A London and South Western Railway weight restriction sign on a bridge across the Tarka Trail (formerly the Barnstaple to Great Torrington railway) at Instow, North Devon.

The Southern Railway in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1923 and 1948, was geographically the smallest of the four railway systems created in the Grouping ordered by the Railways Act 1921. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1704 × 2272 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1704 × 2272 pixel, file size: 1. ... The London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1840 to 1923. ... The Tarka Trail is a series of footpaths around Devon, England. ... Statistics Population: 34,000 (April 2006 Est. ... The old Town Hall (now the town museum) in the centre of Great Torrington. ... The Instow signal box Instow is a village in north Devon (a county of South West England). ... “Devonshire” redirects here. ... The Railways Act of 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the countrys 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of... The Railways Act of 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the countrys 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of...

Overview

Confined to the south of England, it owned no track north of London. In the area south and south-east of London the Southern Railway had a virtual monopoly, while some of its lines to the south-west were in competition with the Great Western Railway. Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... The original Bristol Temple Meads station, first terminus of the GWR, is the building to the left of this picture The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company, linking South West England, the West Country and South Wales with London. ...

Unlike the three other railway systems established by the Grouping (the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, the London and North Eastern Railway and the Great Western Railway), the Southern Railway was predominantly a passenger railway. Despite its small size it carried more than a quarter of the UK's total passenger traffic: this is because the area covered by the railway included many of the dense commuter lines around London (Southern London's geology being unsuitable for underground railways), as well as serving some of the most densely populated parts of the country. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS1) was a British railway company. ... LNER timetable for Autumn 1926 detailing the resumption of services after the General Strike. ... The original Bristol Temple Meads station, first terminus of the GWR, is the building to the left of this picture The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company, linking South West England, the West Country and South Wales with London. ...

The Southern Railway was particularly successful at promoting itself to the public. Following poor publicity in 1924, John Elliot was appointed as the company's public relations manager. He was instrumental in creating the strongly positive image that the railway enjoyed prior to World War II. The campaign was built upon increasing publicity for the modernisation programmes which the company instituted, coupled with the promotion of the benefits of the south and south -west as holiday destinations. "Sunny South Sam" became a character fixed firmly in the public mind as embodying the service of the railway, whilst slogans such as "live in Kent and be content" encouraged commuters to move out from London, and thus further patronise the services offered by the railway. Background Sir John Elliot (1898-1988) Public Relation assistant, Southern Railway (UK) 1925- 30. ... Public relations (PR): Building sustainable relations with all publics in order to create a postive brand image. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... coat of Arms of Kent For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

During World War II, the Southern found itself at the front line. Before hostilities, 75% of SR traffic was passenger with just 25% being freight; during the War, roughly the same number of passengers was carried but it only made up 40% of total traffic - freight traffic had grown to such an extent that it made up 60% of total traffic. A desperate shortage of freight locomotives was remedied by Chief Engineer Oliver Bulleid who designed a remarkable 0-6-0 locomotive, the SR Class Q1, which was the most powerful such engine ever to operate in Britain. Forty of these machines transformed the Southern's ability to haul heavy freight and, in retrospect, the sheer volume of military freight and Allied soldiers moved by this primarily commuter railway was a breathtaking feat. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid (19 September 1882 - 25 April 1970) was a British railway and mechanical engineer best known as the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway between 1937 and the 1948 nationalisation, developing many well-known locomotives. ... 33038 at Bricklayers Arms in London during BR era. ...

Constituent companies

The major constituents of the Southern Railway were:

• The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) route mileage 1020.5 miles (1642 km); and six railways leased or worked by LSWR

• The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) 457.25 miles (736 km); two railways leased or worked by LBSCR; and also the Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway

• The combined systems of the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, under the South Eastern & Chatham Railways' Managing Committee (SECR) 637.75 miles (1026 km). These concerns had amalgamated on 1 January 1922.

