Southampton–Fareham line

System map of the Southampton and Netley Railway in 1866

The London and Southampton Railway had opened its line in 1840[1] and then in 1841 gave Portsmouth a half-hearted railway connection at Gosport, requiring a ferry crossing and a roundabout route to get to London. Changing the company name to London and South Western Railway (LSWR) did not completely erase the tension between the citizens of Portsmouth and Southampton.[2]

The Gosport branch was from a junction on the main line at Bishopstoke, later renamed Eastleigh. The LSWR next built a railway to reach Portsmouth more directly, but curving round the head of Portsmouth Harbour. Fierce competition with the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway[note 1] made collaboration difficult for a time, but it was agreed to build a joint railway on Portsea Island.[3] The LSWR built a branch from Fareham, on the Gosport line, to Cosham, and the LBSCR built from there to Portsmouth and made that section joint. These lines, connecting Fareham and Portsmouth, and Fareham and Havant, opened in 1848.[3][4]

There was a great deal of territory on the coast between Fareham and Southampton, but it seemed to be of limited commercial value, and for some years ideas of a railway through it were discouraging.[5] Passenger and goods transport between Southampton and Portsmouth was swifter and more convenient by coastal shipping.[6]

Train at Netley Hospital

In 1863 the Victoria Military Hospital was constructed at Netley; it ws built for the treatment and recuperation of maimed soldiers.[7] The patients often arrived in considerable numbers in special hospital trains, and many of them were not ambulatory. Moreover in those days large hospitals needed some reliable transport connection to bring in consumables – foodstuffs and coal, and personnel. A small village grew in the area, housing staff and their families. In September 1859 a proposal to connect the hospital with Bishopstoke was turned down by the LSWR. An independent Parliamentary Bill the following year proposed a Southampton and Fareham line, but it depended on the co-operation of the LSWR at both ends, and when this was withheld, the proposal collapsed. It was suspected by the LSWR Board that the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway were supporting the scheme, intending to get access for themselves to Southampton.[5]

Nevertheless the idea did not go away, and in 1861 the Southampton and Netley Railway obtained an authorising Act of Parliament, on 1 August 1861; authorised share capital was £48,000.[8][9] As it did not form a through route, the sensitivity regarding the LBSCR was not an issue. The route was constrained by the need to cross the River Itchen from the Southampton area; a convenient place was found north of Northam Bridge. The line was to run from a junction at Portswood, a few miles north of Southampton (Docks) station on the London main line. A new Portswood station was built at the junction; its name was later changed to St Denys.[5][10]

Netley railway station

The Southampton and Netley Railway company was independent, but the authorising Act permitted the LSWR to subscribe up to £5,000 and make working arrangements. Although it was prepared to do so, the LSWR still suspected bad faith, believing that the line was a speculative scheme intended to extort money from them, rather than a genuine attempt to construct a railway. Notwithstanding this suspicion, the LSWR later decided to acquire the Company, as the alternative was that it might fall into the hands of a competitor, probably the LBSCR. At this stage the S&NR had not built any railway.[5]

Having purchased the company, the LSWR naturally installed its own nominees as directors; this was done in 1863; a new S&NR Act of 14 July 1864 and an LSW Act of 25 July 1864 made 1 January 1864 the amalgamation date: the LSWR took on liability for S&NR loans and other liabilities at that time.[note 2][8][5]

The line was not extensive at five miles in length, and work proceeded swiftly; the biggest construction by far was a three-span viaduct over the River Itchen, 115 yards long. Caissons had been sunk to prodigious depths to find firm ground. The viaduct cost about £14,500.[5]

Captain Tyler of the Board of Trade carried out an inspection of the completed works on 22 February 1866; the line passed the inspection and it opened on 5 March 1866 without ceremony.[11][8] It was worked by train staff and ticket, with eight weekday trains daily each way, three on Sundays. The journey time from Southampton Docks station was 23 minutes; intermediate stops were Portswood (renamed St Denys from 1876) on the main line, then at Bitterne Road (renamed Bitterne in 1896), Woolston and Netley on the new line. It was not until 1883 that a direct siding connection was made from Netley station to the hospital; the War Office was charged interest on the capital outlay of the extension.[5]

