A LOOK BACK AT THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH WESTERN RAIL NETWORK OVER 180 YEARS
The backbone of the South Western rail network was built almost 180 years ago – its big aim at first was to carry cargo between London and the port of Southampton.
The London and Southampton Railway’s first stretch, from London to Woking, opened in May 1838. One of the special trains, cheered on by thousands of people, reached almost 30mph on the return trip to the London terminus at Nine Elms, Vauxhall.
The company called itself the London & South Western Railway from 1839, and reached Southampton in 1840. Over the next 10 years it set to work to justify its grand title by spreading to serve Gosport (for Portsmouth), Salisbury and Dorchester. The winding route to Dorchester aimed to serve as many towns as possible, but not the tiny village at Bournemouth. This blossomed as a resort after a branch line was opened in 1870: today’s route through Bournemouth was completed more than 20 years later.
WATERLOO
In 1848 a new terminus at Waterloo Road was opened, reached by a line climbing past Nine Elms and curving around Vauxhall Gardens and Lambeth Palace.
In an exciting story involving rival commercial schemes and propaganda, the …
