List of constituent companies of the Southern Railway
Encyclopedia
The Southern Railway in the United Kingdom
was one of the "Big Four" railway companies set up after the 1923 Grouping
. This list sets out the constituents of the Company.
Non-working companies
Originally leased to or worked by SER or LCDR
Other railways
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
was one of the "Big Four" railway companies set up after the 1923 Grouping
Railways Act 1921
The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...
. This list sets out the constituents of the Company.
Constituent companies
- The London and South Western RailwayLondon and South Western RailwayThe London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
(LSWR) route mileage 1020 miles (1642 km) - The London, Brighton and South Coast RailwayLondon, Brighton and South Coast RailwayThe London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its apex, practically the whole coastline of Sussex as its base, and a large part of Surrey...
(LBSCR) 457.25 miles (736 km) - The combined systems of the South Eastern RailwaySouth Eastern Railway (UK)The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
and the London, Chatham and Dover RailwayLondon, Chatham and Dover RailwayThe London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1859 until the 1923 grouping which united it with other companies to form the Southern Railway. Its lines ran through London and northern and eastern Kent to form a significant part of the Greater London...
, under the South Eastern & Chatham Railways' Managing CommitteeSouth Eastern and Chatham RailwayThe South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee , known by its shorter name of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eastern Railway and London, Chatham and Dover Railway , that operated services between...
(SECR) 637.75 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 RailwayIsle of Wight RailwayThe Isle of Wight Railway was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The company owned 14 miles of railway line and its headquarters were at Sandown...
15.25 miles (24 km) - Isle of Wight Central RailwayIsle of Wight Central RailwayThe Isle of Wight Central Railway was a railway company on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. At its peak the company owned 21½ miles of railway line, and it also operated trains on some additional lines it did not own. Trains were first run on what became its lines in 1862, although the company...
28.5 miles (46 km) - Bere Alston and Callington section of the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction RailwayPlymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction RailwayThe Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway in England was built by an independent company but operated by the London and South Western Railway as part of its main line to give it independent access to Plymouth. It ran from to Devonport Junction, just west of Plymouth North Road...
9.75 miles (16 km)
Non-working companies
- Originally leased to or worked by LSWR
- Bridgewater Railway 7.25 miles (12 km)
- Lee-on-the-Solent Railway 3 miles (5 km)
- North Cornwall RailwayNorth Cornwall RailwayThe North Cornwall Railway was a railway line running from Halwill in Devon to Padstow in Cornwall via Launceston, Camelford and Wadebridge, a distance of 49 miles 67 chains. Opened in the last decade of the nineteenth century, it was part of a drive by the London and South Western Railway to...
52.5 miles (84 km) - Plymouth and Dartmoor RailwayPlymouth and Dartmoor RailwayThe Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway was a gauge horse-worked railway line in Devon, England. Most of the network had been replaced by conventional railways by 1888. The last surviving section, which continued to operate until 1960, is generally referred to as the Lee Moor Tramway...
(portion used by LSWR) 2.25 miles (4 km) - Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction RailwayPlymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction RailwayThe Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway in England was built by an independent company but operated by the London and South Western Railway as part of its main line to give it independent access to Plymouth. It ran from to Devonport Junction, just west of Plymouth North Road...
(except Bere Alston and Callington section as above) 19.5 miles (31 km) - Sidmouth RailwaySidmouth RailwayThe Sidmouth Railway was a double track branch railway line that ran from a junction on the West of England Main Line at Feniton railway station, then called Sidmouth Junction, to with two intermediate stations, , and .-History:...
8.25 miles (13 km)
- Originally leased to or worked by LBSCR
- Brighton and Dyke Railway 4.75 miles (8 km)
- Hayling Railway 5 miles (8 km)
Originally leased to or worked by SER or LCDR
- Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Railway 11 miles (17.7 km)
- Crowhurst, Sidley and Bexhill Railway 4 miles (6.44 km)
- London and Greenwich RailwaySouth Eastern Railway (UK)The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
3.75 miles (6 km) - Mid Kent RailwaySouth Eastern Railway (UK)The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
(Bromley to St Mary Cray) 2.5 miles (4 km)
Other railways
- Victoria Station and Pimlico RailwayVictoria Station and Pimlico RailwayThe Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway was an early British railway company which was incorporated by Act of Parliament 23rd July 1858. to build a railway line connecting the existing London Brighton and South Coast Railway terminus in Battersea to a new terminal at London Victoria station in...
(in which the Great Western RailwayGreat Western RailwayThe Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
and the London and North Western RailwayLondon and North Western RailwayThe London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
were also parties) - Lynton and Barnstaple RailwayLynton and Barnstaple RailwayThe Lynton & Barnstaple Railway opened as an independent railway in May 1898. It was a single track narrow gauge railway slightly over long running through the rugged and picturesque area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, England. Although opened after the 1896 Light Railways Act came into force,...
: not covered by the Railways Act 1921, but absorbed by the LSWR. Narrow gauge - - 19.25 miles (31 km) - Several light railwayLight railwayLight railway refers to a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail". This usually means the railway uses lighter weight track, and is more steeply graded and tightly curved to avoid civil engineering costs...
s, including the Basingstoke and Alton Light RailwayBasingstoke and Alton Light RailwayThe Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway was a railway in Hampshire, UK, opened on Saturday, 1 June 1901, with no formal ceremony.It was the first railway to be enabled by an Order of the Light Railway Commission under the Light Railways Act of 1896...
, though other candidate lines remained independent, such as the Kent and East Sussex RailwayKent and East Sussex RailwayThe Kent & East Sussex Railway refers to both an historical private railway company in Kent and Sussex in England, as well as a heritage railway currently running on part of the route of the historical company.-Historical Company:-Background:...
Joint companies
- In 1923, now comprised wholly in the SR:
- Croydon & Oxted Railway 12.5 miles (20 km (was SE&CR))
- Dover & Deal Railway 8.5 miles (14 km) (was SE&CR)
- Epsom & Leatherhead Railway 3.75 miles (6 km) (was LBSCR/LSWR joint)
- Portsmouth & Ryde Railway (the ferry) 8.5 miles (14 km) (was LBSCR/LSWR joint)
- Tooting, Merton & Wimbledon Railway 5.75 miles (9 km) (was SE&CR)
- Woodside & South Croydon Railway 2.5 miles (4 km) (was LBSCR/ SE&CR joint)
- In 1923, in association with other companies:
- East London Railway 5 miles (8 km) (1/3 share with London and North Eastern RailwayLondon and North Eastern RailwayThe London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
and Metropolitan RailwayMetropolitan railwayMetropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
) - Easton & Church Hope Railway 3.5 miles (6 km) (jointly with Great Western RailwayGreat Western RailwayThe Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR)) - Somerset and Dorset Joint RailwaySomerset and Dorset Joint RailwayThe Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway – almost always referred to as "the S&D" – was an English railway line connecting Bath in north east Somerset and Bournemouth now in south east Dorset but then in Hampshire...
105 miles (168 km) (with London, Midland and Scottish RailwayLondon, Midland and Scottish RailwayThe London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
(LMSR)) - West London Extension Railway 5.25 miles (8 km) (shares with GWR and LMSR)
- Weymouth & Portland Railway 5.5 miles (9 km) (jointly with GWR)
- East London Railway 5 miles (8 km) (1/3 share with London and North Eastern Railway