Lee-on-Solent Line

It opened its line in 1894, but was not commercially successful, and after some military usage before 1918, patronage declined as road passenger services increased in reliability.

With the help of one of his sons, he constructed Marine Parade, a broad thoroughfare more than a mile in length, together with an esplanade along the sea front.

[note 1][2][1] Board meetings appear to have been poorly focussed on the business of constructing an operational railway, and there may have been financial impropriety by directors.

It is likely that share subscription was slow to be forthcoming, for in November 1892 it was indicated that Robinson was prepared to render the necessary financial assistance personally.

[1] The consent of the Board of Trade was essential to passenger operation, and at this stage the company informed the board that "As the line is to be very light for some years after opening it is proposed to dispense with stations except at Lee terminus, where the station is half complete, and at Brockhurst where an adjoining platform will allow passengers to use the LSWR waiting room.

It is proposed to work the railway with cars of the American type, having end platforms and low steps.

The comment was also made that the line appeared to have been partly built outside the limits of deviation set and that the gradients were steeper than those originally proposed.

[4] By early 1894 the LSWR, the Lee-on-the-Solent Railway Company and the Board of Trade had been negotiating over the subject of through trains.

But the changes were made and on 28 March 1894 the Lee-on-Solent board informed the Railway Inspectorate that the line would be ready for re-inspection the next month.

He found that buffers were absent at Brockhurst on a siding; that the new platform ramps were too steep; and that fencing was needed at the rear of Privett and Browndown stations.

[3][2][4] To operate the new service a locomotive was hired from the London and South Western Railway, notwithstanding the previous remark about the company's own engines.

Development of business was hampered by the need to change trains at Brockhurst: through running to the line was not possible because of the track layout there.

As before, the Inspecting Officer was Colonel Yorke (the change of title indicating promotion in the previous six months) who noted that the banks of the two bridges should be watched, due to doubts about their stability.

[6] In June 1895 the LSWR informed the company that both the locomotives they were hiring were worn out and no other suitable machines were available for the line's 8-ton axle loading.

To make such a change, the LSWR would need to take formal powers to work the line, which they did, effective from 26 July 1909.

Bonavia puts it more strongly: "The Lee-on[-the]-Solent Railway was bankrupt and the Southern fought right up to the Court of Appeal against being forced to assume its liabilities.