The LSWR made it clear that it was not interested in co-operating with a local scheme. Nevertheless a projected line was submitted to the 1861 session of Parliament; it was to be called the Alton, Alresford and Winchester Railway. In March 1861 the promoters issued a prospectus acknowledging that villages on the intended route were held back by lack of railway access, and that the cost of their necessities of life had greatly increased. A single line would be constructed as economically as possible, and with gradients suitable to the improvements in the present powers of traction. In addition, it was claimed, the line would connect the major Army depot at Aldershot with military establishments at Winchester, Dorchester, Netley Hospital and the coast. A line had been designed with the professional help of J E Errington. When the Bill was under consideration in Parliament, the LSWR opposed it, and declined to negotiate an arrangement to operate the line when it was built. However there was reason to be concerned that rejection of the AAWR would encourage it to align with the Petersfield Railway, which was then seeking an extension to Southampton. The LSWR did not want to encourage an incursion into its established territory, so it made a concession to the promoters over the working agreement, and indicated the possibility that it would take shares in the line. The LSWR also conceded clauses stipulating the arrangements at junctions with the LSWR and use of its stations at Alton and Winchester stations. Authorisation of the AAWR The Alton, Alresford & Winchester Railway (AAWR), got its authorising Act of Parliament on 28 June 1861; permitted share capital was set at £150,000, and the LSWR could take up to £25,000 in shares if it wished. The AAWR line authorised was miles in length, from the LSWR near Alton station, through Medstead and Ropley, passing near Alresford church, and onwards via Tichborne and Itchen Abbas to a junction with the LSWR about two miles north of Winchester station. At a board meeting immediately after getting the Act, held on 6 July 1861, the directors expressed concern about the severe 1 in 60 gradients on the authorised line, and they asked Errington to survey an alternative route. He did so, and suggested an alternative route that limited the gradients to 1 in 75, but at the expense of an 800 yard tunnel. It was noted