The London and South Western Railway bought out the local company in 1879, and in 1884 the LSWR opened a short extension of the line to Lymington Pier.

However the scarcity of investment money following the collapse of the Railway Mania meant that it proved impossible to raise funds for any construction, and the scheme did not proceed.

[3][4][5][6][7] The line was four miles in length and it was constructed quickly, and on 8 May 1858 a celebratory train service was run for local people, probably free of charge.

[4][9][10][7][11] The LSWR declined to operate ferries to Isle of Wight; they had a non-competitive agreement with the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, but the Solent Sea Steam Packet Company made four return trips from Lymington to Yarmouth every weekday, as well as other daily transits.

[4][6] The company's financial performance was not so rosy as forecast; in February 1861 the shareholders' meeting was told that net profit for the half year was £375.

[7] In fact Lymington was in decline throughout the early life of the line, the salt industry in particular suffering because of competition from cheaper extractive action in Cheshire.

Authorisation was obtained on 22 August 1881 to extend the line for 34 chains (690m), crossing the estuary to a new Pier station, where ships could berth at any state of the tide.

The scheme required the co-operation and more particularly the financial support of the LSWR, but negotiations for a working agreement were conducted fruitlessly for several years.

She provided a large deck for motor cars, which were increasingly using the Lymington route as the easiest crossing to the Isle of Wight.

[14] In 1938 the Pier at Lymington was reconstructed and made suitable for car ferry operation; the slipway was extended at the cost of the Admiralty in 1942.

The last passenger train ran on Sunday 2 April 1967 behind LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T tank engine 41312, whistling the rhythm of Yellow Submarine all the way to Lymington Town station.

A three-car diesel electric multiple unit operated the branch passenger service for some time after the end of steam working.

The first train to use new alignment ran on 20 October 1978, after the derailment of a tamping machine prevented planned operation on the previous day.

Hampshire DEMUs took over for a few weeks to enable the redundant run-round loops and engine shed line to be safely lifted.

A paraffin fuelled boiler was used to produce steam at 300 lbs per square inch (21 bar) to drive a 32 horsepower (24 kW) engine.

The only train service on this line is operated by South Western Railway; it runs every half-hour between Brockenhurst and Lymington Pier.

Following the withdrawal of slamdoor stock from the rest of the South West Trains network in 2005, it was expected that the operation of the line would have been taken over by the new Class 450 "Desiro" units.

On this basis SWT bought and refurbished two British Rail Class 421 units to exclusively operate services on the line.

Work carried out on the units included the fitting of central door locking and other safety features to allow them to remain in service beyond the November 2005 deadline for the withdrawal of slam-door stock.

The final two units of this type to work the line were numbered 1497 and 1498 and officially named Freshwater and Farringford respectively at a ceremony at Brockenhurst station on 12 May 2005.

[26] A Lymington Flyer headboard was made by Malcolm Ellis of Parkstone station, for use on the slam-door stock by local traincrew.

In Summer 2009[citation needed] South West Trains announced plans to replace the heritage EMUs with more modern units; Class 158 Sprinters[27] on weekdays and Class 450 at weekends; the latter were also used on occasion when the 3Cigs were unavailable, initially with the fourth carriage locked out of use because of the short platform at Lymington Town).