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South Western Main Line
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The South Western Main Line is a railway line from London Waterloo to Weymouth on the Dorset coast, in the south of England. It is a major railway which serves many important commuter areas, as well as the major settlements of Southampton and Bournemouth. It runs from London through Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset.
It has many branches, including the lines to Reading (see Waterloo to Reading Line), Dorking, Guildford, Portsmouth, Kingston-upon-Thames, as well as the West of England Main Line which shares the line from London to Basingstoke.
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Encyclopedia
The South Western Main Line is a railway line from London Waterloo to Weymouth on the Dorset coast, in the south of England. It is a major railway which serves many important commuter areas, as well as the major settlements of Southampton and Bournemouth. It runs from London through Surrey, Hampshire and Dorset.
It has many branches, including the lines to Reading (see Waterloo to Reading Line), Dorking, Guildford, Portsmouth, Kingston-upon-Thames, as well as the West of England Main Line which shares the line from London to Basingstoke. Together with these, it forms part of the network built by London and South Western Railway, which today is mostly operated by South West Trains. Network Rail refer to it as the South West Mainline.
Many sections of the line are relatively high-speed, with large stretches cleared for 100mph running. The London end of the line has as many as eight tracks, but this narrows to four throughout most of the London suburbs and continues this way until Worting Junction near Basingstoke, from where most of the remainder of the line is two tracks. A couple of miles from the Waterloo terminus, the line runs alongside the Brighton Main Line, both lines pass through Clapham Junction. Consequently, Clapham Junction is the busiest station in Europe (and one of the busiest in the world) by railway traffic.
Incentive
- See London & South Western Railway
Several companies had proposed building a faster link from London to the South Coast around Southampton, which would have provided not only a route for transport but an important link in the event of war. At the time, Southampton was smaller than the nearby port of Portsmouth, but since Portsmouth's harbour was already used due to naval operations, Southampton was chosen as it had plenty of space for development.
An engineer had proposed the building a canal, but this was turned down due to being far too expensive. However, in 1831, a group of businessmen met together to discuss the possibility of a railway. As well as the line to Southampton, the company was also interested in building a line from halfway down their route towards Bristol via Newbury and Devizes. The company called itself the Southampton, London & Branch Railway and Docks Company.
The chosen route to Southampton was far from direct, as the route had been directed through the small market town of Basingstoke where the Bristol line would have left, and it missed major towns such as Guildford and Alton which would have been major revenue sources if the route had been more direct.
However, another company, the Great Western Railway also proposed a more direct route to Bristol, which stopped at several major towns, whereas the Southampton railway was mostly rural apart from the county town of Winchester. The GWR was approved so was the Southampton railway (now unable to build the Bristol line) soon after. Despite the Bristol plan being made redundant, the company did not change its route. From then on, the Southampton railway and the Great Western Railway were often in competition with each other.
Construction
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The first section to be opened was from Nine Elms, the LSWR's first London terminus in the suburban parish of Battersea, to Woking (then named Woking Common) on 21 May 1838.
The remainder of the main line followed over the next two years:
- Woking to Winchfield (Shapley Heath): 24 September 1838
- Winchester to Southampton: 10 June 1839
- Winchfield to Basingstoke: 10 June 1839
- Basingstoke to Winchester: 11 May 1840. This last section was the most difficult on the route with an initial climb to Litchfield Tunnel and a ten-mile down-grade to Winchester.
Branches and Extensions
To Portsmouth
The line proved successful, and it was not long before the company, who renamed themselves London and South Western Railway due to their new plans, decided to expand. In 1848, the railway was extended from the Nine Elms terminus to the new station at Waterloo in the centre of London.
In 1865, another line was built from Guildford to Portsmouth which was more direct than the existing route.
The Mid Hants Railway
The original line proved far from direct. A secondary route had been planned via Guildford, Farnham and Alton from Woking to Winchester, which was more direct and served some other towns. This was built around the 1850s. It wasn't until 1870 when the current route of the line from Brookwood to Farnham via Aldershot was built. The Guildford route was later closed.
The railway was often nicknamed 'The Watercress Line' due to the fact many communities on the line grew watercress. Although National Rail services only operate as far as Alton, a preserved line operates between Alton and Alresford known as the Mid Hants Watercress Line. The final section between Alresford and Winchester is closed, as is unlikely to open due to housing and the M3 motorway built across the trackbed.
