London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

The LB&SCR existed for 76 years until 31 December 1922, when it was wound up as a result of the Railways Act 1921 and merged with the London and South Western Railway and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway to form the Southern Railway.

Original routes

(Dates of opening from F. Burtt The Locomotives of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway 1839–1903.)

At the time of its creation the LB&SCR had around 170 route miles (274 km) in existence or under construction, consisting of three main routes and a number of branches.

The main line to Brighton from London Bridge opened in 1841. The sections between Corbett's Lane (New Cross) and London Bridge and between Croydon and Redhill were shared with the South Eastern Railway (SER). There were two branch lines under construction at the time of the amalgamation: the Sutton & Mole Valley Lines from Croydon to Epsom (opened 10 May 1847), and the Arun Valley Line from Three Bridges to Horsham (opened 14 February 1848).

The West Sussex coast line originated with a branch line from Brighton to Shoreham, opened 12 May 1840. This had been extended to Chichester by the time of the amalgamation, and a further extension to Havant was under construction (opened 15 March 1847), with the ultimate aim of extending the line to Portsmouth.

The East Sussex coast line from Brighton to Lewes and St Leonards-on-Sea, with running powers over the SER to Hastings, opened 27 June 1846, one month before the amalgamation, with branches to Newhaven (opened 8 December 1847), Eastbourne and Hailsham (opened 14 May 1849). A connecting spur from the Brighton main line at Keymer Junction near Haywards Heath to the Brighton–Lewes line was under construction at the time of amalgamation, opening in October 1847.

A short line from New Cross to Deptford Wharf, proposed by the L&CR, was approved in July 1846, shortly before amalgamation, but was not opened until 2 July 1849. The use of this line for passengers would have contravened the recently negotiated agreement with the SER that the LB&SCR would not operate lines to the east of its main line, and it was restricted to goods. A short branch from this line to the nearby Surrey Commercial Docks in Rotherhithe opened in July 1855.

London stations

The main London terminus was the L&CR station at London Bridge, built by the London and Greenwich Railway (L&GR) in 1836, and exchanged for the original L&CR station in 1842. For the first few years of its existence, LB&SCR trains used the L&GR lines from Corbett's Lane into London, but by 1849 the viaducts had been widened sufficiently for its own tracks.

The LB&SCR inherited from the L&CR running powers to the smaller SER passenger terminus at Bricklayers Arms. Poorly sited for passengers, it closed in 1852 and was converted into a goods station.

The LB&SCR owned three stations at Croydon, later East Croydon (former L&BR) Central Croydon and West Croydon (former L&CR).

Atmospheric lines

The L&CR had been partially operated by the atmospheric principle between Croydon and Forest Hill, as the first phase of a scheme to use this mode of operation between London and Epsom. However, following a number of technical problems, the LB&SCR abandoned atmospheric operation in May 1847. This enabled it to build its own lines into London Bridge, and have its own independent station there, by 1849.

The history of the LB&SCR can be studied in five distinct periods.

Relations with neighbouring railways, and the beginnings of expansion 1846–1859

The LB&SCR was formed at the same time as the bursting of the railway mania investment bubble, and so it found raising capital for expansion extremely difficult during the first years of its operation, other than to complete those projects that were already in hand. The L&BR had experienced difficult relations with the SER where the companies shared facilities, notably at Redhill and Hastings and on the approaches to London Bridge. In October 1849 the SER acquired the new Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway (RG&RR) line, which the LB&SCR regarded as a major incursion into its territory. However, the LB&SCR had one important playing card not available to the L&BR—control of the SER main line between New Cross and Croydon. In 1849 the LB&SCR appointed a new and capable chairman, Samuel Laing, who negotiated a formal agreement with the SER that would resolve their difficulties for the time being and would define the territories of the two railways. Under this agreement the LB&SCR would have free access to London Bridge, Bricklayers Arms station and goods yard, and Hastings. The SER would have free use of the New Cross to Croydon line, and receive revenues from passengers at intermediate stations, but would not make or work competing lines to Brighton, Horsham, Chichester or Portsmouth.

In 1847 the naval dockyard of Portsmouth was being approached by two equally indirect routes from London, both under construction: a L&SWR route via Fareham and the former Brighton and Chichester Railway route from Havant. The two companies entered into an agreement in that year to share a line from Cosham on the mainland to Portsea Island, ending at the centre of Portsmouth town. Further progress towards the dockyard was prevented by Admiralty objections. The LB&SCR began its services between Chichester and Portsmouth, on 14 June 1847, and the L&SWR from Fareham in October 1848.

