Portsmouth Direct line
The Portsmouth Direct line is a railway route between Woking in Surrey and Portsmouth Harbour in Hampshire, England. It forms the principal route for passenger trains between London, Guildford and Portsmouth; connections are made to the ferry services which operate between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. The final section of line from Havant to Portsmouth is shared with other passenger routes.
The line was opened in stages, in part by the Portsmouth Railway, independently of the established railway companies, the London and South Western Railway and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, both of which had rather circuitous routes to Portsmouth. Both of those companies were antagonistic to the direct line, but in 1859 a through train service was operated in the face of obstructive tactics. The LBSCR controlled the route from Havant into Portsmouth, but eventually acquiesced in granting running powers, and making its line on Portsea Island, where the Portsmouth conurbation is situated, joint with the LSWR. The latter company took over the Portsmouth Railway in 1859.
The gradients on the line made it difficult to operate in steam days, but it was electrified on the third rail system in 1937. There was heavy traffic connected with the Royal Navy at Portsmouth, and holiday traffic to Hayling Island, Southsea and the Isle of Wight. While the former dominance of this traffic has reduced, the amount of London commuters has greatly increased, and the line maintains a busy passenger service.
History
Early proposals
Portsmouth had long been an important centre for the Royal Navy and its support activities, and for ship construction and repair; it was also an important commercial port. In 1803 R. A. Edlington drew up proposals for a horse-drawn railway between Portsmouth and London; in the same year William Jessop proposed a horse railway from Blackfriars, London to Portsmouth, in part making use of the Surrey Iron Railway. Neither of these proposals was carried forward. Other schemes for a Portsmouth to London railway were put forward over the years, including, in 1844, a planned line to use the atmospheric system of traction.The London and Southampton Railway opened throughout from London to Southampton on 11 May 1840. The L&SR and commercial interests in Portsmouth shared an aspiration for a Portsmouth rail connection, and a branch was proposed to run to Portsmouth from Bishopstoke on the L&SR, running through Fareham and Cosham. A parliamentary bill was presented in 1837 for a Portsmouth Junction Railway, friendly to the L&SR, to construct it. At this time there was considerable resentment among citizens of Portsmouth against Southampton, and this played against the idea of a branch line to Portsmouth off the Southampton main line: Portsmouth would get a roundabout route to London. The corporation opposed the bill in Parliament, and it failed.
The L&SR now put forward a branch from Bishopstoke to Gosport, close to Portsmouth but on the west side of the waterway known as Portsmouth Harbour. Requiring only 15 miles of new line, this was an affordable proposition. An act, the Portsmouth Floating Bridge Act 1838, had lately been passed for a ferry, referred to then as a floating bridge, across the harbour between Portsmouth and Gosport. The L&SR obtained parliamentary authorisation in the for its Gosport branch on 4 June 1839; section 2 of the act authorised changing the company name to the London and South Western Railway ; this was a deliberate move to ameliorate tension between the towns of Portsmouth and Southampton. The Gosport line opened on 29 November 1841. For the time being, Portsmouth had its railway, although not the direct line it sought.
The Railway Mania
In 1844 money supply in the United Kingdom had become easier, and for the first time railway schemes were attractive investments. This meant that the established companies were no longer secure in their own territory, as challenging new schemes promoted locally were proposed. This led to the Railway Mania of 1845 when huge numbers of railway schemes, not all of them well thought out, were put before the public.Woking to Guildford
The London and Southampton line ran through Woking, and on 10 May 1844 the was authorised by the ' to construct a six-mile branch from there to the important manufacturing town of Guildford. The authorised share capital was £55,000. The company was backed by the LSWR; it opened four days late on 5 May 1845. The ' of 21 July authorised the company's absorption by the LSWR, and this was put into effect on 4 August 1845. The transfer cost the LSWR £75,000. It was the first part of the eventual Portsmouth Direct Line to become operational, although there is no evidence that this was the long-term objective.The Guildford Junction line was planned to be laid using a novel—and almost certainly impractical—wooden permanent way system. The LSWR saw that Guildford would be a useful starting point for a railway to the south coast at Chichester, but the wooden track was an obvious objection. Nevertheless, an extension to Chichester linking with a planned line from Fareham offered the best chance of defeating a proposed Direct Portsmouth Railway. On 27 September 1844 the Guildford Junction company agreed to sell to the LSWR for £75,000. The LSWR agreed, but at its own expense the Guildford Junction was to complete its single line by 1 May 1845 in conventional track instead of wood, with earthworks and bridges suitable for later doubling.
