London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1840 to 1923. Its ultimate network extended to Barnstable via Yeovil and Exeter - a territory in which it was in direct competition with the Great Western Railway - and along the Dorset coast to Bournemouth and Weymouth. Following the grouping of the British railway system in 1923, the L&SWR lines became part of the Southern Railway.
After railway privatisation the name was evoked for South West Trains who operate over much of the old London & South Western routes.
History
Prior to opening in 1840, the L&SWR had been named the London and Southampton Railway. It did not adopt the most direct route between the two cities, but built a mainline running west to Basingstoke, from where a branch was to have run to Bristol.
The company's first London terminus was at Nine Elms, sometimes known as Vauxhall, in the suburban parish of Battersea. Some trains ran through to Victoria via Battersea Park on the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. The LSWR subsequently built a more central London terminus at Waterloo station and a new through Vauxhall station in 1848. The Southern Railway built a new through station at Southampton Central in 1933. The Southampton terminus remained in use until 1966 and the L&SWR's classical building of 1840 (designed by William Tite)survives.
The original stations on the main route are Vauxhall, Queenstown Road Battersea, Clapham Junction, Earlsfield, Wimbledon, Raynes Park, New Malden, Berrylands, Surbiton, Esher, Hersham, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge, West Weybridge, Byfleet & New Haw, Woking, Brookwood, Farnborough, Fleet, Winchfield, Hook, Basingstoke, Micheldever, Winchester, Shawford, Eastleigh, Southampton Airport, Swaythling, St Denys and Southampton.
Subsequently, a number of branch lines were added, and the L&SWR took over some adjoining companies including the London to Portsmouth line via Guildford.
The L&SWR adopted third rail electrification of its suburban routes after the First World War. This subsequently became the standard for the entire Southern Railway supposedly because of the influence of Sir Herbert Walker, a former L&SWR man.