The early story of the development of the Southern electric
commuter lines begins with the early electrification work carried out by
two of the constituent companies of the Southern Railway:
The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway
In 1903 the LB&SCR obtained powers
to electrify their lines and opted to use an overhead wire system that supplied
6,700v. The first line chosen for conversion was the South London Line from
London Bridge to Victoria via Peckham Rye (where new car servicing sheds
were built). The electrification was completed in 1909 with full public service
of the electric trains comencing on December the 1st of that year. To provide
the service eight three car sets were built for the LB&SC by the Metropolitan
Amalgamated Carriage & Wagon Company, the units were formed of a third
class driving motor brake either side of a first class trailer, the current
collection was by bow collector mounted above the brake van behind each cab
with one provided for each direction of travel and the traction motors of
which there were two per motor car were fitted to both axles of the leading
bogie. All vehicles in the set were just over 63 feet long.
The success of the South London
electrification prompted the LB&SCR to extend the system with the lines
from Victoria and London Bridge to Crystal Palace via Streatham Hill opened
to electric traction for public use on the 1st of June 1911. Exactly a year
later the section of line from Peckham Rye to West Croydon was also electrified.
To serve the needs of the extension a new depot was opened at Selhurst and
thirty two car sets formed of driving motor and driving trailer vehicles
was also provided.
The LB&SCR wished to make further
extensions but their plans were interrupted by the outbreak of World War
One and it was not until 1918 that they could reconsider their plans, which
by then envisaged a main line electrification to Brighton and Eastbourne.
However the next (and as it turned out, the last) extension took the overhead
wires down th Brighton main line to Coulsdon North and on the busy section
to Sutton. Stock for this section was built by Metropolitan C&W and comprised
sixty driving trailers, twenty intermediate trailers and to provide traction
power twenty one driving motor vans. The later were essentially an electric
locomotive, with each axle of both bogies driven by a 250hp traction motor,
they also had a cab at each end and in addition they also had the guards
brake and luggage space provided. One van was marshalled in the middle of
a set with varying numbers of trailers and driving trailers at either
end.
The London & South Western Railway
The LSWR announced plans to electrify
their innermost suburban lines from Waterloo in 1913. The choice of
electrification to be used was made after a fact finding visit to the Lancashire
& Yorkshire railway's Liverpool - Southport line where a DC conductor
rail collector system had been in use since 1904. The LSWR also opted for
a side conductor rail with top contact for collector shoes on the electric
stock, the live rails were to be energised at 600v with negative return effected
via the running rails.
The routes to be electrified were:
-
Waterloo - Wimbledon (via Earlsfield & East Putney)
-
Point Pleasant Junction - Wimbledon (via Twickenham & Kingston)
-
Shacklegate Junction & Strawberry Hill - Shepperton
-
New Malden - Hampton Court
-
Surbiton - Guildford (via Cobham)
-
Barnes - Twickenham (via Hounslow)
To supply electricity to the system the LSWR
built its own power station at Durnsford Road in Wimbledon where new car
sheds were also built to house the 84 three car units constructed at the
LSWR workshops at Eastleigh for the electric service. The units were formed
of a pair of driving motor brake coaches marshalled either end of a trailer
composite. All passenger accommodation was in compartments with the guards
brake being behind each cab end, under which was mounted the power bogie
which had one 275hp motor for each axle giving a total of 1100hp for each
three car set. The cab ends had a blunt 'V' appearance and under the bab
windows jumper cables were provided to enable sets to work in multiple. Between
the cab windows was a headcode box where a stencil denoting a letter of the
alphabet was placed, the letter indicated which route the train was booked
to run over. The units had automatic Westinghouse air brakes and all electrical
equipment was provided by BWE. The bodies were mounted on standard LSWR 57
foot suburban under frames made of timber.
The network opened for electric
traction progressively, the first section was that from Waterloo to Wimbledon,
via East Putney on October 25th 1915, next came the routes from Clapham Junction
to Twickenham, Kingston & Shepperton on January 30th 1916 with the Barnes
- Hounslow - Twickenham portion opening on March 12th 1916. The section of
line from New Malden to Hampton Court went live on June 18th the same year
which left the Guildford route left to complete, due to economic reasons
brought about by the outbreak of the first world war the planned electrification
of this section was cut back to only go as far as Claygate which was switched
on on November the 20th 1916
And so began the development of the electric
suburban routes south of London. In 1923 the 'Grouping' of the railways saw
both the LSWR and the LBSC taken over by the Southern Railway who planned
to make far reaching extensions to the network.
Continue to part two - The Southern Railway Takes Over