Private company

Southern Railway

Logo: Southern Railway (UK), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons³

British 'Big Four' railway company (1923–1947)

The Southern Railway (sometimes shortened to SR or Southern) was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South Coast resorts and Kent. The railway was formed by the amalgamation of several smaller railway companies, the largest of which were the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR).² It ceased to exist in 1949.¹ Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

Jan 1, 1923Founded¹

HeadquartersLondon Waterloo station¹

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Ostend-Cologne-Pullman, 1931, Southern — Photo: unbekannt, unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons⁵

The Southern Railway (sometimes shortened to SR or Southern) was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South Coast resorts and Kent. The railway was formed by the amalgamation of several smaller railway companies, the largest of which were the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR). The construction of what was to become the Southern Railway began in 1838 with the opening of the London and Southampton Railway, which was renamed the LSWR.²

Corporate structure

Southern Railway sits at the top of its group. 1 entity, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Southern Railway London Waterloo station
- LB&SCR A1 class 69 “Peckham” Owned · Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
- LB&SCR A1 class 75 “Blackwall” Owned · Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
- LB&SCR A1 class 84 “Crowborough” Owned · Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
- SS Dieppe Owned

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Southern Railway reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

LB&SCR A1 class 69 “Peckham”
LB&SCR A1 class 75 “Blackwall”
LB&SCR A1 class 84 “Crowborough”
SS Dieppe

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.¹

The story

Constituent companies and formation in 1923

Four important railway companies operated along the south coast of England prior to 1923 – the LSWR, the LB&SCR, the South Eastern Railway (SER) and the London Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR). These companies were amalgamated, together with several small independently operated lines and non-working companies, to form the Southern Railway in 1923, which operated 2,186 miles (3,518 km) of railway. The new railway also partly owned several joint lines, notably the East London Railway, the West London Extension Joint Railway, the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway and the Weymouth and Portland Railway.

The first main line railway in southern England was the London and Southampton Railway, which completed its line in May 1840. It was quickly followed by the London and Brighton Railway (September 1841), and the SER in February 1844. The LSWR branched out to destinations including Portsmouth, Salisbury, and later Exeter and Plymouth. It grew to be the largest of the four constituent companies. The LB&SCR was a smaller railway than its LSWR neighbour, serving the port of Newhaven and several popular holiday resorts on the south coast and operating much of the south London suburban network. It had been almost bankrupt in 1867, but, during the last twenty-five years of its existence, it had been well-managed and profitable. It had begun to electrify routes around London (using an overhead line system) from 1909 to compete with the new electric trams that were taking away some of its traffic. Finally, the SE&CR had been created after years of wasteful and damaging competition between the two companies involved, with duplication of routes and services. Both companies had been unpopular with the travelling public, operating poorly maintained vehicles and infrastructure. Nevertheless, real progress had been made in rectifying this during the period 1899–1922.

The formation of the Southern Railway was rooted in the outbreak of the First World War, when all British railway companies were taken into government control. Many members of staff joined the armed forces and it was not possible to build and maintain equipment at peacetime levels. After the war. the government considered permanent nationalisation, but instead decided on a compulsory amalgamation of the railways into four large groups through the Railways Act 1921, known as the Grouping. The resultant amalgamation of the four south coast railways to form the Southern Railway meant that several duplicate routes and management structures were inherited. The LSWR had most influence on the new company, although genuine attempts were made to integrate the services and staff after 1923. The rationalisation of the system led to the downgrading of some routes in favour of more direct lines to the channel ports and the creation of a co-ordinated, but not necessarily centralised, form of management, based at the former LSWR headquarters at London Waterloo.

In addition to its railway operations, the Southern Railway inherited several important ports and harbours on the south coast, including Southampton, Newhaven and Folkestone. It also ran services to the harbours at Portsmouth, Dover and Plymouth. These handled ocean-going and cross-channel passenger traffic and the size of the railway-owned installations reflected the prosperity that the industry generated. This source of traffic, together with the density of population served in the London suburbs, ensured that the Southern would be a predominantly passenger-orientated railway.

