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The LB&SCR's coat of arms, displayed above the entrance to Gipsy Hill railway station. The cross (top left) represents London, the two dolphins (top right) Brighton, the three half-lions/half-ships (bottom left) the Cinque Ports, and the star and crescent (bottom right) Portsmouth.

The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) (commonly known as "the Brighton line") was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1923. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its apex and practically the whole coastline of Sussex as its base. It was bounded on its western side by the lines of the London and South Western Railway; on its eastern by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. It supplied the most direct routes to the South Coast seaside resorts of Brighton, Eastbourne and Worthing among many others. At the London end was a complicated suburban and outer-suburban network of lines.

A map of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway at London Victoria station

The earliest parts of the LB&SCR were the two railways:

• The London & Croydon Railway (L&CR), which had been incorporated (by Act of Parliament) in 1835, and whose line from London Bridge to West Croydon had been opened on 5 June 1839. In 1845 the Railway experimented with atmospheric traction: the system was not a success, and was removed after a year.
• The London & Brighton Railway, incorporated 1837: it had been opened in sections:
  • Brighton - Shoreham: 12 May 1840. Locomotives and rolling stock had to be transhipped by road for what was, in the first year, an isolated stretch of railway.
  • Norwood (junction with the L&CR) - Haywards Heath: 12 July 1841. The final stretch of line required tunnelling through the South Downs.
  • Haywards Heath - Brighton 21 September 1841

On 27 July 1846 the two Railways merged, and the title LB&SCR was adopted.

The company's London termini were at Victoria and London Bridge.

Under the railway engineer R.J. Hood, it extended its lines across the south London suburbs in 1868, opening up new sections between Peckham and Streatham, with several iron bridges and a tunnel under Knight's Hill.

From 1 January 1923, the company's lines were grouped along with those of the London and South Western Railway and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway to form the Southern Railway.

There is still nostalgia for the LB&SCR's attractive Victorian yellow ochre locomotive livery, called Stroudley's Improved Engine Green. Several locomotives have been preserved and some are still running today on heritage railways.

Locomotive Superintendents

• John Chester Craven (1847–1870)
• William Stroudley (1870–1889)
• R. J. Billinton (1890–1904)
• D. E. Marsh (1905–1911)
• L. B. Billinton (1912–1922)

• List of locomotives

The LB&SCR pioneered the running of the all-Pullman train in England. Pullman cars had been introduced on the Midland Railway in 1874, followed by the Great Northern Railway soon after, and the LB&SC itself in 1875. Then on 5 December 1881 the LB&SCR inaugurated the first all-Pullman train. It was known as the "Pullman Limited Express" and was hauled by Stroudley's G-class 2-2-2 locomotive No 334 Petworth. It consisted of four cars (built at the Pullman Car Company workshops in Derby): Beatrice, Louise, Maud and Victoria; these were the first electically-lit coaches to run on a British railway. The "Pullman Limited Express" made two down and two up trips per day, and one each way on Sundays. In 1887 the name of the service was changed to "Brighton Pullman Limited"; by now first-class carriages were also attached to the train. A new train was built in 1888: three brand-new Pullmans shipped over in parts from the Pullman Palace Car Company in America, and erected by the LB&SCR at Brighton.

On Sunday 2 October 1898 a new all-Pullman car train, The "Brighton Limited" came into service. It ran only on Sundays, and not at all during the holiday months July - September. From the beginning the new train was timed to make the journey from Victoria in one hour: "London to Brighton in one hour" was the advertisement then used for the first time. On 21 December 1902 it made a record run of 54 minutes. It then hit the headlines again when, faced with the threat of a competing electric railway being built from London to Brighton, they ran ran the "Limited" to Brighton in 48 mins 41 secs, and the return to London in 50 mins 21 secs, thus matching the schedule put forward by the promoters of the new electric line.

On 8 November 1908 the LB&SCR introduced what it described as "the most luxurious train in the World" - "The Southern Belle": by 1910 two trips each way every day were running; and later three were run on Sundays.

Electrification of the Brighton line was completed on 1 January 1933, by which time the LB&SCR was, of course, part of the Southern Railway; and a year later "The Southern Belle" was renamed "The Brighton Belle". Three multiple-unit trains were built for the service, and continued to run until the service was withdrawn in April 1972. Many of the individual cars are running on preserved railways.

Third-class Pullman cars began running on Sunday 12 September 1915 from Victoria to Brighton and Eastbourne.

The information in this section is taken from Pullman Perfection F Burtt & W Beckerlegge (Ian Allan Ltd 1948).

The company was also a pioneer of railway electrification in Britain, seeking powers in 1903 to adapt its suburban lines to electrification. Although the Midland Railway lines from Lancaster to Morecambe and Heysham had been converted first, the LB&SCR lines eventually covered a far greater distance of electrified track. Both companies opted for the high-tension overhead supply system at 6600 volts AC. This system was of German origin and the main contractor was Allgemeine Elektricitats Gesellschaft of Berlin but some work was sub-contracted to British companies. The overhead system was to be short-lived, however, since the London and South Western Railway had adopted the third-rail system; and after grouping their mileage far exceeded that of the LB&SCR.

The first section of LB&SCR converted line was on the South London loop line connecting London Bridge with Victoria via Denmark Hill on 1 December 1909. Other routes followed:

• May 1911 Victoria - Crystal Palace via Balham and West Norwood
• June 1912 Peckham Rye - West Norwood

World War I interrupted what was to have been considerable further mileage of electrified line, but by 1921 most of the LB&SCR suburban lines were electrified. Plans were being laid to extend the overhead electrification to Brighton and other South Coast resorts. The final installation, carried out by the Southern Railway after Grouping was:

• 1 April 1925 Lines to Coulsdon North and Sutton

• SL (South London) stock

• CP (Crystal Palace) stock

• CW (Coulsdon and Wallington) stock

• SR multiple unit numbering and classification

In 1926 it was announced that, as part of a huge electrification project, all overhead lines were to be converted to third rail operation, to bring all lines within the Southern Railway into common use.

• List of early British railway companies
• South Eastern Railway - for the story of a bitter rivalry with the LB&SCR

• LBSCR enthusiast site
• English Heritage Survey of London: volume 26 1956