the sleepers. By 1837, "63-lb [per yard] () rails had replaced the 50-lb () originals, in turn to be superseded by 75-lb () rails before completion of the line." Fay says that "The line at its first opening was laid with stone block sleepers, but a few years' experience was sufficient to cause them to be replaced by wooden ones." Thomas Brassey contracted to maintain the track for ten years from 1840, for £24,000 per annum. Factual summary Opening of the line Nine Elms to Woking: 21 May 1838 Woking to Shapley Heath: 24 September 1838 Shapley Heath to Basingstoke: 10 June 1839 Basingstoke to Winchester: 11 May 1840. Winchester to Northam Road: 10 June 1839 Northam Road to Southampton: 11 May 1840 Stations The stations on the line at the time of opening were: Nine Elms; the London terminus close to the south bank of the River Thames, on Nine Elms Lane a short distance west of the junction with Wandsworth Road; later closed on 11 July 1848 when the extension to Waterloo was opened Wandsworth; later renamed Clapham Common, on the northern margin of Wandsworth Common, about half a mile west of the present Clapham Junction which replaced it; Wimbledon; somewhat to the west of Wimbledon Hill Road and of the present station; Kingston; on the east side of King Charles Road, about half a mile east of the present Surbiton station; Ditton Marsh; now Esher; Walton; now Walton-on-Thames; Weybridge Woking Common; now Woking; Farnborough; Shapley Heath; now Winchfield; Basingstoke; Andover Road; now Micheldever; Winchester; Bishopstoke: now Eastleigh Northam Road station; at the road of the same name (closed 1840 on opening to Southampton); Southampton; later renamed Southampton Terminus. The Nine Elms and Southampton station buildings were elegantly designed in the classical style by William Tite. Tunnels Tunnels on the line were at: Litchfield, long Popham no 1, Popham no 2, Wallers Ash, Notes References H P White, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain—Volume 2—Southern England, Phoenix House Ltd, London, 1961, pages 110 - 116. History of rail transport in Great Britain