Electrification

In 1923, the Southern Railway took over 24+1⁄2 route miles (39.4 km) of railway electrified with overhead line at 6.7 kV, 57 route miles (92 km) of railway electrified with a third rail at 660V DC, and the 1+1⁄2-mile (2.4 km)-long underground Waterloo & City Railway. The route mileage of third rail electrification was to more than double in 1925 when the current was switched on on the routes to Guildford, Dorking and Effingham Junction and the route from London Victoria and Holborn Viaduct to Orpington via Herne Hill and the Catford Loop. In 1926, electric trains started to run on the South Eastern Main Line route to Orpington and the three lines to Dartford using the 3rd rail system. On 9 August 1926, the Southern announced that the DC system was to replace the AC system; the last AC train ran on 29 September 1929. Including the London Bridge to East Croydon route, electrified in 1928, by the end of 1929, the Southern operated over 277+1⁄2 route miles (446.6 km) of third rail electrified track and, in that year, ran 17.8 million electric train miles.

One new electrified line was built, the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway, being opened in 1929-30. Most of the area immediately south of London was converted, together with the long-distance lines to Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings (via the LBSCR line), Guildford, Portsmouth Harbour and Reading Southern, between 1931 and 1939. On the former SE&CR routes, the lines to Sevenoaks and Maidstone East were electrified by 1939. The routes to the Kent coast were next in line for electrification and would have been followed by the Southampton Central/Bournemouth route. The Second World War delayed these plans until the late 1950s and 1967 respectively. Although not in the Southern's original plans, electrification was extended from Bournemouth to Weymouth in 1988.

Economic crisis of the 1930s

The post-Wall Street crash affected South Eastern England far less than other areas. The investment the company had already made in modernising the commuter network ensured that the Southern Railway remained in good financial health relative to the other railway companies despite the Depression. However, any available funds were devoted to electrification programme, and this marked the end of the first period under the CME, Richard Maunsell, when the Southern Railway led the field in steam locomotive design. The lack of funds affected the development of new, standardised motive power, and it would take until the Second World War for the Southern Railway to take the initiative in steam locomotive design once again.

Second World War

During the Second World War, the Southern Railway's proximity to the Channel ports meant that it became vital to the Allied war effort. Holidaymakers using the lines to the Channel ports and the West Country were replaced by troops and military supplies, especially with the threat of a German invasion of the south coast in 1940. Before hostilities, 75% of traffic was passenger, compared with 25% freight; during the war roughly the same number of passengers was carried, but freight grew to 60% of total traffic. A desperate shortage of freight locomotives was remedied by the CME, Oliver Bulleid, who designed a fleet of 40 Q1 class locomotives to handle the high volumes of military traffic. The volume of military freight and soldiers moved by a primarily commuter and holidaymaker carrying railway was a breathtaking feat.

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When the threat of invasion receded, the Southern Railway again became vital for the movement of troops and supplies preparing for the invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord. This came at a cost, as the Southern Railway's location around London and the Channel ports meant that it was subjected to heavy bombing, whilst permanent way, locomotive, carriage and wagon maintenance was deferred until peacetime.

Nationalisation

After a period of slow recovery in the late 1940s, the war-devastated company was nationalised along with the rest of the railway network in 1948 and incorporated into British Railways. The Southern Railway retained a separate identity as the Southern Region of British Railways. The Southern Railway Company continued to exist as a legal entity until it went into voluntary liquidation on 10 June 1949, having satisfied the requirements of sections 12, 13 and 24 of the Transport Act 1947 to ensure that all assets had been transferred to the British Transport Commission or otherwise properly distributed. Many lines in London and Kent had been damaged during the war and much rolling stock was either damaged or in need of replacement. Just prior to nationalisation, the Southern Railway had started a vigorous renewal programme and this was continued throughout the early 1950s.

