The Southern Railway in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

was one of the "Big Four" railway companies set up after the

1923 Grouping The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

. This list sets out the constituents of the Company.

Constituent companies

* The

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 ...

(LSWR) route mileage 1,020 miles (1,642 km) * The

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

(LBSCR) miles (736 km) * The combined systems of the South Eastern Railway and the

London, Chatham and Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London and no ...

, under the South Eastern & Chatham Railways' Managing Committee (SECR) miles (1026 km). These concerns had formed a working union to operate their services under a Managing Committee on 1 January 1899.

Subsidiary companies

Independently operated lines

Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway The Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway was a railway line on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, connecting Freshwater and Yarmouth to Newport. It was intended to connect the thinly populated west of the island, and it opened in 1889. At N ...

12 miles (19 km) *

Isle of Wight Railway The Isle of Wight Railway was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom; it operated of railway line between Ryde and Ventnor. It opened the first section of line from Ryde to Sandown in 1864, later extending to Ventnor in 1866. ...

miles (24 km) *

Isle of Wight Central Railway The Isle of Wight Central Railway (IoWCR) was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. It was formed in 1887 by the merging of three earlier railways, the Cowes and Newport Railway (opened 1862), the Ryde and Newport Railway (opened ...

miles (46 km) * Bere Alston and Callington section of the

Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway The Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway (PD&SWJR) was an English railway company. It constructed a main line railway between Lydford and Devonport, in Devon, England, enabling the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) to reac ...

miles (16 km)

Non-working companies

* Originally leased to or worked by LSWR ** Bridgewater Railway miles (12 km) ** Lee-on-the-Solent Railway 3 miles (5 km) **

North Cornwall Railway The North Cornwall Railway was a railway line running from Halwill in Devon to Padstow in Cornwall via Launceston, Camelford and Wadebridge, a distance of . Opened in the last decade of the nineteenth century, it was part of a drive by the Lon ...

miles (84 km) **

Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway (P&DR) was a gauge railway built to improve the economy of moorland areas around Princetown in Devon, England. Independent carriers operated horse-drawn wagons and paid the company a toll. It opened in 1823, and ...

(portion used by LSWR) miles (4 km) **

(except Bere Alston and Callington section as above) miles (31 km) **

Sidmouth Railway The Sidmouth Railway was a railway branch line that ran from a junction at Feniton to Sidmouth, connecting the resort to the main line network. History The London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) opened a main line from Yeovil to Exeter on 18 ...

miles (13 km) *Originally leased to or worked by LBSCR ** Brighton and Dyke Railway miles (8 km) ** Hayling Railway 5 miles (8 km) *Originally leased to or worked by SER or LCDR ** Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Railway ** Crowhurst, Sidley and Bexhill Railway **

London and Greenwich Railway The London and Greenwich Railway (L&GR) was opened in London between 1836 and 1838. It was the first steam railway in the capital, the first to be built specifically for passengers, and the first entirely elevated railway. Origins The idea for t ...

miles (6 km) ** Mid Kent Railway (Bromley to St Mary Cray) miles (4 km)

Other railways

Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway The Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway was an early British railway company which was incorporated by Act of Parliament 23 July 1858. to build a railway line connecting the existing London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) terminus in Ba ...

(in which the Great Western Railway and the London and North Western Railway were also parties) *

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway (L&B) opened as an independent railway in May 1898. It was a single track, narrow gauge railway and was slightly over long running through the rugged and picturesque area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, ...

: not covered by the Railways Act 1921, but absorbed by the LSWR. Narrow gauge () miles (31 km) * Several

light railway A light railway is a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail": it uses lighter-weight track, and may have more steep gradients and tight curves to reduce civil engineering costs. These lighter standards allow ...

s, including the

Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway was opened in 1901, by the London and South Western Railway. It was the first English railway authorised under Light Railway legislation. It ran through unpromising, lightly populated terrain, and was prob ...

, though other candidate lines remained independent, such as the

Kent and East Sussex Railway The Kent and East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) refers to both a historical private railway company in Kent and East Sussex in England, as well as a heritage railway currently running on part of the route of the historical company. Historical company ...

Joint companies

* In 1923, now comprised wholly in the SR: ** Croydon & Oxted Joint Railway miles (20 km (was LBSCR/SE&CR joint) ** Dover & Deal Railway miles (14 km) (was SE&CR) **

Epsom and Leatherhead Railway The Epsom and Leatherhead Railway (E&LR) was a railway company in Surrey, England. Promoted independently, it opened its short line in 1859 and was worked by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). It was transferred to the joint ownership o ...

miles (6 km) (was LBSCR/LSWR joint) **

Portsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway The Portsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway was a group of three railway lines in Southern England that were jointly owned and operated by the London and South Western Railway and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. The main line was between ...

(including a ferry) miles (14 km) (was LBSCR/LSWR joint) **

Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway The Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway (TM&WR) was a railway company jointly operated by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) in Surrey (now south-west London). Network The TM&WR ...

miles (9 km) (was LBSCR/LSWR joint) ** Woodside & South Croydon Railway miles (4 km) (was LBSCR/SE&CR joint) * In 1923, in association with other companies: ** East London Railway 5 miles (8 km) (shared with London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and Metropolitan Railway) ** Easton & Church Hope Railway miles (6 km) (joint with Great Western Railway (GWR)) **

Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (now in south-east Dorset but then in Hampshire), with a branch from Evercreech ...

105 miles (168 km) (joint with London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS)) **

West London Extension Railway The West London Railway was conceived to link the London and Birmingham Railway and the Great Western Railway with the Kensington Basin of the Kensington Canal, enabling access to and from London docks for the carriage of goods. It opened in 184 ...

miles (8 km) (shared with GWR and LMS) ** Weymouth & Portland Railway miles (9 km) (joint with GWR)

References

The information in this article taken from the ''Railway Magazine'' for February 1923, except as follows: {{Big Four pre-nationalisation British railway companies Big four British railway companies Pre-grouping British railway companies Constituent companies of the Southern Railway