• In addition there were the three Isle of Wight railways [a total of 55.75 miles (90 km)]; and railways leased or worked by the constituent companies. Also, the narrow-gauge Lynton and Barnstaple Railway was absorbed - this was a fully fledged railway, not a light railway. Several light railways were absorbed, including the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway, though other candidate lines did remain independent, such as the Kent and East Sussex Railway

Together, the Southern had 2,186 route miles (3518 km). The London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1840 to 1923. ... The LB&SCRs coat of arms, displayed above the entrance to Gipsy Hill railway station. ... The London and Greenwich Railway (LGR), together with the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway (CWR) in East Kent were the earliest railways to serve the then county of Kent: eventually both became parts of the South Eastern Railway (SER). ... Crest of the LCDR on the first Blackfriars Railway Bridge The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) was a railway company that operated in south-eastern England between 1859 and 1923 before grouping with three other companies to form the Southern Railway. ... Coat of Arms. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... The Isle of Wight is an English island and county, off the southern English coast, to the south of the county of Hampshire. ... The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway (L&B) was a narrow-gauge railway running through the rugged and picturesque countryside of Exmoor in North Devon, England. ... A Light rail system Historically, a railway built in Britain under the 1896 Light Railways Act This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway was a railway in Hampshire, UK first opened on 1 June 1909, enabled by an Order of the Light Railway Commission under the Light Railways Act of 1897. ... The Norwegian climbing into Tenterden Town Station The Kent & East Sussex Railway was opened by Colonel H.F. Stephens, the railway engineer, in 1900. ...

For the complete list, see List of constituent companies of the Southern Railway The Southern Railway was one of the Big Four railway companies set up after the 1923 Grouping. ...

Other assets

• Locomotives: 2390; coaching vehicles: 10,800; freight vehicles: 37,500; electric vehicles 460; rail motor cars: 14
• 38 large turbine or other steamers; and a number of other vessels
• 3.5 miles of canals
• docks, harbours etc at Southampton, Newhaven, Plymouth, Folkestone, Dover, Littlehampton, Whitstable, Strood, Rye, Queenborough, Port Victoria, Padstow
• ten large hotels
• a large number of London terminus stations, including Waterloo (the largest London railway station), Victoria, Charing Cross, Cannon Street and London Bridge(the oldest London terminus) .

Southampton is a city, unitary authority and major port situated on the south coast of England. ... Newhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. ... Plymouth is a city of 243,795 inhabitants (2001 census) in the south-west of England, or alternatively the West Country, and is situated within the traditional and ceremonial county of Devon at the mouths of the rivers Plym and Tamar and at the head of one of the world... Folkestone Harbour, picture taken from the golf court Folkestone (IPA: ) is a coastal resort town in the Shepway district of Kent, England. ... Arms of Dover Borough Council This article is about the English port/town. ... Littlehampton is a town and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex on the south coast of England. ... Whitstable is a town in Kent, England with a population of 30,000. ... Statistics Population: 33182 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TQ725695 Administration District: Medway Region: South East England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Kent Historic county: Kent Services Police force: Kent Police Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: South East Coast Post office and telephone Post town: ROCHESTER... Rye is a small hill top town and civil parish in East Sussex, England, on the River Rother, and at the western edge of the Walland Marsh, part of the Romney Marshes. ... Map sources for Queenborough at grid reference TQ908724 Queenborough is a small town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Location within the British Isles Padstow (Cornish: Lannwedhenek) is a small town on the north coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, approximately 14 miles east of Newquay, at the mouth of the River Camel (Grid reference SW919754). ... London Waterloo railway station is a major railway station and transport interchange complex in London, England. ... Victoria station in London is a London Underground and National Rail station in the City of Westminster. ... Charing Cross Charing Cross railway station is a central London railway terminus. ... Cannon Street is a National Rail and London Underground station complex in the City of London, the financial district of London in England. ... London Bridge station is a National Rail and London Underground station in the London Borough of Southwark, which occupies a large area on two levels, immediately south-east of London Bridge and 1. ...

