History
Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway |
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The DN&SR was authorised in 1873 and became part of a series of 'railway wars' in the south of England between the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London and South Western Railway (LSWR).
First proposals
The idea for a railway running north to south through Hampshire stemmed from a proposal for the Manchester & Southampton Railway during the Railway Mania of the 1840s. It failed to gain parliamentary approval, largely because of opposition from the Great Western Railway.[3]
The idea of a direct line linking the manufacturing districts and the South Coast soon inspired another scheme, the Oxford, Southampton, Gosport & Portsmouth Railway, which was generally known as "Bethell's Line" after John Bethell, a solicitor, who was the principal spokesman for the promoters. It failed to gain parliamentary approval in May 1846. It was intended as a connecting line, but the promoters offered no explanation of how the break of gauge would be dealt with.[4]
The earlier plans never progressed, but the idea of a railway linking the industrial areas of the Midlands was revived in the 1870s, when the growth of the railway network meant that main lines from the north reached Southampton via Oxford, Reading and Basingstoke. This was an indirect and complex route, and in 1873 a Parliamentary Bill was submitted for the construction of the Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Junction Railway. The Company was incorporated by Act of 5 August 1873, to build a 34-mile (55 km) line from Didcot on the GWR Main Line to a point 2 miles (3 km) north of Micheldever on the LSWR Main Line, whence access to Southampton was to be over the LSWR line. There was to be a branch from Compton to East Ilsley and a loop at Whitchurch to join the Basingstoke and Salisbury line of the LSWR.[5] This line was to cross the GWR Berks and Hants Extension line at Newbury without making a junction there, as that line was still broad gauge at that time.[6]
By 1878 the Company was on the verge of abandonment—a Bill was submitted to Parliament for the purpose—and "with no vestige of any financial support", but due to the exertions of Lord Carnarvon, a revised route was planned, connecting with the GWR at Newbury and running through the GWR station there; and forming the Micheldever junction nearer to that station together with a second spur at Whitchurch. These changes were authorised by Act of Parliament of 9 July 1880, but Carnarvon's energy had already led to the first sod being cut on the Didcot to Newbury section on 26 August 1879.[5]
Partial opening, and further authorisations
The Didcot to Newbury section proceeded rapidly, and was opened to traffic on 12 April 1882.[note 1][2][7] It had junctions with the GWR at both places and used the GWR stations, and the GWR worked the line. Now with energetic plans, the Company sought authority for its own line to Southampton, 33+1⁄2 miles (53.9 km) in length, to a location near to the Royal Pier there from Burghclere.
There was to be a station at Bargate, Southampton, and a 10+1⁄2-mile (16.9 km) line from Burghclere to Aldermaston on the GWR, but the Micheldever line and the Whitchurch loops were to be abandoned. All this was authorised by Act of 10 August 1882. The planned railway would run across largely empty country between Newbury and Winchester before running down the eastern side of the Itchen Valley, closely paralleling the LSWR's main line on the western side, before crossing the LSWR rails on an overbridge just north of the boundary of the future site of the Eastleigh Works at Allbrook, then winding around the high ground north of Southampton to approach the city from the west to run into new terminus at Bargate (the planned station site is now occupied by the Westquay shopping centre) and there was authorisation for a line to run 0.42-mile (0.68 km) south of this station to the Royal Pier, where steamers for the Isle of Wight and Cherbourg departed. The DN&S was proposed as a shortcut to the coast, saving 6 miles (10 km) compared to the existing route through Reading.
