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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

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 (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, 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 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 The Lee-on-the-Solent Line was a three mile long railway in Hampshire, England; it was built by the Lee-on-the-Solent Railway company, promoted in association with a landowner's wish to develop a new seaside resort on his land. It ran from Lee- ...

3 miles (5 km) ** North Cornwall Railway 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 The Brighton and Dyke Railway was an independent railway company which built a branch line from Brighton in East Sussex to the Devil's Dyke, a popular beauty spot nearby in the South Downs, England. The line opened in 1887. The intermediary G ...

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 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 B ...

(in which the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

and the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

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 compa ...

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 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 The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

(LNER) and

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

) ** Easton & Church Hope Railway miles (6 km) (joint with

(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 Evercreec ...

105 miles (168 km) (joint with

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

(LMS)) ** West London Extension Railway 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