Secondary Routes of The London and South Western Railway - Construction of The Southampton Line

Construction of The Southampton Line

Construction started in September 1834 with Giles as engineer. His method was to employ a number of small contractors working concurrently at various places on the line. However their lack of resources meant that progress was slow and sporadic, and Giles was unable to maintain control of costs. With mounting delays, the projected cost to complete the line rose from the initial £894,000 to £1.5 million, and in 1837 parliamentary authority had to be sought to raise further capital. Following an examination of the accounts, instigated by a group of Lancashire shareholders, Giles was dismissed and replaced as engineer by Joseph Locke. Locke replaced many of the small contractors with the established firm of Thomas Brassey, and the rate of progress improved greatly.

The new line was opened in stages; the first section was from Nine Elms to Woking Common (later renamed Woking) on 21 May 1838.

The opening of the remainder of the main line followed:

• Woking to Shapley Heath: 24 September 1838
• Shapley Heath to Basingstoke: 10 June 1839
• Winchester to a temporary "Southampton" station at Northam Road: 10 June 1839
• Basingstoke to Winchester, and also the Southampton terminus: 11 May 1840.

The section between Basingstoke and Winchester was the most difficult to engineer, as it crossed the Loddon, Test and Itchen Valleys. It passed through four tunnels before descending to Winchester.

The stations on the line at the time of opening were:

• Nine Elms; the London terminus on the south bank of the River Thames, adjacent to the present Nine Elms Way; the station was a little over a mile from Trafalgar Square;
• Wandsworth; later renamed Clapham Common, on the northern margin of Wandsworth Common, about half a mile west of the present Clapham Junction which replaced it;
• Wimbledon; somewhat to the west of Wimbledon Hill Road and of the present station;
• Kingston; on the east side of King Charles Road, about half a mile east of the present Surbiton station;
• Ditton Marsh; now Esher;
• Walton; now Walton-on-Thames;
• Weybridge
• Woking Common; now Woking;
• Farnborough;
• Shapley Heath; now Winchfield;
• Basingstoke;
• Andover Road; now Micheldever;
• Winchester;
• Northam Road station; at the road of the same name;
• Southampton; later renamed Southampton Terminus, at the present Terminus Terrace, it was an elegant building in the classical style by Sir William Tite.