Revival in the privatised network

The former LB&SCR routes to south London, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, from Victoria and London Bridge, are now served by the current Southern. It was branded Southern on 30 May 2004, recalling the pre-nationalisation Southern Railway, with a green roundel logo with Southern written in yellow on a green bar. Southern is a subsidiary of Greater Thameslink Railway (GTR); prior to its renationalisation in 2026, GTR was a subsidiary of Govia, which was a joint venture between the British Go-Ahead Group (65%) and French company Keolis (35%).

Accidents and incidents

On 10 January 1923, shunter Frederick Harmer was at work at Three Bridges, Sussex, when he slipped from boarding that was covering signal wires. Harmer fell onto the buffer of a wagon and was crushed fatally.

On 5 November 1926, a milk tank train became divided near Bramshott Halt, Hampshire. The train crew failed to inform the signalman or protect its rear in the belief that the issue could be resolved quickly. A passenger train was in a rear-end collision with it. One person was killed.

In March 1927, a train was derailed at Wrotham, Kent.

In August 1927, a passenger train was derailed at Bearsted, Kent.

On 24 August 1927, the Sevenoaks railway accident occurred when a passenger train was derailed, due to a combination of the locomotive's design and the condition of the track. Thirteen people were killed and 21 were injured.

On 4 September 1934, two freight trains collided at Hither Green, London.

On 25 May 1933, a passenger train was derailed at Raynes Park, London, coming to rest foul of an adjacent line. Another passenger train was in a sidelong collision with it. Five people were killed and 35 were injured. The accident was caused by a failure to implement a speed restriction on a section of track that was under maintenance.

On 2 April 1937, the Battersea Park rail crash occurred when an EMU crashed into the rear of another at Battersea Park, London, due to a signalman's error. Ten people were killed and eighty were injured, seven seriously.

On 28 June 1937, a passenger train overran signals at Swanley Junction, Kent, and was diverted into a siding where it crashed into an electricity substation. Four people were killed. The train was not booked to stop at Swanley, but arrangements had been made for it to do so. However, the driver of the train had not been informed of these arrangements.

In 1937, a boat train caught fire at Winchester, Hampshire, due to an electrical fault in one of the carriages. Four carriages were destroyed.

On 14 August 1940, a passenger train was derailed at St. Denys, Hampshire, due to enemy action. A bomb fell on the line in front of the train, which was unable to stop in time.

On 11 May 1941, London Cannon Street was bombed in a Luftwaffe air raid. At least one locomotive was severely damaged.

On 17 July 1946, a light engine collided with a passenger train at London Victoria. Several people were injured.

In the summer of 1946, a freight train overran signals and was derailed by trap points at Wallers Ash, Hampshire.

On 21 January 1947, an empty stock train was in a rear-end collision with an EMU at South Bermondsey, London.

On 24 October 1947, an EMU was in collision with another at South Croydon Junction, due to a signalman's error. In the deadliest accident to occur on the Southern Railway, 32 people were killed and 183 were injured.

On 26 November 1947, a passenger train was in a rear-end collision with another at Farnborough, Hampshire, due to a signalman's error. Two people were killed.

From Wikipedia’s article on Southern Railway (UK), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Leadership

Who has led Southern Railway, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Chair

Robert Martin Holland-Martin1935–1944

197019801990200020102020

ChairRobert Martin Holland-Martin 1935 to Jan 27, 1944¹

Products and brands

Key locations

The headquarters of the Southern was in the former LSWR offices at Waterloo station and there were six other London termini at Blackfriars, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Holborn Viaduct, Victoria and London Bridge. The last of these also held the headquarters of the Eastern and Central divisions. Other major terminal stations were at Dover Western Docks, Brighton and Southampton Terminus. The railway also had one of Europe's busiest stations at Clapham Junction.

Locomotives were constructed and maintained at works inherited from constituent companies at Eastleigh, Ashford and Brighton. The largest was Eastleigh, which was built by the LSWR in 1909 to replace the cramped Nine Elms Locomotive Works in south London. Brighton had been constructing locomotives since 1852 for the LB&SCR, and built 104 of 110 Bulleid Light Pacifics between 1945 and 1951. Ashford was inherited from the SE&CR and had been built in 1847; it was the works that constructed half of the SR Q1 class. Ashford completed its final locomotive in March 1944, a War Department Stanier 8F 2-8-0 number 8764.

