South Eastern and Chatham Railway

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English

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The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),<ref name=awdry199>Awdry (1990), page 199</ref> known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eastern Railway (SER) and London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR), which operated between London and south-east England. Between 1899 and 1923, the SE&CR had a monopoly of railway services in Kent and to the main Channel ports for ferries to France and Belgium.

The companies had competed extensively, with some of the bitterest conflicts between British railway companies. Competing routes to the same destinations were built, so several towns in Kent had been served with a similar frequency service by both companies. In places, unfettered competition allowed two stations and services to multiple London termini.

It would be a constituent of the Southern Railway as part of the 1923 Grouping.

File:Kent Railways.svg
Railway lines in Kent, showing most of the SE&CR network

Formation

By the end of the 19th century, the SER and LC&DR had fought over a small and not particularly lucrative territory for 40 years. Both were notorious for the poor punctuality of their services and the decrepitude of their rolling stock, and the struggles had driven both companies to the verge of bankruptcy. It became inevitable that they must combine or succumb.

The SE&CR was formed on 1 January 1899, when the SER and LC&DR formed a "management committee" comprising the directors of both companies. This merged the two companies' operations, although they remained legally separate, with receipts split 59% to SER and 41% LC&DR until the Grouping, to avoid the costs and risks of a formal merger.

Template:Infobox UK legislation On 5 August 1899 the Template:Visible anchor (62 & 63 Vict. c. clxviii) was passed.

Integration

File:65 SECR O1 class 2.jpg
A SECR O1 Class (rebuilt from SER O class) Template:Whyte, originally built in 1896

The SE&CR began connecting the two networks and new services were introduced, reaping the benefits of joint working. A significant step was the construction of a junction in 1902-4 between the SER and LC&DR main lines where they crossed near Bickley and St Mary Cray, east of Bromley; the LC&DR's line via Maidstone to Ashford was connected to the SER station at Ashford; and the SER branch from Strood to Chatham alongside the LC&DR's main line to Chatham was closed prior to World War I. The overlapping networks on the Isle of Thanet (Margate-Broadstairs-Ramsgate) were rationalised by the Southern Railway. Service cuts under BR saw Gravesend lose its second station.

Further development

File:SECR 1912 from A&C Black.jpg
A 1912 map of the SE&CR network

After the formation of the SE&CR, three minor lines were built before the formation of the Southern Railway in 1923. They were:

Accidents and incidents

File:St Johns train crash 1898.jpg
Damaged carriages from the St Johns 1898 train crash.

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  • On 11 March 1913, a passenger train failed to stop at Template:Rws station, Kent and crashed into a van, which was pushed through the buffers. The accident was caused by the failure to connect the brake pipe between the locomotive and its train. Ten people were injured.<ref name=Earnshaw7/>
  • On 5 May 1919, a freight train overran signals and was in collision with a freight train that was being shunted at Template:Rws, Kent. One person was killed.<ref name=Earnshaw8>Template:Cite book</ref>

SE&CR locomotives

File:South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) P Class number 323 (14280386613).jpg
South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) P Class No. 323

The LC&DR's works at Longhedge, Battersea closed in 1911 and production was concentrated at Ashford. Harry Wainwright was replaced by Richard Maunsell as Locomotive Superintendent in 1913.

Electrification

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} With the development and implementation of electrification by the L&SWR, the LB&SCR, the "Tube" companies and tram operators in the early twentieth century, the SE&CR planned to start electrifying its lines. The proposed method would have used four rails, with one of the two additional rails energised at +1500 V DC and the other at −1500 V DC. Current would have been collected by side-contact, with the conductor rails protected by wooden boarding on top and at the sides. Trains would have consisted of multiple-units, each including two motor coaches, each motor coach having two traction motors: one motor coach would have been supplied by the positive conductor rail, the other by the negative.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This very high voltage for rail track level systems was used in Britain only on the L&YR's 1200 V DC side-contact third-rail line from Manchester Victoria to Bury. Grouping in 1923 led to the Southern Railway adopting the L&SWR's standard of 660 V DC third rail on the SE&CR's network.

Notable people

Ships

The SE&CR operated ships on cross-channel services.