Electrification

See also: Railway electrification in Great Britain

The Southern Railway was probably the most innovative of the Big Four companies, and the main evidence of that is its commitment to electrification - compare the Southern's legacy with the absence from the Great Western Railway of even a single electrified route. // Railway electrification in Great Britain describes the various electrification systems that are used, or have been used, for supplying traction current to the railways and tramways of Great Britain. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... // Railway electrification in Great Britain describes the various electrification systems that are used, or have been used, for supplying traction current to the railways and tramways of Great Britain. ...

Certainly, the intensively used commuter system in a relatively small geographical area made the Southern a natural candidate for electrification - and two of its predecessor companies (the LSWR and the LBSCR) had already introduced it for some of their lines in the London area before the grouping. However, the two schemes were incompatible, with the Brighton adopting a 6600 V AC overhead system (very similar to that used by the Midland Railway for their Lancaster to Morecambe trial section). After the Grouping a comparison of the two systems was made and the LSWR's 660 V DC third rail standard (similar to that used by London Underground) was adopted for the whole system. A view of Lancaster showing the Lune, the Millennium Bridge and the Ashton Memorial Lancaster (2001 census population 45,952: source ONS) is a city in Lancashire, in the north-west of England, UK. It is a commercial, cultural and educational centre. ... Morecambe is a resort town in the Lancaster district of Lancashire, England. ...

Most of the area immediately south of London was converted, together with the long-distance lines to Brighton, Eastbourne and Portsmouth (starting in 1931, this was one of the world's first modern mainline electrification schemes). Only the London suburban part of the former SECR routes was electrified by the Southern Railway, although the long-distance Kent routes were next in line for electrification, which would have been followed by the electrification of the Southampton/Bournemouth route; World War II interrupted these plans, and these lines were electrified only in the late 1950s and late 1960s. Originally, only electric multiple unit trains were used, but later electric locomotives and electro-diesel hybrids were developed. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Brighton is located on the south coast of England, and together with its immediate neighbour Hove forms the city of Brighton and Hove. ... Shown within East Sussex Geography Status: Borough Region: South East England Historic County: Sussex Admin. ... For other places with the same name, see Portsmouth (disambiguation). ... Illustration of the backyards of a surburban neighbourhood Suburbs are inhabited districts located either on the outer rim of a city or outside the official limits of a city (the term varies from country to country), or the outer elements of a conurbation. ... A multiple unit is a passenger train whose carriages have their own motors, either diesel (DMUs) or electric (EMUs), and do not need to be hauled by a locomotive. ... Modern three-phase AC locomotive (DBAG Class 152) A GG1 An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electric motors which draws current from an overhead wire (overhead lines), a third rail, or an on-board storage device such as a battery or a flywheel energy storage system. ...

Nationalisation

The war-devastated company was nationalised along with the rest of the British railway network in 1948. Many of its lines in London and Kent had been damaged during World War II and much of the rolling stock was either damaged or badly in need of replacement, although at the time of nationalisation the Southern had started a vigorous programme of rebuilding and renewal. 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... coat of Arms of Kent For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Rolling Stock banner Rolling Stock was a newspaper of ideas and a chronicle of the 1980s published in Boulder, Colorado by Ed Dorn and Jennifer Dunbar Dorn. ...

Other notes

• Chief Mechanical Engineers of the Southern Railway, responsible for locomotives and rolling stock, were R. E. L. Maunsell from 1922 to 1937, and then O. V. S. Bulleid until nationalisation. Bulleid in particular was an engineering genius, designing the SR Merchant Navy Class, SR West Country Class ("Bulleid Light Pacifics"), the SR Class Q1 and the experimental Leader, as well as a host of innovative electrical units and locomotives.

• The first general manager of the Southern Railway was Sir Herbert Walker.

• The Southern Railway adopted an olive-green livery. From mid 1938, this was replaced by a livery dominated by a striking Malachite green colour, often matched with sunshine yellow lining. Stations were painted in green and cream. The post-nationalisation Southern Region of British Railways retained green as its main livery colour, but in a rather more sombre shade.

