth; a line opened from Feniton, later , to on 6 July 1874; a branch was constructed from Tipton St Johns to , opening on 15 May 1897, and extended from there to , opening on 1 June 1903;
* Exmouth; this branch opened from Exmouth Junction on 1 May 1861.

Routes in Hampshire

Portsmouth

The London and Southampton Railway main line linked the Hampshire towns of Basingstoke, Winchester and Southampton, and from 1841 Portsmouth was served by a branch line from Bishopstoke () to the neighbour of Portsmouth ( via ferry).

In 1847 the rival LB&SCR opened a true but even longer Portsmouth route via its due south line via to Portsmouth and Southsea.

Portsmouth interests were disappointed: their lines to London were indirect, either via Hove or Bishopstoke and so promoted a private venture to build a direct southwest route from the LSWR's station at – the line became known as the Portsmouth Direct Line. It reached in 1858, sparking a two-year legal, pragmatic and, at times, physical 'battle' between the LB&SCR and the LSWR (who managed the services over the independently owned line). This was resolved by a bypassing omnibus to (North Portsmouth) from a ' 'New Havant' terminus' and from 1859 the line was wholly acquired by the LSWR and LB&SCR admitted practical defeat to its arguably monopolistic obstruction.

Christchurch and Bournemouth

Aldershot and Alton

The LSWR opened a line from Guildford to Farnham in 1849, extending to Alton in 1852. At the time the establishment of the army garrison at Aldershot led to a massive increase in population there, and consequently demand for travel, and the LSWR constucted a line from Pirbright Junction, on the main line near Brookwood, to a junction near Farnham via Aldershot. The new line opened in 1870. A curve was opened in 1879 at Aldershot Junctions enabling direct running from Guildford to Aldershot; the original line via Tongham declined as a result. The local network was electrified in 1937 and the Tongham line was closed to passengers at that time.Williams, volume 1, pages 183 to 186J Spencer Gilks, ''Railway Development at Aldershot'', in Railway Magazine, March 1956, pages 188 to 193David Brown, ''Southern Electric, volume 2'', Capital Transport Publishing, 2010, , pages 23 and 27

Bishops Waltham

In 1863 the Bishop's Waltham Railway Company opened its branch line between Bishop's Waltham and the LSWR's Botley station on the Eastleigh to Fareham Line. The LSWR worked the line. The branch was never commercially successful and the LSWR took over the local company in 1881. It closed to passengers in 1932 and to goods in 1962.Roger Simmonds and Kevin Robertson, ''The Bishop's Waltham Branch'', Wild Swan Publications Ltd, Didcot, 1988, , pages 5, 12 and 79

Southampton, Netley, Fareham and Portsmouth Harbour

In 1866 the LSWR built its short branch from Southampton to Netley to service the newly opened Royal Victoria Military Hospital. A decade later, in 1876 the Portsmouth Direct Line was extended further south to reach Southsea and further west to serve the Naval Dockyard with a new station, Portsmouth Harbour.

With all the major towns and cities in Hampshire now connected, the LSWR carried out little new building in the 1880s. A short section of line from the Netley branch to Fareham finally completing the West Coastway Line between Southampton and Brighton in 1889. A branch from Fratton station, terminating at East Southsea station in Portsmouth was opened in 1885 but was never successful and closed in 1914. For its last few years after 1903 it was worked by rail motors.

Alton, Winchester and Gosport extensions

Hampshire saw a brief but significant burst of new-line building in the 1890s. In 1891 the link was opened between the Southampton main line and the newly built Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway (over the Hockley viaduct, the longest in the county). In 1894 a new line from Gosport station to Lee-on-the-Solent was built to take advantage of the growth in tourist traffic to the Isle of Wight. However the most significant new routes came about as the LSWR acted to block its greatest rival, the Great Western Railway from building its own line to Portsmouth from Reading. This blocking action took the form of two lines. The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway was a minor route – the first in the country to be built under the terms of the Light Railways Act 1896. The second line was the Meon Valley Railway between and Fareham, built to main-line standards as a second London to Gosport route. The new lines opened in 1901 and 1903 respectively, these being the last lines in Hampshire to be built by the LSWR before the 1923 grouping.

