Midland and South Western Junction Railway
| Midland and South Western Junction Railway | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Type | Heavy rail |
| Status | Disused |
| Termini |
Cheltenham Spa Andover |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1884–1891 |
| Closed | Passengers 1961 Goods 1964–1970 |
| Operator(s) | Midland and South Western Junction Railway Great Western Railway British Railways |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north-south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' trains to reach the port of Southampton. The M&SWJR was formed in 1884 from the amalgamation of the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway and the Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway. The line was absorbed by the Great Western Railway at the 1923 Grouping and became part of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The railway closed to passengers in 1961, and to goods between 1964 and 1970. A small part of it has been re-opened as the heritage Swindon and Cricklade Railway.
By 1845 the Great Western Railway (GWR) had established itself as the dominant railway company controlling west to east trunk routes from Bristol and the West of England to London. The GWR was a broad gauge railway and it sought to monopolise the area it occupied, excluding competing railways. A number of schemes had been proposed to build a north-south railway route, particularly one connecting the manufacturing districts of the West Midlands and Lancashire to Southampton and the Channel Ports. Such a railway would inevitably cut through the territory – at first simply occupied by the west to east Bristol line – which the GWR considered to be its own.
As early as 1846 a Manchester and Southampton Railway was proposed; it would have been 88 miles (142 km) long, running from north of Cheltenham to Southampton, passing to the east of Swindon and near Marlborough. It would have cost £1,500,000 to build. It was defeated in the House of Lords by a narrow margin after the GWR had given an undertaking to lay narrow gauge rails on its line between Oxford and Basingstoke, facilitating north-south connections by that route.
The ambition of an independent through railway from north to south was eventually reduced to serving local communities, and the first line on the corridor envisaged was the Andover and Redbridge Railway, which was incorporated on 12 July 1858. Redbridge was on the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) a short distance west of Southampton, an important port. The LSWR quickly acquired the young company (in 1863) and opened the line on 6 March 1865.
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