In 1853 the Direct Portsmouth Railway gained parliamentary authority to build a line from Godalming to Havant with the intention of the company selling itself either to the L&SWR or the LB&SCR. This scheme would provide a far more direct route to Portsmouth but involved sharing the LB&SCR tracks for the five miles (8 km) between Havant and the joint line to Portsea. The LB&SCR objected to the scheme but the L&SWR negotiated with the new company and in December 1858 sought to operate a train over the new route. The LB&SCR attempted to prevent the use of its tracks and the so-called 'battle of Havant' ensued. The matter was eventually resolved in the courts in August 1859, and relations between the railways were formalized in agreements of 1860 and 1862.

Samuel Laing had also approved a modest degree of expansion elsewhere, most notably the acquisition of a branch line from the main line at Three Bridges to the market town of East Grinstead in July 1855.

Crystal Palace Branch

Some of the directors of the LB&SCR were closely involved with the company that purchased The Crystal Palace after the completion of The Great Exhibition in October 1851 and arranged for its removal to a site on Sydenham Hill, close to the London to Brighton main line, which they purchased from Leo Schuster. The Crystal Palace became a major tourist attraction and the LB&SCR built a branch line from Sydenham to the new site, which was opened in June 1854, and enlarged London Bridge station to handle the additional traffic. The attraction proved to be an enormous success with 10,000 passengers conveyed daily to and from the new branch. On one day in 1859, 112,000 people were conveyed to Crystal Place by train, 70,000 of which from London Bridge.

Rapid expansion 1856–1866

Samuel Laing retired as chairman at the end of 1855 to pursue a political career, and was replaced by the merchant banker Leo Schuster, who had previously sold his 300-acre (120 ha) estate on Sydenham Hill to the new Crystal Palace Company. Schuster instituted a policy of rapidly expanding the route mileage of the railway with new routes throughout south London, Sussex, and east Surrey. Some of these were financed and built by the LB&SCR, others by independent local companies set up with the intention of connecting a town to the railway network with the intention of sale or lease to the LB&SCR. Schuster accelerated the rate of mileage increase after appointing Frederick Banister as chief engineer in 1860. As a result, a further 177 miles (285 km) were constructed or authorised between 1857 and 1865.

West End of London

Schuster also encouraged an independent concern, the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway (WEL&CPR), to construct a new line extending in a wide arc round south London from the LB&SCR Crystal Palace branch to Wandsworth in 1856 and to Battersea in 1858 with a temporary terminus at Battersea Pier. Shortly after this line was completed, the LB&SCR leased it from the WEL&CPR and incorporated it into its system.

Between 1858 and 1860 the LB&SCR was a major shareholder in the Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway (VS&PR), together with the East Kent Railway (later the London Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR)), the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). This enterprise constructed the Grosvenor Bridge over the River Thames at Battersea and the line to the Victoria Station, thereby creating a through (albeit roundabout) route from its main line near Croydon to a terminus in the West End of London. Following the acquisition of the WEL&CPR, a new 'cut-off' line between Windmill Bridge Junction (Norwood) and Balham was constructed during 1861 and 1862, which reduced the distance from East Croydon to Victoria.

New lines in South London

The VS&PR line was also connected with another joint venture the West London Extension Joint Railway, jointly financed by the LB&SCR, L&SWR, GWR and the L&NWR, to permit goods transfers between the companies and cross-London passenger trains. This line was opened in 1863, and in the same year the LB&SCR and L&SWR jointly opened a large interchange station named Clapham Junction. The LB&SCR also operated passenger trains between Clapham Junction and Addison Road.

The West Croydon to Wimbledon Line was built as an independent railway joining the LB&SCR and the L&SWR main lines and opened in October 1855. For a few months it was operated under contract by its engineer George Parker Bidder but in 1856 it was leased to the LB&SCR who purchased it in 1858.

At the same time, the LB&SCR was cooperating with the LC&DR to create the South London line between its terminuses at London Bridge and Victoria. The LC&DR was used from Victoria to Brixton, followed by new construction by the LB&SCR through Denmark Hill, and Peckham to the main line to London Bridge at South Bermondsey.

