Gosport and Cosham lines
The Gosport and Cosham lines were a collection of railway lines in southern Hampshire. Most of the lines are now closed but some elements are still in use, forming part of the West Coastway line. The lines originally linked to the main London to Southampton line via the Eastleigh–Fareham line and subsequently with a line from Southampton via Bursledon, both of which are still in use. The London and Southampton Railway constructed a first class main line from London to Southampton, opened in 1839. After a name change to the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) it opened a branch from Bishopstoke (later known as Eastleigh to Gosport through Fareham, serving Portsmouth by a ferry crossing, in 1840. The LSWR later extended its line to Portsmouth itself by a branch line from Fareham, and joined forces with a competitor, the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, meeting it at Cosham; this connection opened in 1848. There was a jointly operated Portsmouth station. Leisure travel to the Isle of Wight developed, but the Portsmouth station was not at all close to the steamer terminal; the Gosport station was also awkwardly located. A new pier at Stokes Bay was opened, with a branch line off the Fareham to Gosport line; this offered a direct transfer from train to steamer, but the railway transit from London was rather circuitous, and the opening of the Portsmouth Direct line in 1859 and the extension of the railway at Portsmouth to Portsmouth Harbour station and the steamer berth there, negated the advantage. Also branching from the Gosport line was a branch to Lee-on-the-Solent, in support of a new seaside resort with its own pleasure pier. The development was not commercially successful. More prosaic branch openings followed: the Netley branch from Southampton was extended to Fareham in 1889; the Bishops Waltham branch from Botley opened in 1863, but was extremely unsuccessful in commercial terms. The Meon Valley Railway from Alton, intended as a secondary main line, opened in 1904, in association with repairs to the troublesome Knowle Tunnel, a short distance north of Fareham. The Eastleigh and Southampton lines to Fareham and Cosham continue in operation, and were electrified in 1990, transforming the passenger train service pattern. Gosport branch One of the earliest of long-distance railways, the London and Southampton Railway opened its line between those places on 11 May 1840. During the construction period, the Portsmouth Junction Railway was promoted: it would build a branch line from Bishopstoke (later known as Eastleigh) on the London and Southampton Railway, via Botley, Fareham and Cosham to Portsmouth. Influential residents of Portsmouth opposed the idea; there was considerable hostility between Portsmouth and Southampton, and it seemed to them unthinkable for Portsmouth to be on a branch line of a main line to Southampton. In November 1838 a meeting in Portsmouth discussed a railway to London; an independent line all the way was considered, but the cost -- £1.5 million -- made it daunting, and in a remarkable change of