Portsmouth Electric Time Table, Fares, etc. : 4 July to September 26 1937 : booklet issued by the Southern Railway : London : 1937 : front cover
The stylish timetable cover issued by the Southern Railway for the completion of the Portsmouth Main Line Electriifcation Scheme that went into full service on 4 July 1937. It is typical of the publciity surrounding the "Southern Electric" brand that the Southern promoted to help brand the increasingly successful third rail electrifications that they had carried out since Grouping in 1923.
The Portsmouth main line was, at the time, the most ambitious of the schemes and followed on from the pattern of the Brighton main line. It involved electrification, some signalling and reconstructions works from the then boundary of the live rails at Hampton Court Junction; major works were at Haslemere, Havant, Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour stations. The project, aided by low rate Government loans, was announced and commenced in 1935 and just over two years to deliver this makes today's electrification progress seem, arguably, derisory. The Scheme also required new or reconstructed trains to operate it and the basic service, as seen in these time tables, were for one 'fast' and two 'stopping' services between London Waterloo and Portsmouth.
The trains made for useful and enhanced connections to the Isle of Wight and much is made of this in the booklet.
Portsmouth Electric Time Table, Fares, etc. : 4 July to September 26 1937 : booklet issued by the Southern Railway : London : 1937 : front cover
The stylish timetable cover issued by the Southern Railway for the completion of the Portsmouth Main Line Electriifcation Scheme that went into full service on 4 July 1937. It is typical of the publciity surrounding the "Southern Electric" brand that the Southern promoted to help brand the increasingly successful third rail electrifications that they had carried out since Grouping in 1923.
The Portsmouth main line was, at the time, the most ambitious of the schemes and followed on from the pattern of the Brighton main line. It involved electrification, some signalling and reconstructions works from the then boundary of the live rails at Hampton Court Junction; major works were at Haslemere, Havant, Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour stations. The project, aided by low rate Government loans, was announced and commenced in 1935 and just over two years to deliver this makes today's electrification progress seem, arguably, derisory. The Scheme also required new or reconstructed trains to operate it and the basic service, as seen in these time tables, were for one 'fast' and two 'stopping' services between London Waterloo and Portsmouth.
The trains made for useful and enhanced connections to the Isle of Wight and much is made of this in the booklet.