an experimental trip from Nine Elms to Woking Common. That portion of the line was opened to passengers "without any special demonstration" on 21 May 1838, with five passenger trains running each way daily, and four on Sundays. Fares were 5s 0d first class and 3s 6d second class for the 23 miles. The 23 miles from Woking Common to nine Elms were covered in 57 minutes. Woking only had one platform at first. Epsom races were held in the second week of operation, and the Company advertised the intention of running eight trains to Kingston on Derby Day. That morning a crowd of about 5,000 persons was found at the station gates. Several trains were despatched but still the throng increased, till at length the doors were carried off their hinges, and amid the shrieks of the female portion of their number, the mob broke over the booking counter, leaped through the windows, invaded the platform and rushed pell mell into a train chartered by a private party. Finding resistance useless, the officials sent for the Metropolitan Police, and at twelve o'clock a notice was posted on the booking office window announcing that no more trains would run that day. By the end of the first twelve weeks, receipts had totalled £11,059 12s 3d for the carriage of 93,795 passengers; no goods had been carried at this stage. Working expenses were about 59% of receipts, considerably more than had been forecast. On 24 September 1838, the line was opened as far as Shapley Heath (now Winchfield) "which had the effect of bringing the majority of the coaches running to the south west and west of England to that station". Then on 10 June 1839, the line was formally opened from Shapley Heath to Basingstoke and from Winchester to Northam Road, just short of the Southampton terminus. Road coaches plied over the gap between Basingstoke and Winchester, and the throughout journey occupied five hours. At this stage the Archdeacon and Prebendary of Winchester wrote to the Company complaining about the operation of trains on Sundays, contrary to Scripture. The Chairman, John Easthope sent a forthright and carefully reasoned reply, bringing the issue swiftly to a close. The final sections, the difficult (in engineering construction terms) section from Basingstoke to Winchester, and the short extension to the Southampton terminus, were opened on 11 May 1840. A train conveyed the Directors from