New lines in Sussex

During 1858, a branch line was built from Lewes to Uckfield, extended to Groombridge and Tunbridge Wells in 1868. In 1864 the Newhaven branch was extended to Seaford. The East Grinstead line was extended in 1866 to Groombridge and Tunbridge Wells. A large area in East Sussex between Tunbridge Wells and Eastbourne remained without railways, and the LB&SCR was anxious in case the SER should venture into this territory. As a result, in 1864 it sought powers to build a line between these two towns, which were granted in the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (Additional Powers) Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. cccxiv). It also obtained powers for the Ouse Valley Railway, from the south of Balcombe and north of Haywards Heath on the Brighton main line to Uckfield and Hailsham; an extension to St Leonards was also approved by the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway (Saint Leonards Line) Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. l) in May 1865. However, some work had been carried out by the end of 1866, but not completed.

In West Sussex the Horsham branch was extended to Pulborough and Petworth in 1859. In 1861 a line was built from near Horsham to Shoreham, providing a direct link to Brighton. Branches were built from the West Sussex coast line to Littlehampton in 1863, to connect with a new cross-channel ferry service, to Bognor Regis in 1864, and to Hayling Island in 1867. The line from Havant to Hayling had been built by the Hayling Railway, but it was leased to the LB&SCR in 1874.

Following the 1862 agreement with the L&SWR, a line was built from near Pulborough to a junction with the West Sussex coast line near Ford in 1863. This provided a shorter LB&SCR route from London to Portsmouth via Three Bridges and Horsham.

New lines in Surrey

The Epsom and Leatherhead Railway was an independent line from the L&SW main line at Wimbledon through Epsom and Leatherhead towards Guildford. The LB&SCR entered into an agreement to share its station at Epsom and to use the line as far as Leatherhead. The line opened in August 1859 and in 1860 this portion was transferred to the joint ownership of the LB&SCR and the L&SWR. The LB&SCR then bought the Banstead and Epsom Downs Railway, which was building a branch line from Sutton to Epsom Downs for Epsom Downs Racecourse, opened in May 1865.

The LB&SCR wished to connect Horsham with significant towns in Surrey, and in 1865 it opened a line between West Horsham and the L&SWR near Guildford. It constructed a line from Leatherhead to Dorking in March 1867, continued to Horsham two months later. This enabled alternative LB&SCR routes from London to Brighton and the West Sussex coast and further reduced the distance of its route from London to Portsmouth.

The LB&SCR supported the independent Surrey and Sussex Junction Railway, which obtained powers in July 1865 to build a line from Croydon to Tunbridge Wells via Oxted, to be worked by the LB&SCR. The involvement of LB&SCR directors in this scheme was interpreted by the SER as a breach of the 1849 agreement, and in retaliation the SER and LC&DR obtained the South Eastern and London, Chatham and Dover (London, Lewes and Brighton) Railways Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. cccxviii) for a rival 'London, Lewes and Brighton Railway', which would undermine the profitable LB&SCR monopoly to that town. Neither scheme was proceeded with.

Newhaven Harbour

Following the opening of the branch from Lewes to Newhaven, the LB&SCR sought to develop a shorter Continental route from London to Paris via Dieppe, in competition with the SER routes from Dover to Calais and Folkestone to Boulogne. The LB&SCR built its wharf and warehousing facilities on the east side of the river, with Newhaven Harbour station. It funded the dredging of the channel and other improvements to the harbour between 1850 and 1878, to enable it to be used by larger cross-channel ferries, and in 1863 the LB&SCR and the Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest introduced the Newhaven–Dieppe passenger service. In 1878 the railway formed and underwrote the Newhaven Harbour Company and thereafter delegated responsibility for its operation to it.

Growth of the London suburbs

Largely as a result of the railway, the rural area between New Cross and Croydon rapidly became built up, and the population of Croydon increased 14-fold, from 16,700 to 233,000, during the LB&SCR's existence. During the 1860s the LB&SCR began to develop new traffic from the growing number of middle-class commuters who were beginning to live in the south London suburbs and working in central London.

As part of its suburban expansion, the LB&SCR built a line from Peckham Rye roughly parallel to the main line, through East Dulwich, Tulse Hill, Streatham and Mitcham to Sutton and Epsom Downs, which opened in October 1868.