Carriage works had also been inherited at Eastleigh and Lancing, which had been built in 1912 for the LBSCR. During the Second World War, both were turned over to wartime production such as Horsa and Hamilcar gliders. Wagon workshops were situated at Ashford and Eastleigh.

A concrete works near Exmouth Junction locomotive shed made platform seats, fencing and station lamp posts; the power station was at Durnsford Road, in Wimbledon.

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Operations

The running of the Southern was undertaken by the Board of Directors; the first chairman of which was Sir Hugh Drummond, who was appointed to the post in 1923. There were originally three general managers representing the interests of the three pre-Grouping railway companies: Sir Herbert Walker, Percy Tempest and William Forbes, although Walker was the sole occupant in the post within a year. The position of CME of the Southern Railway was given to a former employee of the SE&CR, Richard Maunsell. For ease of administration, the lines inherited in 1923 were divided into three geographical sections with a traffic department for each, which were loosely based upon the areas covered by the amalgamated companies:

The Western section (former LSWR routes) included the South West Main Line, the Portsmouth Direct Line, one quarter of the West Coastway Line and the West of England Main Line, both serving destinations popular with holidaymakers. It stretched into Devon and Cornwall, as the line ran via Exeter, Okehampton and Plymouth, and this circuitous route was known derisively as the Southern Railway's "Withered Arm" because the GWR had a stronger presence in this region.

The Central section (former LB&SCR routes) included the Brighton Main Line, the East Coastway Line, three-quarters of the West Coastway Line, the Arun Valley Line and the Sutton & Mole Valley Lines.

The Eastern section (former SE&CR routes) included the South Eastern Main Line, the Chatham Main Line, the Hastings Line, the Kent Coast Line and the North Downs Line.

Operational and Commercial aspects of railway operation were brought under the control of traffic managers, relieving the general manager of many tasks, allowing him to make policy decisions. Specialised superintendents served under the traffic manager, breaking down the task of operating their respective sections. As such, the Southern Railway operated a hybrid system of centralised and decentralised management.

Passenger operations

Pullman services

Pullman services were the premier trains of the Southern, reflecting the pride felt towards the railway. These luxury services included several boat trains such as the Golden Arrow, the Cunarder, the Night Ferry and the Brighton Belle on the Central section; the Bournemouth Belle and Devon Belle operated on the Western section.

The Golden Arrow was the best-known train of the Southern Railway, and was introduced on 15 May 1929. The train consisted of Pullmans and luggage vans, linking London Victoria to Dover, with transfer to the French equivalent at Calais. The Brighton Belle, which had its origins in 1881 with the Pullman Limited of the LB&SCR, which renamed the service the Southern Belle in 1908. The train was steam-hauled until 1933 when EMUs were introduced after the electrification of the Brighton Main Line. On 29 June 1934, the train was renamed the Brighton Belle and continued until its withdrawal in 1972.

The SE&CR had introduced a Pullman train called the Thanet Pullman Limited from Victoria to Margate in 1921. The service was not a success and ceased to run in 1928; however, it was reintroduced by British Railways as the Thanet Belle in 1948.

Titled trains

Amongst the ordinary services, the Southern Railway also operated famous titled express trains such as the Atlantic Coast Express (ACE). With a large variety of holiday destinations including Bude, Exmouth, Ilfracombe, Padstow, Plymouth, Seaton, Sidmouth and Torrington, the 11 o'clock ACE from Waterloo, as the Atlantic Coast Express became known, was the most multi-portioned train in the UK from its introduction in 1926. This was due to sections of the train splitting at selected junctions for onward journey to their final destinations in the West Country. Padstow, in Cornwall, was the westernmost point of the Southern Railway, and marked the end or beginning of the ACE, which was the longest timetabled journey on the network.

