Midhurst Railways
The Mid-Sussex lines reached Midhurst in 1866, after being absorbed by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) in 1862.
To the north lay Horsham station, terminus of a branch from Three Bridges on the London to Brighton main line of the LBSCR.
[9][8] A shareholders' meeting at the time of authorisation was told that an extension of the line to Southampton, connecting and running over the Bishops Waltham branch, would be possible.
[11][9][12] The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway constructed a branch line from Three Bridges to Horsham, opening it on 14 February 1848.
[3] Despite the unpromising potential railway business, the LBSCR encouraged the formation of a nominally independent company to build a line from Horsham to Petworth.
[14] The Mid-Sussex Railway had been conceived as a line to Petworth and possibly Midhurst and Petersfield, although in fact the latter were connected by other companies.
The powers to do this included doubling the original Mid-Sussex Railway between Horsham and a junction at Hardham, south of Pulborough.
[20] Long before the Mid-Sussex Railway was completed, an extension from Petworth to Midhurst was decided upon, and another nominally independent company was formed to construct it.
[21][14][22] The Mid-Sussex and Midhurst Junction company had difficulty in raising share capital from the outset, and in an 1860 act of Parliament[which?]
c. clxxiii) had prohibited it from extending to join the Mid-Sussex and Midhurst Junction railway, so that there were now two stations in the town, about a quarter mile apart.
[24] One of them was proposed by Lord Henry Gordon Lennox and William Townley Mitford, the members of Parliament for Chichester and Midhurst respectively.
At first the LBSCR and the LSWR opposed the scheme, but their opposition was later withdrawn, and the Chichester and Midhurst Railway (Extension) Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict.
The labourers who crowded round seemed agreeably surprised at the manner in which his Lordship filled the barrow and ran it along the platform, at the end of which he shot the contents over the side.
This immediately lay the LBSCR open to the possibility of a hostile competitor acquiring the Chichester and Midhurst line.
The value was transferred by LBSCR directors personally acquiring Midhurst shares, and it was regularised by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (Capital and Powers) Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict.
[note 1][27] In the summer of 1866 the banking house of Overend, Gurney and Company failed, causing widespread panic in the money markets, resulting in extremely limited access to investment.
Their obvious intention was to sell the works on to the highest bidder, but they did not press the scheme forward until 1875 when they presented a parliamentary bill.
c. cix) of 13 July 1876 was passed, giving the LBSCR control of the now defunct Chichester and Midhurst company's assets.
[32] Singleton station was provided with four platform faces and extensive siding accommodation, so as to dela with the peak traffic associated with Goodwood races.
This issue continued to be a sore for some time, and eventually West Sussex County Council pursued the matter to the Railway and Canal Commissioners in October 1892.
The cost to make a full connection was estimated at £1,600 and neither the LSWR nor the LBSCR felt that this would be money well spent, in view of the limited volume of through passenger business.
[36] The first Mid-Sussex Railway service (Horsham to Petworth) was five trains daily (not Sundays), increasing to eight when the line through to Midhurst was opened.
This service remained broadly unchanged, but in 1864 a slip coach was dropped at Pulborough from the 16:05 London Bridge to Portsmouth train, continuing to Midhurst, arriving at 17:28.
[36] In the 1930s competition from road transport, both goods and passenger, started to become significant, and carryings on the railway declined over that decade and subsequently.
[39] The locomotive was eventually recovered but it was decided that it was uneconomic to reinstate the line, which was therefore permanently severed at this point, some distance south of Midhurst.
[38] The branch was dormant for some time, but in January 1972 a gravel extraction business opened a rail connection, operating from a site near Lavant; block trains ran to Drayton, not far east of Chichester, where there was a washery.
[41][42] The line was closed in stages, first to passenger trains from 7 February 1955, then goods services were withdrawn from Selham and Fittleworth Stations May 1963.
[45] The Chichester line climbed continuously, mostly at 1 in 76, from Fishbourne Crossing to Singleton tunnel, then descended at about the same gradient to a point just short of Midhurst.
On the London Brighton and South Coast Railway lines the Midhurst to Pulborough services were worked by various engines designed by J. C. Craven, until the 1880s when William Stroudley's famous 'Terriers' took over.
A succession of ex LBSCR designs were used on freight trains, including C2xs and E4s, together with occasional turns with Southern Railway tender engines Q & Q1 as well.