Lymington

Dorset lines

Swanage

The town of Swanage was bypassed by the Dorchester line, and local interests set about securing a branch line. After false starts this was achieved when the Swanage Railway Act got royal assent on 18 July 1881 for a line from Worgret Junction, west of , to with an intermediate station at . Wareham station had been a simple wayside structure, and a new interchange station was built west of the level crossing for the purposes of the branch. The line opened on 20 May 1885, and the LSWR acquired the line from 25 June 1886., chapter 6

Portland

Electrification

In the early years of the 20th century electric traction was adopted by a number of urban railways in the United States. The London and North Western Railway adopted a four-rail system and started operating electric trains to over the LSWR from , and soon the Metropolitan District Railway was doing so as well. In the face of declining suburban passenger income, for some time the LSWR failed to respond, but in 1913 Herbert Walker was appointed Chairman, and he soon implemented an electrification scheme in the LSWR suburban area.

A third rail system was used, with a line voltage of 600 V DC. The rolling stock consisted of 84 three-car units, all formed from converted steam stock, and the system was an immediate success when it opened in 1915–16. In fact, overcrowding was experienced in busy periods and trains were augmented by a number of two-car non driving trailer units from 1919, also converted from steam stock, which were formed between two of the three-car units, forming an eight-car train. All the electric trains provided first and third class accommodation only.

The routes electrified were in the inner suburban area—a second stage scheme had been prepared but was frustrated by the First World War—but extended as far as on the New Guildford line; this was operated at first as an interchange point, but the section was discontinued as an electrified route when overcrowding nearer London occurred, the electric stock being used there and the Claygate line reverting to steam operation.

Concomitant with the electrification, the route between Vauxhall and Nine Elms was widened to eight tracks, and a flyover for the Hampton Court line was constructed, opening for traffic on 4 July 1915.

Southampton Docks

When the company was founded it showed interest in Southampton Docks. The first docks had already been built and the development of the port of Southampton was accelerated by the arrival of the railway. In 1843 the LSWR started running ships from Southampton as the ''New South Western Steam Navigation Company''. Later, the LSWR took over the vessels and in 1892 it bought the docks and continued the rapid development of them.

Eastleigh Works

In 1891, the works at Eastleigh, in Hampshire, were opened with the transfer of the carriage and wagon works from Nine Elms in London. The locomotive works were transferred from Nine Elms under Drummond, opening in 1909.

LSWR infrastructure

For details of the LSWR main line routes, see:
* South West Main Line
* West of England Main Line
*Exeter to Plymouth railway of the LSWR
*North Devon Railway
* Waterloo & City line

Notable people

Notable people connected with the LSWR include:Ellis, C. Hamilton (1956). ''South Western Railway''

Chairmen of the board of directors

*1832–1833: Sir Thomas Baring
*1834–1836: John Wright
*1837–1840: Sir John Easthope
*1841–1842: Robert Garnet, MP
*1843–1852: William Chaplin
*1853: The Hon. Francis Scott
*1854: Sir William Heathcote
*1854–1858: William Chaplin (again)
*1859–1872: Captain Charles Mangles
*1873–1874: Charles Castleman
*1875–1892: The Hon. Ralph H. Dutton
*1892–1899: Wyndham S. Portal
*1899–1904: Lt. Col. the Hon. H. W. Campbell
*1904–1910: Sir Charles Scotter
*1911–1922: Sir Hugh Drummond

General managers

*1839–1852: Cornelius Stovin (as traffic manager)
*1852–1885: Archibald Scott (as traffic manager 1852–1870)
*1885–1898: Sir Charles Scotter
*1898–1912: Sir Charles Owens
*1912–1922: Sir Herbert Walker

Resident engineers

*1837–1849: Albinus lbinoMartin
*1849–1853: John Bass
*1853–1870: John Strapp
*1870–1887: William Jacomb (1832–1887)
*1887–1901: E. Andrews
*1901–1914: J. W. Jacomb-Hood
*1914–1922: Alfred Weeks Szlumper

Consulting engineers

*1834–1837: Francis Giles
*1837–1849: Joseph Locke
*1849–1862: John Edward Errington
*1862–1907: W. R. Galbraith