• The name Southern has been revived as a rebranding of South Central, which operates a significant portion of the former Southern Railway routes to South London, Surrey and Sussex from Victoria and London Bridge.

• The name "Southern Railway" can still be seen above the eastern entrance to London Victoria Station.

• The Southern operated a number of famous "named train" services, including the Brighton Belle, the Bournemouth Belle, the Golden Arrow (London-Paris, which, for the French part of its route, became the Fleche d'Or), and the Night Ferry (London - Paris and Brussels). Part of its route stretched into Devon and Cornwall (known derisively as the Southern's "withered arm" because the GWR had a somewhat better grip on this territory), and this route was dominated by lucrative summer holiday traffic including named trains such as the Atlantic Coast Express.

• Main routes of the Southern Railway include the Brighton main line, Portsmouth Direct Line, South Western Main Line, West of England Main Line, Chatham Main Line, Hastings Line, West Coastway Line, Kent Coast Line and the North Downs Line.

Richard Edward Lloyd Maunsell held the post of Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the the Southern Railway in the United Kingdom from the time of the 1923 Grouping until 1937. ... (SR) Merchant Navy Class, given the nickname Packets by locomotive drivers after the doyen of the class, are a class of streamlined 4-6-2 steam locomotive designed for the Southern Railway by Oliver Bulleid. ... (SR) West Country and Battle of Britain Classes, also known as Bulleid Light Pacifics, are classes of streamlined 4-6-2 steam locomotive designed for the Southern Railway by Oliver Bulleid. ... 33038 at Bricklayers Arms in London during BR era. ... Sir Herbert Ashcombe Walker (1868-1945) was general manager of the Southern Railway from 1923 until 1937. ... Southern is the latest name of the train operating company that took over from Connex South Central on the routes to South London, Surrey, and Sussex from Victoria and London Bridge. ... Victoria Station concourse Victoria station is a London Underground and railway station in London, in the City of Westminster. ... The Golden Arrow was a luxury train of the Southern Railway and later British Railways that linked London with Dover, where passengers took the ferry to Calais to join the Flèche d’Or that took them onto Paris. ... GWR is a TLA that can mean: Great Western Railway of Canada (AAR reporting mark GWR) Great Western Railway of the United Kingdom Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway — a heritage railway that has taken the initials of the GWR. GWR Group, who until early 2005 own several radio stations, including GWR FM... The Brighton Main Line is the railway line from London Victoria and London Bridge to Brighton. ... The Portsmouth Direct Line is a service operated by South West Trains between runs from London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour. ... The South Western Main Line is the railway line from London Waterloo to Weymouth on the Dorset coast. ... The West of England Main Line is the British railway line from London Waterloo to Exeter. ... The Chatham Main Line is the British railway line that runs from London Victoria to Dover Priory or Ramsgate via the Medway Towns (of which Chatham is one, hence the name) and Bromley). ... The Hastings Line is a railway line in Kent and Sussex, which links Hastings with Tonbridge, and from there into London via Sevenoaks. ... West Coastway Line is the name given by Southern Trains to the services operated by them along the south coast of West Sussex and Hampshire, to the west of Brighton, in the United Kingdom. ... The Kent Coast Line runs from Faversham, where it meets the Chatham Main Line, to Dover Priory via Ramsgate. ... The North Downs Line is the name given to the passenger train service connecting Reading, on the Great Western Main Line, to Redhill, on the Brighton Main Line, linking many centres of population in that part of the North Downs which it traverses en route. ...

See also

• Locomotives of the Southern Railway
• SR locomotive numbering and classification
• SR multiple unit numbering and classification

The Southern Railway took a key role in expanding the 660 V DC third rail electrified network begun by the London & South Western Railway. ... A number of different numbering and classification schemes were used for the locomotives owned by the Southern Railway (SR) and its constituent companies. ... The Southern Railway created numbering and classification systems for its large fleet of Electric multiple units that were perpetuated by the Southern Region of British Rail until the early 1980s, when the impact of TOPS was felt. ...

External links

• Southern E-Group - extensive source of information concerning the Southern Railway, its predecessors and successors