Deposited plans held by Hampshire record office show that the route south from Winchester was planned to run to the East of Twyford, Allbrook (where it was shown to cross the LSWR main line at Allbrook Lock by an overbridge), Chandler's Ford (crossing the LSWR Salisbury line to the west of Oakmount Road), pass under the current Leigh Road–Bournemouth Road junction, climb to a tunnel near the current Chilworth Arms Public House, descend through Lordswood and the current Sports Centre area to traverse the east side of Dale Valley, swing south east under the current Winchester Road, pass through the site now occupied by Shirley Junior School, run to the south west of the current Wilton Road before crossing to the east side of Hill Lane and heading south towards the intended bridge over the LSWR. This final stretch is the area in which work commenced and the location of the surviving embankment, part of the land upon which preparatory clearance and culvert work was undertaken later became The Dell football ground between Archers Road and Milton Road north of the unused embankment.[8] The main passenger station was to be at Bargate Street, reached by a bridge over the LSWR Southampton to Dorchester railway, and this area was to be widened throughout its length with considerable reclamation work and a sea wall built alongside Southampton Central station (at this time the LSWR Southampton West station was somewhat east of the present Central station position).[9][10]
Intermediate stations were to have been provided on the route and a story grew up that the St James' Park, Southampton site in Shirley was excavated for this purpose, often repeated in local books.[8][2] Deposited plans, however, show the park site already existed within the surrounding road layout and was not part of the planned route, which ran to the north east of St James' Church; its current sunken appearance was caused by later gravel extraction.[11] Archival research by the Shirley Local History Group, notably among the records of a local landowner revealed that a later revival of this scheme, the Southampton and Winchester Great Western Junction Railway, intended to use the park as the original route at this location had by then been developed. Plans and sections dated 1901 show the intended route of the railway as passing through the park from East to West.[12] Records indicated that property sales were discussed for this scheme, which would have followed a slightly different route to the previous scheme in some areas without a tunnel at Chilworth. South of St James's Park at this time Didcot, Newbury and Station (now Stratton) Roads were named. Station Road also contained a police station.[13][14] The only physical remnant of the project in Southampton is the tree covered embankment hidden behind current properties east of Hill Lane between Milton Road and Commercial Road. The deposited plans for the route through Southampton[11] and current land levels suggest this was also the location of the viaduct work described by Sands.[15] A photograph described as illustrating the part built viaduct from the London and South Western Railway appears in both the book An Illustrated History of the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway[16] and in a detailed article about the Didcot Newbury and Southampton Railway in Southampton in the Hampshire Industrial Archaeology Society Journal, No. 26 (2018).[9]
The Aldermaston branch and the independent line to Southampton were never built, and an Act of Parliament authorising yet further modifications also changed the name of the company; the word "junction" was dropped and it was now the Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway. In an echo of the early plans to join the LSWR's West of England line at Whitchurch a west-to-north junction was made here, requiring a steeply-graded embankment descending from the higher-level LSWR line, but this was only to permit construction materials, equipment and spoil to be more easily moved in and out of the works – once the DN&SR was completed the link was removed and the two companies maintained entirely separate Whitchurch stations, with the D&SNR passing under the LSWR just west of the latter's station, with the former's station being 0.65 miles (1.05 km) to the south and nearer the village it served. The LSWR was wary of the DN&SR's scheme, and especially this southward extension which threatened to break its monopoly on rail traffic in central Hampshire and at the port of Southampton. Shortly after the northern section of the DN&SR opened the LSWR obtained an Act of Parliament to build a 7+1⁄2-mile (12.1 km) north–south railway between its Sprat and Winkle Line and the West of England line. This short section of high-quality double-track railway, which became known simply as the Fullerton to Hurstbourne Line was intended as a compromise between the LSWR and the DN&SR, with the former hoping to tempt the latter into building its line, then under construction from Newbury, to Hurstbourne and then proceeding to Southampton on existing LSWR metals. The DN&SR did not take up this offer and continued building its independent route towards Winchester, where the firm's funds were exhausted and construction was brought to what was hoped to be a temporary stop. The LSWR opened the (now mostly redundant) Fullerton–Hurstbourne Line eight weeks after the DN&SR opened its section between Newbury and Winchester, with its own station at Winchester Cheesehill.