Locomotive engineers, works and corporate liveries

*1838–1840: Joseph Woods (as Locomotive Superintendent)
*1841–1850: John Viret Gooch (as Locomotive Superintendent)
*1850–1871: Joseph Hamilton Beattie (as Locomotive Superintendent)
*1871–1877: William George Beattie (as Locomotive Superintendent)
*1877–1895: William Adams (as Locomotive Superintendent)
*1895–1912: Dugald Drummond (as Chief Mechanical Engineer from 1904)
*1912–1922: Robert Urie (as Locomotive Engineer)

Locomotive works

The locomotive works were at Nine Elms from 1838 to 1908. Under Drummond they were moved to a new spacious site at Eastleigh in 1909.
* List of locomotive classes

Locomotive liveries

Liveries for painting of locomotives adopted by the successive Mechanical Engineers:

;To 1850 (John Viret Gooch)
Little information is available although from 1844 dark green with red and white lining, black wheels and red buffer beams seems to have become standard.

;1850–1866 (Joseph Hamilton Beattie)
* Passenger classes – Indian red with black panelling inside white. Driving splashers and cylinders lined white. Black wheels, smokebox and chimney. Vermilion buffer beams and buff footplate interior.
* Goods classes – unlined Indian red. Older engines painted black until 1859.

;1866–1872 (Joseph Hamilton Beattie)
*All engines dark chocolate brown with black bands edged internally in white and externally by vermilion. Tender sides divided into three panels.

;1872–1878 (William George Beattie)
*Paler chocolate (known as purple brown) with the same lining. From 1874 the white lining was replaced by yellow ochre and the vermilion by crimson.

;1878–1885 (William Adams)
* Umber brown with a black band externally and bright green line internally. Boiler bands black with white edging. Buffer beams vermilion. Smokebox, chimney, frames etc. black.

;1885–1895 (William Adams)
*Passenger classes – pea green with black borders edged with a fine white line. Boiler bands black with a fine white line to either side.
*Goods classes – holly green with black borders edged by a fine bright green line.

;1895–1914 (Dugald Drummond)
*Passenger classes – royal mint green lined in chocolate, triple lined in white, black and white. Boiler bands black lined in white with tan stripes to either side. Outside cylinders with black borders and white lining. Smokebox, chimney, exterior frames, tops of splashers, platform etc. black. Inside of the main frames tan. Buffer beams vermilion and cab interiors grained pine.
*Goods classes – holly green edged in black and lined in light green. Boiler bands black edged in light green.

;1914–1917 (Robert Urie)
* Passenger classes – olive green with Drummond lining.
*Goods classes – holly green with black edging and white lining.

;1917–1922 (Robert Urie)
*Passenger classes – olive green with a black border and white edging.
*Goods classes – holly green often without lining until 1918.

Accidents and incidents

*On 11 September 1880, a passenger train collided with a light engine at Nine Elms Locomotive Junction due to errors by signalmen and the fireman of the light engine. Seven people were killed.
*On 6 August 1888, a light engine and a passenger train were in a head-on collision at station due to a signalman's error. Four people were killed and fifteen were injured.

*1906 Salisbury rail crash: On 1 July 1906, an express passenger train was derailed at due to excessive speed on a curve. Twenty-eight people were killed and eleven were injured.

Shipping services

As the London and South Western Railway served Portsmouth, Southampton and Weymouth, it developed a number of shipping routes, operating them with its own vessels.

Other details

* The Waterloo and City Railway was built by the LSWR to give them access to the City of London. This is now part of London Underground
* Disregarding the Waterloo & City line, the longest tunnel is Honiton Tunnel ; there were six others longer than
* The LSWR and the Midland Railway were joint owners of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
* The anglicised script version of the Russian word for railway station is 'vokzal'. A longstanding legend has it that a party from Russia planning their own railway system arrived in London around the time that the LSWR's Vauxhall station was opened. They saw the station nameboards, thought the word was the English word for railway station and took it back home. In fact, the first Russian railway station was built on the site of pleasure gardens based on those at Vauxhall – nothing to do with the English railway station. (Fuller details are in the Vauxhall article.)

See also

*List of early British railway companies

Notes

References

Sources

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Further reading

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External links

www.lswr.org
– South Western Circle: The Historical Society for the London & South Western Railway

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Railway companies established in 1838
Railway lines opened in 1840
Railway companies disestablished in 1923
Pre-grouping British railway companies
West Country
History of rail transport in London
1838 establishments in England
1923 disestablishments in England
British companies established in 1838
British companies disestablished in 1923