Deterioration of relations with the SER

Relations between the LB&SCR and the SER and the interpretation of the 1848 agreement continued to be difficult throughout the 1850s and 1860s. They reached a low point in 1863 when the SER produced a report for its shareholders outlining a long list of the difficulties between the two companies, and the reasons why they considered that the LB&SCR had broken the 1848 agreement.

The main areas of disagreement listed were at Hastings, allowing the LC&DR to use its lines to Victoria, a proposed LB&SCR branch to Bromley, the new LB&SCR line to Dorking, LB&SCR opposition to the SER attempts at building a line to the west end, the LB&SCR agreement to let the LC&DR use its goods facilities at Bricklayers Arms, and the perennial problem of the shared main line between Redhill and Croydon.

The most flagrant example of the lack of cooperation between the two companies, however, was with respect to the independent Caterham Railway, which ran in South Eastern territory, but joined the Brighton mainline at the LB&SCR Godstone Road station (later renamed Caterham Junction). Both companies objected to the other operating the branch line, which resulted in a delay of a year between the completion of the work and the opening of the line in 1856. Their failure to agree on such matters as through ticketing quickly drove the independent company into bankruptcy. Even after the SER took over running of the branch in 1859, the squabbling and bloody mindedness continued to the great detriment of the passengers. Eventually the matters reached the leader columns of The Times newspaper in 1862 before the companies would negotiate with one another.

The chronic congestion over the shared line between East Croydon railway station and Redhill eased after 1 May 1868 when the route ceased to be on the South Eastern Main Line to Dover following the opening of the 'Sevenoaks cut off' line between St Johns and Tonbridge railway station. A ten-year agreement between the SER and the LB&SCR over the use of the station and lines to Coulsdon was signed 1 February 1869 and renewed ten years later.

1867 financial crisis and its impact

The collapse of the bankers Overend, Gurney and Company in 1866 and the financial crisis the following year brought the LB&SCR to the brink of bankruptcy. A special meeting of shareholders was adjourned, and the powers of the board of directors were suspended pending receipt of a report into the financial affairs of the company and its prospects. The report made clear that the LB&SCR had overextended itself with large capital projects sustained by profits from passengers, which suddenly declined as a result of the crisis. Several country lines were losing money – most notably between Horsham and Guildford, East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells, and Banstead and Epsom – and the LB&SCR was committed to building or acquiring others with equally poor prospects. The report was extremely critical of the policies of Schuster and the company secretary, Frederick Slight, both of whom resigned. It did however point out that these lines had been built or acquired as a means for preventing competition from neighbouring railways. The committee recommended the abandonment of several projects, and that the LB&SCR should enter into a working agreement with the SER.

The new board of directors accepted many of these recommendations, and they managed to persuade Samuel Laing to return as chairman. It was through his business acumen and that of the new secretary and general manager J. P. Knight that the LB&SCR gradually recovered its financial health during the early 1870s.

As a result, all construction of lines was suspended. Three important projects then under construction were abandoned: the Ouse Valley Railway, its extension to St Leonards, and the Surrey and Sussex Junction Railway. The line between Tunbridge Wells and Eastbourne was shelved until the financial situation improved. For the next decade, projects were limited to additional spurs or junctions in London and Brighton to enhance the operation of the network, or small-scale ventures in conjunction with other railway companies. The latter included a short line from Streatham through Tooting to Wimbledon in 1868, and a connection from Portsmouth Town to Portsmouth Harbour in 1876, both jointly with the L&SWR.

The proposed 'working cooperation' with the SER never took effect but remained under active consideration by both parties, and later involved the LC&DR. It was not until 1875 that the idea was dropped, after the SER pulled out of negotiations due to the conditions imposed by Parliament on the proposed merger. The LB&SCR continued as an independent railway but the SER and LCDR eventually formed a working relationship in 1899 with the formation of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway.

One new line to which the LB&SCR was committed was the East London Railway, a consortium of six railway companies: the Great Eastern Railway (GER); the LB&SCR; the LC&DR; the SER; the Metropolitan Railway; and the District Railway. It sought to reuse the Thames Tunnel, built by Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel between 1825 and 1843. A line was therefore built between the LB&SCR at New Cross and Wapping with a link to the GER main line, in March 1869. It was primarily intended for goods transfer between these railways, but the LB&SCR introduced a passenger service between Liverpool Street Station and Croydon.

