The Portsdown and Horndean Light Railway was a tram service that ran initially from

Cosham Cosham ( or ) is a northern suburb of Portsmouth lying within the city boundary but off Portsea Island. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 along with Drayton and Wymering (mainland) and Bocheland ( Buckland), Frodington (Fratton) and Co ...

Horndean Horndean is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, north of Portsmouth. The nearest railway station is southeast of the village at Rowlands Castle. The village had a population of 12,942 at the 2011 Census, and shares the semi-rura ...

in Hampshire, England.

History

Authorised in 1899 by an Order of the 1896 Light Railway Commission under the Light Railway Act, it opened on 3 March 1903 and started from a junction with the

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 ...

street tramway system on the Portsmouth Road, south of Cosham Station. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of

The Provincial Tramways Company The Provincial Tramways Company was a holding company for horse tramway companies in various regional towns of England. It was floated in July 1872 by means of a prospectus inviting public subscription for shares in the new company. The published p ...

. The system transformed the growth of the

Waterlooville Waterlooville is a market town in the Borough of Havant in Hampshire, England, approximately north northeast of Portsmouth. It is the largest town in the borough. The town has a population of about 64,350 and is surrounded by Purbrook, Blendwort ...

Cowplain Cowplain is a village north of Waterlooville, Hampshire, England. With a population of 9,353 at the 2011 census, it makes up above 7% of Havant borough's population. It grew along the old London to Portsmouth road (the A3) on which the village ...

and

areas. Guidebooks were produced advertising the benefits of healthy country air and fresh farm food. A steam tramcar, designed by John Grantham, was used experimentally. This was probably a short-term expedient, pending electrification.

Route

The route ran alongside the London Road (now A3) throughout and traces can still be seen as extra-wide pavements in several locations, and the abutments of the old bridge over the Southwick Road in

. From 1924 through running onto Portsmouth Corporation tramlines was introduced with the light railway trams running firstly to the town hall and later to Clarence Pier and finally to South Parade Pier.

Replacement by buses

The last tram ran on 9 January 1935, by which time it had been superseded by motor buses, and became the Southdown Bus Company Route 42. The company broke up in 1987 as a result of privatisation, and the route fell into the hands of Transit Holdings which had owned Southdown Portsmouth operations. The company was subsequently bought by FirstGroup in 1995. In 2006, new lighting was installed along the route as part of Havant Borough Council's bus corridor improvement scheme. The star was then introduced by First Hampshire and Dorset in 2008 as a result of the creation of the A3 corridor.

References

External links

Local historian

Original photo

Preserved trams

Regeneration of route

{{Authority control Railway lines opened in 1903 Railway lines closed in 1935 Tram transport in Hampshire 4 ft 7¾ in gauge railways in England