This opened on 4 May 1885, after a ceremonial inauguration three days previously.[1][5][17] The Winchester station was reached by a bored tunnel[18] under The Soke; it was on a cramped site adjacent to St Giles' Hill. It appears that the line was built as far as Bar End, where the goods facilities for Winchester were provided.[note 2]
Worked by the GWR
The DN&SR Company lacked the resources to operate its line, and it arranged for the Great Western Railway to work the new line, providing rolling stock and traincrews. At this time there was intense competitive rivalry between the GWR and the LSWR. In 1876 the Somerset and Dorset Railway had leased its line to the Midland Railway and the LSWR jointly, giving independent access from the Midlands and the North of England to the South Coast. The GWR was alarmed at this loss of primacy in the traffic, and it was pleased to undertake the working of the DN&SR line, which it hoped would give it access to Southampton, in LSWR territory.[19]
Reaching Southampton at last
The Company had expended all its financial resources in building the line, but its southern terminus was in Winchester: a cathedral city but not the commercial centre that had been planned. Without a through-line to Southampton the DN&SR would not be able to attract the long-distance traffic that would restore in finances, but without that traffic it could not raise the funds needed to complete the final section of its planned route south of Winchester. In June 1885 the company estimated that it required £100,000 to complete the line into Southampton, and Winchester and Southampton Councils invested £15,000 and £70,000 respectively.
The intended works at Southampton were considerable: £100,000 had already been expended, much of it on land acquisition. Sands, writing in 1971,[15] said,
The D.N.&S. had bought a wide belt of land stretching from Wyndham place, outside the present Southampton Central station, northwards along the east side of Hill Lane for about 1⁄2 mile, then north-westward for nearly a mile towards St. James's church in Upper Shirley ... Actual work seems to have been confined to the Hill Lane area where ... a viaduct was required ... The viaduct was completed for over half its length ... The unfinished viaduct has [since] vanished.
The only way out was an accommodation with the LSWR; under this agreement the company built a short connecting line from its Winchester station to Shawford Junction on the LSWR; this was authorised by Acts of 1888 and 1889 and opened on 1 October 1891. The LSWR now had its long-sought for control over DN&SR traffic in its own territory and agreed to the Shawford link out of concern that the GWR would provide the final funding to complete the independent line. Furthermore, seeing the danger of admitting DNS trains worked by GWR locomotives into Southampton, the LSWR agreed to the connection on condition that their own engines took over at Winchester and worked DN&SR trains on to Southampton from there, over its own line onward from Shawford Junction. For the time being GWR engines were forbidden to work south of Winchester, and there was always an engine change in the cramped station there until a pooling agreement finalised in 1910 removed this restriction.[1][2][17]
This line, running over the Hockley viaduct, was completed in 1891, and services from Didcot to Southampton began shortly after. The DN&SR joined the LSWR line at Shawford Junction, north of Shawford station.
Parts of land in Southampton itself already purchased by the DN&SR (including the part built viaduct) for the final link were then subsequently sold off.
The LSWR advanced a loan of £16,000 for the construction of the extension from Winchester to Shawford Junction was built. This became due for repayment on 1 January 1900, and the DN&SR clearly had no resources to repay the money: in fact it was paid off with interest by Lord Wantage. Robertson says that this money was actually advanced confidentially by the GWR, no doubt to forestall any attempt by the LSWR to take over the line and gain access to Didcot.[2]
Newbury station
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Main article: Newbury railway station |
Prior to the construction of the DN&SR line, Newbury had had a simple two-platform through station. The DNS trains now ran through the station and passenger trains made calls there. When the GWR completed its development of the cut-off route to the West of England from 1900 it diverted most of its Devon and Cornwall traffic via Newbury. Much of the Weymouth traffic had earlier been transferred to the route from the Melksham line. The GWR reconstructed Newbury station, providing through lines independent of the passenger platforms, and an enlarged goods yard, in the period 1908–1910, and the GWR insisted on a large financial contribution to the work from the DN&SR company.[20]
Operation
When trains from the north-west of England started running through to Southampton in the 1920s, the proprietors of the DN&SR hoped their line would provide the north–south link, but in fact most trains were routed via Reading west curve, using the faster lines with greater capacity.