Ex SER ships.
Ship Launched Tonnage (GRT) Notes
Template:SS citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

814<ref name=List/> Scrapped 1899.<ref name=List/>
Template:SS 1878<ref name=List/> 407<ref name=List/> Sold in 1903 to British Central Africa Co Ltd.<ref name=List/>
Template:SS 1895<ref name=List/> 996<ref name=List/> Scrapped in 1904<ref name=List/>
Template:SS 1878<ref name=List/> 398<ref name=List/> Scrapped in 1903.<ref name=List/>
Template:SS 1880<ref name=List/> 818<ref name=List/> Scrapped in 1899.<ref name=List/>
Template:SS 1882<ref name=List/> 803<ref name=List/> Scrapped in 1900<ref name=List/>
Template:SS 1898<ref name=List/> 1,009<ref name=List/> Sold in 1910 to Argentina, renamed Río Uruguay.<ref name=List/>
Ex LC&DR ships.
Ship Launched Tonnage (GRT) Notes
Template:SS citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

385<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1899.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1896<ref name=List2/> 979<ref name=List2/> Sold in 1911 to Hattemer, Boulogne, renamed Au Revoir.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1889<ref name=List2/> 1,212<ref name=List2/> Sold in 1900 to Liverpool & Douglas Steamers.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1896<ref name=List2/> 979<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1911.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1887<ref name=List2/> 1,213<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1906<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1862<ref name=List2/> 495<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1901.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1864<ref name=List2/> 365<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1899.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1882<ref name=List2/> 1,282<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1899.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1896<ref name=List2/> 979<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1911.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1862<ref name=List2/> 503<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1899.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1864<ref name=List2/> 338<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1899.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1861<ref name=List2/> 336<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1899.<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1886<ref name=List2/> 1,042<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1904<ref name=List2/>
Template:SS 1863<ref name=List2/> 385<ref name=List2/> Scrapped in 1899<ref name=List2/>
Ships built for the SE&CR.
Ship Launched Tonnage (GRT) Notes
Template:SS citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

2,495<ref name=Ships/> Scrapped in 1949 at Dover.<ref name=Birarritz>Template:Csr</ref>
Template:SS 1900<ref name=Canterbury/> 561<ref name=Canterbury>Template:Csr</ref> Sold in 1926 to W E Guinness, renamed Arpha. Sold in 1938 to Sark Motorships Ltd. Requisitioned by the Royal Navy in 1939 as Template:HMS. Sold in 1946 to Shell Caribbean Petroleum Ltd, renamed Coriano. Sold in 1951 to J M Perez Hernandez. Scrapped after 1955.<ref name=Canterbury/>
Template:SS 1907<ref name=Ships/> 1,689<ref name=Ships/> Requisitioned by Royal Navy in 1914, sold to France in 1923. Scrapped at Dunkirk in 1933.<ref name=Empress>Template:Csr</ref>
Template:SS 1911<ref name=Ships/> 1,676<ref name=Ships/> Requisitioned by Royal Navy in 1914, returned in 1920. Sold in 1933 to Philippines and renamed Corregidor. Struck a mine and sank on 17 December 1941.<ref name=Engadine>Template:Csr</ref>
Template:SS 1905<ref name=Ships/> 1,680<ref name=Ships/> Sold in 1923 to France. Scrapped in 1932.<ref name=Invicta>Template:Csr</ref>
Template:SS 1899<ref name=List/> 1,289<ref name=List/> Scrapped in 1909.<ref name=List/>
Template:SS 1918<ref name=Ships/> 2,384<ref name=Ships/> Torpedoed on 28 June 1944 and sunk.<ref name=MoO>Template:Csr</ref>
Template:SS 1905<ref name=Ships/> 1,671<ref name=Ships/> Caught fire in 1918 at Folkestone and sank. Salvaged in 1920, sold to Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and rebuilt as Mona's Isle, the fourth IoMSPCo ship to carry that name. Scrapped in November 1948 at Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire.<ref name=Onward>Template:Csr</ref>
Template:SS 1911<ref name=Ships/> 1,674<ref name=Ships/> Requisitioned by Royal Navy in 1914, returned in 1920. Sold in 1932 to Burns & Laird Lines Ltd, renamed Laird's Isle. Scrapped in October 1957 at Troon, Ayrshire.<ref name=Riviera>Template:Csr</ref>
Template:SS 1903<ref name=Ships/> 1,676<ref name=Ships/> Captured on 26 October 1916 by German destroyer S-60 and sunk.<ref name=Queen>Template:Csr</ref>
Template:SS 1907<ref name=Victoria>Template:Csr</ref> 1,689<ref name=Ships/> Sold in 1928 to the IoMSPCo. Scrapped in January 1957 at Barrow in Furness.<ref name=Victoria/>
Other ships operated by the SE&CR
Ship Launched Tonnage
(displacement) 		Notes
Template:HMS 1878 1,130 Used as an accommodation ship at Template:Stnlnk in 1900–03.

References

Notes

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Sources

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{{#invoke:Navbox|navbox}} Template:SECR locomotives

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