To Salisbury and Devon
A line was built from Bishopstoke (now Eastleigh) to Salisbury, then another was built from Basingstoke via Andover and became the first part of the West of England Main Line. The line ran via Yeovil to Exeter, then onwards via the north of Dartmoor to Plymouth (the GWR ran on the opposite side of Dartmoor).
The South Western Railway often contested with the Great Western Railway over trains to Devon, although the Great Western Railway's line from Reading to Taunton was later preferred by British Railways over the West of England Main Line.
The Southampton and Dorchester Railway
The Southampton and Dorchester Railway was also formed and built a line from 1845 to 1847 from Southampton to Dorchester. At the time, it avoided Bournemouth which was at the time barely a village, and ran via towns such as Ringwood before reaching Dorchester. The line was originally planned to continue towards Exeter, but this never came into effect. In 1865, the railway was extended south to Weymouth, the current terminus of the line. Later, as Bournemouth was developed as a seaside result, a line was built to run via Bournemouth, which became the main line. The Ringwood line was later closed by the Beeching Axe.
Rival and Long Distance Lines
The L&SWR railway's biggest rival was the Great Western Railway who had originally cut the L&SWR's plans by building the line to Bristol. The both companies built several railways from their own networks into each other's territory.
In 1848 the Great Western Railway built a branch from Reading to Basingstoke. At first, this was a fairly quiet railway which terminated at a separate terminus to the L&SWR's mainline station. However, when the rival company adopted standard gauge, a link was constructed between the two lines. This later became used for a freight route from Southampton to the Midlands via Oxford. Following the closure of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, this route became used by long-distance services from Bournemouth to the Midlands.
Another line was built in 1873 from Didcot and Newbury to Southampton (the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway). Originally, L&SWR ruled out allowing the line to use its own track, but after it fell into financial difficulties, it ended up joining the main line south of Winchester. The line also proposed building a line from Reading to Portsmouth via Basingstoke and Alton, but the L&SWR found a cheaper solution for building the first stretch from Basingstoke to Alton by using a light railway. The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway stopped the Portsmouth line from being built at the expense of being unprofitable and short-lived.
Major settlements on route
The main towns served by the route, starting from London, are:
Infrastructure
Track
Between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction, the line has as many as 8 tracks, with four pairs of tracks . It crosses beneath the Chatham Main Line where the Brighton Main Line joins it and runs alongside it on the southern side. At Clapham Junction, some of these tracks leave on the Waterloo to Reading Line and the remaining tracks are reduced to 4. The Brighton Line, which also has 4 tracks, separates from it shortly afterwards.
The four tracks have a pair of "slow" tracks to the east and on the western side the two "fast" tracks. This arrangement continues to north of Wimbledon where a flyover transfers the northbound slow line across the fast lines, leaving the inner tracks being used for the fast services and the stopping services using the outer tracks. This arrangement continues to Worting Junction, just after Basingstoke. Many railway stations on this section used to have island platforms which have now been removed - this is evident with wide gaps between station platforms such as at Winchfield and Farnborough (Main). The island platforms survive at Esher and Walton-on-Thames, with the latter covered in weeds.
The line continues as double-tracks to Winchester but expands back to 4 tracks after passing through the city. This time, however, the western pair of tracks carry local services and have platforms at Shawford while the eastern pair handle fast services and avoid Shawford. This arrangement ends after Eastleigh and the railway returns to 2 tracks, enlarging to 4 tracks temporarily at Southampton Central.
The line remains double-tracked most of the way to Weymouth, but there is a single-track section between Moreton and Dorchester South which constrains capacity.
Electrification
The suburban portion of the line, as far as the Pirbright Junction (for Alton), was electrified (750v DC third rail) by the London & South Western Railway and its successor, the Southern Railway, prior to World War II.
The main portion of the line to Southampton and Bournemouth was electrified in 1967. Electrification was extended to Weymouth in 1988 and saw the introduction of the new Class 442 'Wessex Electric' trains.Nowadays Class 444,Class 450 or Class 455 is used.