The Brighton Limited was introduced on 2 October 1898. It ran only on Sundays, and not in July–September. It was timed to make the journey from Victoria in 60 minutes: "London to Brighton in one hour" was the advertisement used for the first time. On 21 December 1902 it made a record run of 54 minutes. It hit the headlines again when, faced with the threat of a competing electric railway being built from London to Brighton, it ran to Brighton in 48 minutes 41 seconds and the return to London in 50 minutes 21 seconds, matching the schedule put forward by the promoters of the electric line. The Southern Belle, introduced 8 November 1908, was described as "the most luxurious train in the World." By 1910 two trips each way were running every day; later three were run on Sundays. Third-class Pullman cars began running on Sunday 12 September 1915 from Victoria to Brighton and Eastbourne.

Stopping trains

Slower passenger services between London and the south coast often divided at East Croydon to serve both the London termini, and combined there for down trains, so East Croydon had an important nodal function in the system. After 1867, following the opening of the direct line to Horsham, Sutton acted as a similar node for passenger trains between London and Portsmouth.

Slip coaches

The LB&SCR appears to have invented the practice of slipping coaches from the rear of express trains at intermediate stations for onward transmission to branch lines or smaller stations on the main line. The earliest recorded example was at Haywards Heath in February 1858, where coaches for Hastings were slipped from a London–Brighton express. The slipping was coordinated by a series of communication bell signals between the guards on the two portions of the train and the locomotive crew.

Before 1914, twenty-one coaches were slipped each day on the Brighton main line. Coaches were slipped at Horley and Three Bridges for stations to East Grinstead, Forest Row and Horsham, or at Haywards Heath for stations to Brighton and Eastbourne. The practice continued until the electrification of the main line in 1932.

London suburban traffic

After 1870, the LB&SCR greatly encouraged commuters into London by reducing the prices of season tickets and introducing special workmen's trains for manual workers in that year. By May 1890 the company was operating 10,773 trains into its London termini each month, more than any other company. This growth changed the character of the railway and had a profound influence upon its motive power policy and passenger train services. In the 1870s and 1880s it led to the building of new standard tank engine classes such as the Terrier and D1 classes under William Stroudley. R. J. Billinton replaced these with the D3, E3, E4, and E5 classes designed for London suburban services, during the 1890s. When steam locomotives became unable to cope with the increased suburban traffic and competition from electric trams in the early 20th century, it resulted in the electrification of the London suburban network.

Excursion and holiday traffic

Excursion trains from London to the South Coast and the Sussex countryside had been introduced in 1844, and were a feature of the LB&SCR throughout its existence. Special fares to Brighton and other south coast resorts on summer Sundays and at bank holidays were regularly advertised in the press. Likewise, special trains serving the regular fetes and exhibitions at Crystal Palace during the summer months.

After 1870 the LB&SCR sought to develop the holiday and excursion trade and market other south coast resorts such as Hayling Island and the Isle of Wight as holiday destinations, by publishing a range of attractive posters. On the Isle of Wight the LB&SCR and the L&SWR jointly took over the ferry service from Portsmouth and built new pier at Ryde with a short line to the station at St John's Road in 1880. During the 1900s the company ran special Sunday trains to enable London cyclists to explore the Sussex and Surrey countryside. By 1905 the railway was offering day trips to Dieppe and circular tickets, valid for a month, to enable Londoners to explore towns along the South Coast.

In 1904 the Great Western Railway inaugurated holiday trains during the summer months from Birkenhead to Brighton and Eastbourne, in conjunction with the LB&SCR. The following year LB&SCR and L&NWR jointly operated the Sunny South Special from Liverpool and Manchester to these destinations. These trains operated via the West London lines, with the LB&SCR responsible for their operation from Kensington or Willesden.

The LB&SCR served important Horse racing tracks at Brighton, Epsom, Gatwick, Goodwood, Lewes, Lingfield and Plumpton, and Portsmouth Park (Farlington). Race day special trains were an important source of revenue during the summer months.