The importance of the destination dictated the motive power selected to haul each portion to their final destinations. Through carriages to east Devon and north Cornwall were invariably hauled by diminutive Drummond M7 tank locomotives and, from 1952, BR Standard Class 3 2-6-2Ts; the rest of the train continued behind a Bulleid Light Pacific to Plymouth. The final ACE was hauled on 5 September 1964 when the Western Section of the former Southern Railway network was absorbed into the Western Region of British Railways.

Commuter services

Inner London suburban services were fully electrified by 1929 and worked by EMUs of varying lengths according to demand, which had the advantage of rapid acceleration and braking. The railway then began a successful programme to electrify its most heavily used main lines, building up a substantial commuter traffic from towns such as Guildford, Brighton and Eastbourne.

Other passenger services

The remainder of passenger operations were non-Pullman, reflecting the ordinary business of running a passenger railway. West Country services were dominated by lucrative summer holiday traffic and passengers wishing to travel to the Isle of Wight and further afield. In winter months, the western extremity of the Southern Railway network saw very little local use, as the railway served sparsely populated communities. Competition with the GWR also diluted passenger traffic within this area, as this carried the bulk of passengers to the major urban centres of the West Country. Steam-hauled passenger services in the east of the network were gradually replaced with electric traction, especially around London's suburbs.

Passenger services on secondary routes were given motive power that befitted the lacklustre nature of the duty, with elderly locomotives used to provide a local service that fed into the major main line stations such as Basingstoke. The use of elderly locomotives and stock was invariably a financial consideration, intended to prolong the life of locomotives that would otherwise be scrapped. In some cases, the route was such that some of the newer classes were precluded from operating because of restrictions in loading gauge; the Lyme Regis branch from Axminster is an example.

The Southern Railway also operated push-pull trains of up to two carriages in commuter areas. Push-pull operations did not need the time-consuming use of a turntable or run-around at the end of a suburban branch line, and enabled the driver to use a cab in the end coach to drive the locomotive in reverse. Such operations were similar to the autotrains, with a Drummond M7 providing the motive power.

Freight operations

Passenger traffic was the main source of revenue for the Southern Railway throughout its existence, although goods were also carried in separate trains. Goods such as milk and cattle from the agricultural areas of the West Country provided a regular source of freight traffic, whilst imports from the south coast ports also required carriage by rail to freight terminals such as the large Bricklayers Arms facility. The railway operated three large marshalling yards for freight on the outskirts of South London, at Feltham, Norwood and Hither Green, where freight could be sorted for onward travel to their final destinations. It also handled a large volume of cross-London freight from these to other yards north of the river, via the West London and East London Lines, which were owned jointly by the Southern Railway.

As locomotives increased in size, so did the length of goods trains, from 40 to as many as 100 four-wheeled wagons; the gradient of the line and the braking capabilities of the locomotive often limited this. The vacuum brake, which was standard equipment on passenger trains, was gradually fitted to ordinary goods wagons, allowing vacuum-fitted trains to run faster than 40 miles per hour (64 km/h). While typical goods wagons could carry eight, ten or (later) 12 tons, the load placed into a wagon could be as little as one ton, as the railway was designated as a common carrier that could not choose what goods it could carry.

Ancillary operations

The Southern Railway inherited a range of railway-related activities from its constituent companies, which it continued to develop until nationalisation in 1948. These activities included several ports, a fleet of ships, road services (both freight and passenger) and several hotels. These ancillary operations provided extra revenue for the railway at a time when railways were classified as a common carrier by the Railway Regulation Act 1844, and could not compete with road with regards to pricing. This was because railways were obliged to advertise their rates of carriage at stations, which could subsequently be undercut by road haulage companies. The Southern Railway also invested in an air service during the 1930s, which supplemented the popular sea crossings to the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands.

Shipping

The Southern inherited docks at Southampton, Newhaven, Plymouth, Folkestone, Dover, Littlehampton, Whitstable, Strood, Rye, Queenborough, Port Victoria and Padstow. The Southern continued to invest heavily in these facilities, and Southampton overtook Liverpool as Britain's main port for trans-Atlantic liners. The Southern inherited 38 large turbine or other steamers and other vessels branded under Channel Packet, the maritime arm of the railway, all of which passed under British Railways' control after nationalisation in 1948.

