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Friday 14 Jan 2022

From Brunel to the Battle of Havant - here's 10 fun facts about Portsmouth's railways (and we're starting work on Saturday so please check before you travel)

Region & Route:

Southern: Wessex

| Southern

With our engineers returning to Portsmouth tomorrow (Saturday, 15 January), we delved into the archives to bring you some little-known facts about Pompey's Railway.

1. The first ever scheduled train service to arrive in Portsmouth was in 1847, prematurely terminating at Portsmouth Town Station. Instead of stopping due to a signal failure or engine problem, the train was ordered to a halt by the harbour's military authorities who refused to move their fortifications.
2. The magnificent Portsmouth & Southsea station was opened on 14 June 1847 and has undergone both name changes and facelifts over the years. Originally it was known as Portsmouth, then renamed Portsmouth Town in 1876, before getting its current name when the original Southsea Railway branch line was closed.
3. The London and Croydon Railway planned a line to connect London and Portsmouth in 1845, that would have used a novel ‘atmospheric system’. Trains would be pulled by a complicated series of vacuum tubes and pipes laid alongside the track.
4. Portsmouth Harbour was opened in 1876, as part of the Portsmouth Waterside Extension to the Portsmouth Direct Line, between the Harbour and London Waterloo.
5. Portsmouth’s original Southsea line played its part in the war effort during WW1. The line was used as overflow siding and Southsea station became a crucial munitions store. Station cleaning was a much riskier affair back then!
6. Portsmouth & Southsea’s eye-catching red canopy was built during the 1980s when British Rail was running things. The red colour is the original Network SouthEast livery, which ran things in the area in the late 1980s and early 90s.
7. Portsmouth is the birthplace of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the legendary Victorian civil engineer. He was born in 1806 in Britain Street, round the corner from Portsmouth Harbour station, and his contributions to the railway can still be seen across the country today.
8. The battle of Havant shows running the railway in Portsmouth has not always been a cooperative affair! London, Brighton and South Coast Railway battled London and South Western Railway for control over the newly built Portsmouth Direct Line, deploying teams of engineers to sabotage tracks and block trains, with alleged ‘scuffles’ between rival railwaymen. Nowadays, we like to think we work a little better with our colleagues at SWR.
9. The Portsmouth railway always had an eye on the future, switching from steam to electric power in 1937. Travel on this new electric service was very different from today, with restaurant facilities as standard on most trains.
10. The original Southsea Railway Line running with Portsea was opened in 1885 and closed in 1914, giving it the unfortunate honour of being one of the shortest-lived railways in England as well as being the shortest in length.

Landport Viaduct engineering work details are here.