Rail motor services

During the first few years of the 20th century the LB&SCR, in common with other railways, became concerned about losses on branch and short-distance passenger services, particularly in winter. The L&SWR and the LB&SCR boards decided to investigate the use of steam powered railcars on the 1+1⁄4-mile (2 km) joint branch line between Fratton and East Southsea, in June 1903. The locomotive and carriage units were both built by the L&SWR, but one of the carriages was painted in the LB&SCR livery. The two vehicles had to be quickly withdrawn as they were found to be chronically underpowered, but were rebuilt with larger boilers and thereafter gave adequate service. However, their use did not stem the loss of traffic to the roads and in 1914 the branch was closed.

Nevertheless, the LB&SCR directors asked the Chief Mechanical Engineer, Robert Billinton, to investigate the use of steam or petrol railcars on lightly used services. Billinton died in 1904, before examples could be acquired, but in 1905 his successor Douglas Earle Marsh acquired two steam railcars from Beyer, Peacock and Company and two petrol railcars from Dick, Kerr & Co. These were compared with small steam locomotives of the Stroudley A1 and D1 classes fitted for "motor train" or "push-pull" working. Neither type of railcar was successful, being inadequate to cope with traffic fluctuations between winter and summer, but the "motor trains" could be adapted by the addition or removal of extra coaches. As a result, the experiment provided a new lease of life for the Stroudley tank classes, which continued to be used on branch lines for many years after their withdrawal from suburban services. The steam railcars were sold in 1919, and the petrol railcars were used for departmental (non-revenue-earning) purposes during the erection of the catenary for the overhead electrification of the London suburban lines.

During the experiments relating to railcars and motor trains, the LB&SCR constructed unmanned halts, such as Lyons Crossing Halt and Littlehaven Halt on the Arun Valley Line, in an attempt to increase passenger revenue.

Freight services

Freight represented a relatively small part of the LB&SCR's finances during its first half century. Agricultural goods and general merchandise were carried, together with wine, foodstuffs and manufactured goods imported from France. During the 1870s the pattern of goods services slowly began to change, leading to rapid growth in the 1890s, 'caused by the transport of raw materials and finished products of entirely new industries such as petroleum, cement, brick and tile manufacture, forestry and biscuit making.' This resulted in the construction of 55 goods locomotives of the C2 class

There were no coal mines within LB&SCR territory, and so it had to pay substantially more for its fuel than most other companies. The bulk of its coal was brought in 800 long tons (810 t) trains from Acton yard on the Great Western Railway to Three Bridges for redistribution, and the LB&SCR kept two goods locomotives at the GWR Westbourne Park Depot for this purpose. In 1898 there was a scheme to develop Deptford Wharf for the landing of coal by sea. The additional fuel costs were partially offset by the sale of shingle for rail ballast from Pevensey.

The main London goods depot was at 'Willow Walk', part of the Bricklayers Arms complex, where the LB&SCR established its facilities in 1849. These were enlarged in 1854 after it entered into an agreement with the LC&DR to handle its goods traffic. Further extensions were built in 1865 and 1902. There were also freight handling facilities at Battersea and Deptford Wharves, and New Cross in London and the railway constructed a marshalling yard to the south of Norwood Junction during the 1870s, extended in the early 1880s. Other freight handling facilities outside London were at: Brighton (where there was a separate goods station at, adjacent to the passenger station), Eastbourne, Hastings, Littlehampton, Portsmouth, Newhaven, Seaford, and Three Bridges.

Ferry services and ships

The LB&SCR invested in cross-channel ferry services, initially from Shoreham to Dieppe. Following the opening of the line to Newhaven in 1847, it improved Newhaven harbour, building a wharf and dredging the channel. A Newhaven–Dieppe service was established in 1847, but discontinued soon afterwards. In 1850 it established a Newhaven–Jersey ferry service, and in 1853 it reinstated the Dieppe service.

The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (New Lines) Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. lxviii) gave the LB&SCR power to own and operate its own steam vessels, so it instructed Chief Engineer Frederick Banister to greatly expand the port and its facilities. In 1863 the Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest in France agreed to operate the Newhaven–Dieppe passenger service jointly, advertised as the "shortest and cheapest" route to Paris, but never the quickest because of the much longer time taken at sea than the rival Dover to Calais route. (Newhaven harbour was taken over by the military authorities and the ferries requisitioned for the duration of the First World War.)

In 1863, the LB&SCR transferred the Jersey service to Littlehampton and soon afterwards established another between Littlehampton and Honfleur.