Services
The majority of passenger services are currently operated by South West Trains. There are intercity services, which run as follows (Monday-Saturday off-peak):
Intercity and Regional
- 2 trains per hour from Waterloo to Weymouth, of which:
- 1, departing Waterloo at xx35 and Weymouth at xx03, calls at Woking, Winchester, Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central, Brockenhurst, Bournemouth, all stations to Hamworthy, Wareham and Dorchester South. This journey takes 2 hours 38 minutes.
- 1, departing Waterloo at xx05 and Weymouth at xx20, calls at Clapham Junction, Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central, Brockenhurst, New Milton, Christchurch, all stations to Bournemouth, Poole and all stations to Weymouth. This journey takes 2 hours 55 minutes.
- 1 tph to Poole, departing Waterloo at xx39 and Poole at xx50, calling at Clapham Junction, Farnborough Main, Fleet, Basingstoke, Winchester, Shawford, Eastleigh, Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central, Totton, Ashurst New Forest, Brockenhurst and all stations to Poole. This journey takes 3 hours 16 minutes.
(By changing trains, passengers can achieve a faster journey time. To reach Totton and Ashurst New Forest from London, passengers should take the xx05 and change at Southampton Central; to reach stations between Sway and Pokesdown inclusive passengers should take the xx35 and change at Brockenhurst. In the other direction, passengers should change at Southampton Airport Parkway to arrive at London earlier.)
- 1 tph to Portsmouth Harbour, departing Waterloo at xx09 and Portsmouth Harbour at xx54, calling at Woking, Farnborough Main, Basingstoke, Micheldever, Winchester and Eastleigh, before branching off to serve the Eastleigh to Fareham line. This journey takes 2 hours 14 minutes.
- In addition CrossCountry operate 1 tph from Bournemouth to Birmingham and such points as Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh, departing Basingstoke (for Bournemouth) at xx10 and Bournemouth at xx45, calling at Winchester, Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central and Brockenhurst. It takes 1 hour 5 minutes to travel on this train between Basingstoke and Bournemouth.
- Also, the section between Basingstoke and Waterloo is supplemented by trains serving the West of England Main Line. Trains leave Waterloo at xx20 and xx50 and leave Basingstoke at xx27 and xx54. The xx50s and xx27s run fast on the SWML, calling only at Woking, and the xx20s and xx54s are slower, calling at Woking and Clapham Junction. Both types of service take 47 minutes to reach Basingstoke.
Commuter
There are also many commuter services serving London. Those of note are:
- 2 tph between Waterloo and Basingstoke. These depart Waterloo at xx12 and xx42 and Basingstoke at xx24 and xx54 and call at Clapham Junction (xx12s and xx54s only), Surbiton, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge, Woking and all stations to Basingstoke. This journey takes 1 hour 16 minutes.
(By changing trains, passengers can achieve a faster journey time. To reach stations between Brookwood and Hook inclusive, passengers should take the xx20 or xx50 and change at Woking. In the other direction passengers from Hook and Winchfield on the xx24 should change at Fleet to arrive at London earlier.)
- 2 tph between Waterloo and the Alton Line. These depart Waterloo at xx23 and xx53 and Brookwood (where they join and leave the SWML) at xx16 and xx46 and call at Clapham Junction xx53s and xx16s only), Surbiton, West Byfleet, Woking and Brookwood before continuing down the Alton Line. It takes 43 minutes for these trains to reach Brookwood.
(By changing trains at Woking, passengers in Brookwood can arrive at London earlier.)
- 2 tph between Waterloo and Woking. These depart Waterloo at xx20 and xx50 and Woking at xx03 and xx33 and call at Vauxhall, Clapham Junction, Earlsfield, Wimbledon, Surbiton and all stations to Woking. This journey takes 48 minutes.
- 2 tph between Waterloo and Hampton Court. These depart Waterloo at xx06 and xx36 and Hampton Court at xx24 and xx54, calling at Vauxhall, Clapham Junction and all stations to Surbiton before continuing down the Hampton Court Branch Line. This journey takes 36 minutes.
(By changing at Surbiton, passengers can arrive in London earlier.)
- There is also a service between Romsey and Salisbury via Southampton, using the Eastleigh to Romsey Line and part of the Wessex Main Line as well. Trains originating from Salisbury travel to Romsey, then call at Redbridge and all stations to Eastleigh, where the train leaves the SWML to return to Romsey. This train runs hourly.
External links
Bibliography
ISBN 1 85260 508 1
ISBN(no ISBN)
ISBN 0 906520 97 5
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