Ships

The Southern inherited ships from its constituent companies, some of which were converted to car ferries when this mode of transport became more common. Such conversions were needed on the French routes, where holidays by car were beginning to become popular. Services to the Channel Islands began in 1924, along with services to Brittany in 1933 and finally Normandy commencing just prior to nationalisation in 1947.

ex-LSWR ships:

SS Alberta, SS Ardena, SS Brittany, SS Caesarea, SS Cherbourg, SS Hantonia, SS Laura, SS Lorina, SS Normannia, SS Princess Ena, SS Vera.

ex-LB&SC ships:

SS Arundel, SS Brighton, SS Dieppe, SS La France, SS Newhaven, SS Paris, SS Rouen, SS Versailles.

ex-SE&CR ships:

SS Biarritz, SS Canterbury, SS Empress,SS Engadine, SS Invicta, SS Maid of Orleans, SS Riviera, SS Victoria.

ex-LB&SC/LSWR joint ships:

PS Duchess of Albany, PS Duchess of Kent, PS Duchess of Fife, PS Duchess of Norfolk, PS Princess Margaret.

Ships built for the SR:

SS Arromanches, SS Autocarrier, SS Brighton, SS Brittany, TSS Canterbury, SS Deal, SS Dinard, TSS Falaise, SS Fratton, PS Freshwater, SS Hampton Ferry, SS Haslemere, SS Hythe, SS Invicta, SS Isle of Guernsey, SS Isle of Jersey, SS Isle of Sark, SS Isle of Thanet, SS Londres, SS Maid of Kent, SS Maidstone, PS Merstone, SS Minster, PS Portsdown, SS Ringwood, PS Ryde, PS Sandown, SS Shepperton Ferry, PS Shanklin, PS Southsea, SS St Briac, SS Tonbridge, SS Twickenham Ferry, SS Worthing, PS Whippingham, SS Whitstable.

Ships managed by SR:

During and after the Second World War, Southern managed ships for the Ministry of War Transport: Empire Alde.

Hotels, road transport and air transport

Ten large hotels were owned by the company, at the London termini and at the coast. The Charing Cross Hotel, designed by Edward Middleton Barry, opened on 15 May 1865 and gave the station an ornate frontage in the French Renaissance style. At Cannon Street, an Italianate-style hotel was constructed in 1867, designed by Barry. This provided much of the station's passenger facilities as well as an impressive architectural frontispiece to the street prior to demolition in 1960. London Bridge station boasted the Terminus hotel of 1861, which was turned into offices for the LBSCR in 1892, and was destroyed by bombing in 1941. Victoria station had the 300-bedroom Grosvenor hotel, which was rebuilt in 1908. Other hotels were to be found at Southampton and other port locations connected to the railway.

From 1929, the Southern Railway invested in bus companies providing feeder services to its trains. The brand names Southern National and Southern Vectis have long outlived the railway company they originally served.

The Southern Railway also undertook freight transfer by road, owning a fleet of goods vehicles providing a door-to-door delivery service. This was especially useful for bulky items that required delivery to areas not immediately served by a railway. Conflat-type wagons were used to carry containers by rail to a destination close to the delivery address, where they would be transferred by crane onto the trailer of a vehicle for onward travel by road.

In conjunction with other Big Four companies, the Southern Railway also invested in providing air services for passengers, notably to the Channel Islands and Isle of Wight, which complemented the shipping operations. Such operations provided the chance to take revenue from non-railway passengers, and enabled fast air-freight services between the islands and the mainland. However, this operation was disrupted during the Second World War, due to the occupation of the Channel Islands and the rationing of aviation fuel.

In 1937, the Southern Railway was involved in a scheme to build a new airport at Lullingstone, Kent, holding an option to purchase the land that the airport was to be built on. Parliamentary approval was obtained to construct a short branch line from Lullingstone to the airport. At their 1938 Annual General Meeting, it was stated that the opinion of the company was that the cost of building the airport meant that there would not be sufficient return to justify the expenditure. The option to purchase the land subsequently lapsed.