(mis)Management of the London & South Western Railway - a case study

And many think the DfT are bad!!!!

Fascinating thesis written on the history of the LSWR from 1870-1911. I have only skimmed it, but the conclusions are damning! How did Britain ever manage itself, let alone an empire?

Managing the “Royal Road”: The London & South Western
Railway 1870 - 1911
David Anthony Turner

It includes some wonderful stuff about how Waterloo came to take over the Somerset & Dorset with the Midland in a bid to keep the GWR in its (proper) place.

http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/4941/1/Thesis - David Tuner - PhD - For binders.pdf

Abstract
There has been considerable scholarship over the last fifty years on the causes o f the late - nineteenth and early - twentieth century British railway industry’s declining profitability. Nonetheless , scholars have largely avoided studying how individual companie s ’ were managed, instead making general conclusions about the challenges industry leaders faced and the quality of their responses.

This thesis examines the management of one of the British railway industry’s large st companies, the Lo ndon and South Western Railway (LSWR) , during the tenures of three of its G eneral Managers: A rchibald Scott, who was in the post between 1870 and 1884, Charles Scotter, who succeeded him from 1885 to 1897, and Charles Owens , who held th e position between 1898 and 1911.

Compared with other major British railways the LSWR ’s profitability ranged from being poor under Scott, to excellent under Scotter and then average under Owens. This thesis will explore what internal and external factors c aused these changes . Furthermore, it considers how the business’ organisational form, senior managers’ career paths and directors’ external business interests all played a role in shaping the company’ s operational efficiency and financial performance.

Ultimately, the thesis will argue that while external factors were a n influence on the LSWR ’s profitability between 1870 and 1911 , primarily its financial performance was determined by the quality of the strategies and policies enacted by its directors and man agers. Ultimately, t his thesis brings clarity to the existing debates and, by using the LSWR as a case study, provides important suggestions as to what actually caused the British railway industry’s declining pro fitability between 1870 and 1911 .

An interesting thing I once read (can't remember where) was that the directors of the LSWR all lived in a row of villas on the south side of the tracks at Surbiton. I am guessing that it might have been in the street called South Terrace, which has some likely looking houses.

Not just the LSWR,but the other companies absorbed into the Southern. The rivalry between Edward Watkin of the South Eastern and James Statt Forbes of the Chatham & Dover, meant that most towns in Kent and East Sussex had at least two stations.

The plan to construct a Solent tunnel linking the Lymington and Freshwater branches did not go ahead in part due to perceived competition between the tunnel and the ferries to Ryde, finally declared "financially unviable"

Meanwhile, the LSWR had built the Meon Valley line from Alton to Farnham, partly strategic, as the GWR had already reached both Winchester and Basingstoke, the LSWR wanted to block any attempt for the GWR to reach Southampton. This line was built at great expense, including substantial earthworks, for double track and platforms long enough to accomadate express trains. when open, the line was only served by stopping trains and was single. Meanwhile the residents of Gosport for whom the line was intended had already worked out that a ferry journey to Portsmouth and an express to London was much faster.

The Meon Valley line was most useful during WW2, it is said that Winston Churchill and other Allied leaders planned D-day in part in a coach at Droxford station, postwar, the expense of maintaining it meant it soon was closed in 1955, although two stubs at either end survived for a while afterwards

The principal thing that drove and financed the railways of the 19th century was heavy freight. The LSWR had very little compared to others. Passenger trade was often just an add-on. The docks at Southampton, LSWR owned, were not significant for freight until the 20th Century.

The S&D joint purchase was not such a basket-case as is often portrayed, for it allowed coal (domestic, gasworks, later electricity generation) to come from the north via the Midland without the GWR getting their hands on it, and thus allowed its distribution to a wide area of the LSWR from Hampshire westwards. Not for nothing was the S&D double track north of Templecombe, but single south of there. Much of the northern coal turned east or west there along the LSWR main.

Dr David Turner, author of the LSWR thesis, is Associate Lecturer in Railway Studies at the University of York. He runs a two year Postgraduate Diploma distance learning course in railway history which I have just completed and is absolutely fascinating. He is one of the very few specialist academic railway historians in the UK. He is an inspiring tutor and anyone interested in formally studying railway history may wish to think about this course (which is being converted into a three year Masters course as from this year), although it is quite hard work and will only appeal to those who want to study at postgraduate level.

His thesis is indeed a good read and a good example of academic railway history (which rarely seems to get a mention on the forums as it is very much a niche area). For anyone interested in academic railway history (as opposed to the enthusiast variety) there are plenty of books and articles to read, many of them decades old as transport history has fallen out of favour in academic circles. I may start a thread on the topic as it deserves a wider audience.

Here is a link to the Railway Studies MA : https://www.york.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/courses/ma-railway-studies/

Here is David Turner's website / blog : https://davidturnerrailway.wordpress.com/

I almost ended up doing a PhD in railway history a few years back, but turned back to electronic engineering because I was offered funding.

In terms of academic railway history books, my starting point is Jack Simmons' "The Railway in England and Wales 1830–1914". Any recommendations on other reads? (My interest is mainly in nineteenth century Welsh railways.)

Jack Simmons' work is excellent and highly readable. Other books highly recommended are : PW Kingsford's "Victorian Railwaymen" which analyses recruitment / discipline / wages / working hours / paternalism etc between 1830 and 1870. David Turnock's "A Historical Geography of Railways in Great Britain and Ireland". RJ Irving's "The North Eastern Railway Company 1870-1914, which gives a great insight into the dynamics of managing a pre - grouping company. JR Kellett "The Impact of the Railways on Victorian Cities" which is fascinating.

I'll offer some twentieth centrury recommendations later. Most of these works have long been out of print but can usually be picked up second hand.