By 1880 lines connected the Ryde Pier and the Portsmouth Harbour ferry terminals. It was therefore a natural progression for the companies to acquire the ferry routes. To do this the LB&SCR and the L&SWR formed the South Western and Brighton Railway Companies Steam Packet Service (SW&BRCSPS), which bought the operators.

In 1884 the Isle of Wight Marine Transit Company started a goods rail ferry between the Hayling Island Branch Line at Langstone and the Bembridge branch line at St Helens quay. The rail ferry PS Carrier, designed to carry railway trucks, was moved from Scotland. The project was unsuccessful and, despite being acquired by the LB&SCR in 1886, ended in 1888.

The LB&SCR operated a significant number of ships in its own right, jointly with Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest, and as a part of the SW&BRCSPS.

On 21 August 1854, there was an accident at East Croydon, Surrey due to numerous causes, resulting in three fatalities and eleven injured.

On 3 October 1859, the boiler of a locomotive exploded at Falmer Incline.

On 25 August 1861, in the accident known as the Clayton Tunnel rail crash, an excursion train ran into the rear of another inside Clayton Tunnel, West Sussex due to a combination of the failure of an automatic signal to return to 'danger' and culpable operating errors. At the time, this was the deadliest accident up to that time in the United Kingdom with 23 people killed and 176 people injured.

On 29 May 1863, there was a derailment at Streatham Common, Surrey. Four people (including the driver) were killed 59 people were injured.

On 23 June 1869, two trains collided at New Cross Gate, Surrey due to driver error, excessive speed and guard error, injuring 91 people.

On 27 September 1879, the boiler of a locomotive exploded at Lewes, East Sussex. One person was killed and two were injured.

On 1 May 1891, in the accident known as the Norwood Junction rail accident, a cast-iron bridge collapsed under a train at Norwood Junction, Surrey. Six people were injured.

On 23 July 1894, a brake van next to the engine hauling the 6.35pm from Havant derailed at Farlington Halt railway station and the first two coaches overturned. The guard on the train was killed and seven passengers were injured.

On 1 September 1897, a passenger train derailed near Heathfield, East Sussex. One person was killed.

On 23 December 1899, a Brighton train passed a signal at danger and ran into the back of a boat train express in thick fog at Keymer Junction, West Sussex. There were six fatalities and 20 injured.

In 1904, a freight train hauled by D1 class No. 239 Patcham was derailed at Cocking, West Sussex.

On 29 January 1910, an express passenger train became divided and was derailed at Stoat's Nest, Surrey due to a defective wheelset on a carriage. Seven people were killed and 65 were injured.

On 21 October 1913, seven labourers were working a night shift at London Bridge station, scraping and cleaning the cradles and insulator fittings of the overhead line equipment. The wire brush of one of the men, labourer Amos Boniface, touched one of the electrical wires and he suffered severe burns. Boniface died 19 days later from his injuries.

On 3 April 1916, a passenger train was derailed between Crowborough & Jarvis Brook and Buxted stations, East Sussex.

On 18 April 1918, a freight train became divided, the rear part coming to rest inside Redhill Tunnel, Surrey. Due to a signalman's error, another freight train ran into the wagons and was derailed. A third freight train ran into the wreckage.

Signalling and signal boxes

The LB&SCR originally used semaphore for home signals and 'double disc' for distant signals, but after 1872 semaphore signals were used for both purposes.

The LB&SCR was using primitive interlocking between signals at some junctions by 1844. In 1856, John Saxby, an LB&SCR carpenter, patented a form of manual interlocking of the points and signals, first tried at Bricklayers Arms that year. The first fully interlocking frame was installed by Saxby at Keymer Junction near Haywards Heath in 1860, where he built a small workshop to undertake private work. He left the company and in 1862 formed Saxby & Farmer signalling contractors. Thereafter the LB&SC patronised Saxby & Farmer for most of its signalling until circa 1880. Thereafter it adopted the Sykes 'Lock and block' system used on the LC&DR.

The LB&SCR inherited the world's first signal boxes, at Bricklayers Arms Junction and Brighton Junction (Norwood). After 1880 it gradually developed its own architecture for signal boxes, using home-produced and contractor-built frames. J. E. Annett, the inventor of Annett's key in 1875, a portable form of interlocking, was a former LB&SCR employee.

During the remodelling of London Victoria station between 1898 and 1908 it was resignalled using the Sykes electromechanical method for controlling points and signals, allowing for more compact signal boxes.