Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway
The Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway was an early British railway company which was incorporated by act of Parliament, the , on 23 July 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 Westminster. This involved constructing the Grosvenor Bridge over the river Thames. The company later leased its lines and stations to the and the London Chatham and Dover Railway but continued in existence until December 1922 when it was briefly amalgamated with the South Eastern Railway as a result of the Railways Act 1921, which created the Big Four on 1 January 1923.
Origins
The railway was originally created to provide a West End of London terminus for the and three British railways which already had access to, or were planning to use the misnamed ‘Pimlico’ station of the,. These were the Great Western Railway, the London and North Western Railway, and the East Kent Railway, which would soon afterwards become the London Chatham and Dover Railway. The new company had an authorised capital of £1 million 45% of which was subscribed by. It was empowered to make agreements with the and, for these two companies to pay an agreed rent in perpetuity. The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company was to have custody and regulation of the lineThe enabled the widening of the proposed lines and for the and to subscribe £100,000 each, towards the cost of construction.