Brighton and Chichester Railway, extending to Portsmouth
The London and Brighton Railway had reached Shoreham-by-Sea in 1844 and on 4 July the affiliated Brighton and Chichester Railway was authorised by the Brighton and Chichester Railway Act 1844 to extend from Shoreham to Chichester. While this was under construction, the Brighton and Chichester Railway obtained another act, the Railway from Portsmouth to Chichester Act 1845, on 8 August, to extend to Portsmouth. The Brighton company encouraged this, intending to get a share of the Portsmouth traffic.Two other routes had been promoted in the same parliamentary session; one was a Guildford, Chichester and Portsmouth Railway, intended to run from the Guildford Junction line and through Godalming and Midhurst to Chichester and Portsmouth. This proposal was supported by the LSWR, but was thrown out by Parliament. At the same time the London and Croydon Railway had authorisation for an Epsom branch from Croydon, to be worked on the atmospheric system, in which stationary engines exhausted air from a pipe laid between the rails; the leading carriage of trains carried a piston which ran in the tube, and the air pressure differential propelled the train. The L&CR now fostered a Direct London & Portsmouth Railway which would run from Epsom via Dorking and Godalming to Portsmouth. This too was unsuccessful in Parliament.
The Portsmouth extension of the Chichester line ran along the coast to Havant, later the site of a junction with the Portsmouth Direct Line. It ran on to make a triangular junction; the northern spur ran to Cosham, there joining an LSWR spur from its Gosport branch, facing Bishopstoke. The southern spur ran to Portsmouth, where there were two platform faces at a terminus on Commercial Road; the site later became Portsmouth & Southsea station. The junctions were Farlington Junction, Cosham Junction and Portcreek Junction. From a point just west of Cosham station to Portsmouth was jointly owned by the LSWR and the Brighton and Chichester Railway ; the Brighton and Chichester Railway owned the line from Cosham Junction and Portcreek Junction back to Chichester; and from west of Cosham to Fareham belonged to the LSWR.
In 1846 the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was formed by the London and Brighton Railway Act 1846 of 27 July; the London and Brighton Railway and the London and Croydon Railway merged to form the LBSCR. The same act authorised the combined company to acquire the Brighton and Chichester Railway. The line from Chichester to Havant was opened on 15 March 1847; from Havant to Portsmouth on 14 June 1847; and from Farlington Junction to Cosham, for goods traffic, on 26 July 1848, and for passengers on 2 January 1860. From Portcreek Junction to Cosham Junction opened for goods on 1 September 1848, and for passengers on 1 October 1848.
Schemes in 1846
The formation of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway shifted the supportive relations with the LSWR. Negotiations had taken place between the LSWR and the London and Brighton Railway, and the London and Croydon Railway had attributed bad faith to the LSWR. These feelings were carried into the LBSCR, and marked tension now existed between the LSWR and the LBSCR.In Parliament, the Guildford, Chichester, Portsmouth and Fareham proposal was considerably reduced in scope and became the Guildford Extension and Portsmouth & Fareham Railway. Its act, the of 27 July only authorised disconnected sections from Guildford to Godalming and from Fareham to Portsea Junction. At Godalming it would form a junction with the intended Direct London and Portsmouth Railway. The act also included the power to purchase the Guildford Junction Railway and operate it as a continuous line from the LSWR at Woking to Godalming and then use running powers over the planned Direct London and Portsmouth Railway. The LSWR was authorised to acquire the company in the same act of 1846 and exercised that right by the London and South Western Railway Act 1847 of 9 July.
The Guildford to Godalming section opened on 15 October 1849, after a delay when the tunnel at Guildford partly collapsed. The line closed again from 22 to 24 October 1849 from the same cause.