Bitterne railway station

There was now an obvious gap between Netley and Fareham, and a company was promoted to close it: a Fareham and Netley Company got powers on 29 June 1865, share capital £105,000, to extend from the S&NR line across the River Hamble by a swing bridge, to join the LSWR from the south at Fareham station.[note 3][12][13] Spur connections would be provided at Fareham to connect directly to the LSWR Cosham line and the Gosport branch. However the project made no progress, and on 19 March 1878 the Board of Trade authorised abandonment.[5][11]

In October 1882 the LSWR was approached on behalf of the Duke of Cambridge, as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces requesting it to extend the Netley line to Fareham; there was thought to be military advantage in such a connection. Accordingly the LSWR promoted a line from Netley to Fareham taking a more northerly route than the earlier scheme and entering Fareham station from the north. The line was to be a little under 8 miles in length. An authorising Act was obtained on 20 August 1883.[5] As with the line from Portswood, this section of line was constrained by a river crossing, in this case of the River Hamble.[10][12]

System map of the Southampton to Fareham railway line in 1889

A contract was let to Henry Lovatt for £78,674; the first sod was cut early in April 1886, and work proceeded rapidly. The Hamble viaduct was 190 yards in length on a 30 chain curve, with six 95 foot spans. Fareham station was enlarged. The line opened to the public on 2 September 1889 without ceremony.[12] At first, seven passenger and one goods train ran daily each way.[5][11][13][14]

The line was single track, with crossing stations at Bitterne Road, Netley (on the earlier line) and Swanwick; and there were also stations at Woolston, Sholing and Bursledon. The line between St Denys and Netley cost over £164,000, and the Fareham extension more than £231,000. The hoped-for residential development did not come in the nineteenth century.[5]

Double track was provided on the entire main line from St Denys to Fareham in 1910.[11]

In 1913 the Admiralty established an airfield at Hamble Point; there seem to have been more than one airfield concentrating on assembling seaplanes, and in 1917 the Admiralty established an Acceptance Depot. This was a depot for the delivery and reception into service of Royal Naval Air Service aircraft, but it was not brought into use before the end of World War One.[17][18]

A branch line to it was built; it was subsequently used by the BP company, but has been disused since 1986 and subsequently removed.[19]

In 1957 diesel-electric multiple units took over the local passenger operation, and an intensive service was started.[11]

Writing in 1961, White noted that "Local passenger traffic is heavy and the train service correspondingly frequent. An even more intensive service operated by diesel-electric trains was started in 1957. Swanwick is the centre of a market gardening area which specializes in strawberries and other soft fruits. In one week of 1931 one and a quarter million baskets were forwarded. Passenger-rated fruit traffic, mainly for the Midlands, is still heavy."[11] However by 1965 the strawberry traffic had transferred to road.[20]

The Portsmouth lines from London had been electrified in 1937 and 1938 as part of the Portsmouth Line No.1 Scheme[21] and the Portsmouth Line No. 2 Scheme.[22] This was followed in July 1967 by the electrification of the London to Bournemouth main line.[23]

This left the Fareham routes unelectrified, and in the 1980s it was decided to authorise infilling of these lines, a £22 million scheme. The group of routes included St Denys to Portcreek Junction and Farlington Junction, as well as Eastleigh to Fareham. A new passenger timetable with electric traction was introduced on 14 May 1990. An official opening had taken place on 9 May when Cecil Parkinson the Secretary of State for Transport visited Hedge End, using an electric train. Actual commissioning had taken place some time previously; there was a Gala Day at Eastleigh on 6 May and an electric train was photographed at Fareham.[24]

Before the electrification, relatively few passenger services worked across the Farlington to Cosham chord, but now the majority did so, giving new frequent connectional opportunities avoiding a detour into Portsmouth.