THE FIRST RAILWAY IN KENT 1838
The map on the left below shows railways in Southern England by about 1845. None of these came near Farnborough, but by contrast the corridor from London through Croydon and Redhill to the coast at Brighton was an early and successful recipient for a railway, shared between three companies.
Apart from what had been the very first line, to Greenwich, the only line in Kent was the indirect South Eastern Railway (SER) main line from Redhill to Folkestone and Dover.
Click on the maps to enlarge
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The railways all converged at the approaches to London Bridge station as shown on the map above right. This was a legacy of an early attempt by the government to decree that there be only one railway terminus south of the Thames.
For details of the development of the lines both in the Brighton corridor and the first South Eastern main line to Dover via Redhill follow the links in the menu to the right.
There were three proposals for main lines running directly south east from London Bridge through Farnborough and then heading further into Kent. These are also described in pages accessed via the menu.
London and Greenwich Railway 1838.
This line dated from 1831 and was the first in London. It would run from close to London Bridge, convenient for journeys to the City, and be some four miles long, on a viaduct of 878 brick arches, some of them skewed to avoid level crossings over the many streets which were already appearing in the south of London. The intention had been to descend to ground level after the Grand Surrey Canal but this was opposed by Parliament.| The first Act of Parliament was obtained in 1833 for a line
from Tooley Street (now London Bridge) to London Street,
Greenwich. The ultimate intention was to reach Dover and there
was much talk of a London to Gravesend line from Greenwich. A
scheme was presented to Parliament in 1836 but five others were
competing and the bill failed on its second reading. The
line was built as far as Greenwich and proved very successful. |
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However the company was always in a difficult financial position due to the high capital cost for building the line. The was leased to the SER in 1845, who took over effective management, even though the L&G company was not formally wound up until 1923.
For the history of the main line to Brighton vie Redhill, including the branched to West Croydon and a short-lived branch to Croydon Town Centre see Brighton Main Line