page_title: Cranleigh line
section_title: LBSCR takeover
hierarchical_section_title: Cranleigh line / History / Construction / LBSCR takeover
caption_attribution_description: English: The Double Bridge over the River Arun, near to Rudgwick, West Sussex, Great Britain
context_page_description: The Cranleigh line was a linking railway line that connected Guildford on the Portsmouth-London line, the county town of Surrey, with the West Sussex market town of Horsham on another line to the south coast. The line ran through Cranleigh and measured 19.25 miles. The line closed on 14 June 1965 four months before its centenary, the only Surrey railway closure in the mid-1960s stripping out known as the Beeching Axe, officially termed "The Reshaping of British Railways".
context_section_description: Slow progress began to frustrate the LBSCR which sought greater influence on the company board. Three new directors were appointed - one of whom was the chairman of the LBSCR, Leo Schuster, whilst the two others were connected with the company; other LBSCR staff were brought into the enterprise such as their Chief Engineer Jacomb-Hood who was given the responsibility of seeing that construction works were carried out to the LBSCR's specifications. He proposed a substantial modifications to the route originally chosen by the H&GDR which was authorised by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (Additional Powers) Act 1864.  A triangular junction (Itchingfield Junction) was to be built south-west of Horsham to allow through running from Brighton to Guildford as well as Horsham to Guildford.
  The LBSCR contributed the maximum amount permitted by law into the H&GDR for construction works, £75,000, and the original H&GDR members stumped up £48,000, making the total of £123,000. More changes were made which had the effect of further integrating the H&GDR into the LBSCR: on 28 April 1862 the H&GDR's registered office was changed to that of LBSCR, and the latter's staff were used as supervisors and inspectors on construction. By June 1862 the H&GDR was effectively part of the LBSCR and an agreement was concluded on 29 July to formally merge the two companies. This was also authorised by the 1864 Act which allowed the buying out of the original promoters of the H&GDR for a sum of £123,000. Once in control of the enterprise, the LBSCR replaced its engineer Edward Woods with one of its senior employees, Frederick Bannister.
  An immediate consequence of the LBSCR takeover was that the contracts for the construction of the line were finally sealed on 16 April 1862. However, the involvement of the LBSCR did nothing to alleviate the slow progress - by May 1863 negotiations with landowners were dragging on and the company's engineer reported in the same year that the line was unlikely to be completed within the time specified by the 1860 Act. The task of constructing the five stations had been put out to tender and in 1864 a bid of £3,698 (equivalent to £366,000 in 2019) was accepted. At a board meeting held on 15 March 1864, the directors gave vent to their unhappiness as to how matters were proceeding, expressing their "extreme dissatisfaction at the great delays which have taken place and the inefficient manner in which the works have been prosecuted."
  On 2 May 1865 Bannister reported to the board that the line was finally ready to be inspected by the Board of Trade which duly attended two months later. The Chief Inspecting Officer, Colonel Yolland, was unhappy with the traffic arrangements at Guildford and did not authorise public use of Rudgwick Station, set on a 1 in 80 incline, until it was re-sited on an incline of 1 in 130. As the company had committed with the seller of the land for the station it had to carry out the works, which also included the raising of an embankment and a bridge over the River Arun by 10 feet (3.0 m).
caption: Rudgwick Bridge (above a Bridge) in 2005
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