by the need to change trains at Brockhurst: through running to the line was not possible because of the track layout there. A re-inspection of the facilities took place on 5 November 1894, as promised when provisional opening sanction had been given. As before, the Inspecting Officer was Col Yorke (the change of title indicating promotion in the previous 6 months) who noted that the banks of the two bridges should be watched, due to doubts about their stability. There was agreement with the Board of Trade that the speed limit on the line might be raised to 20 mph. In June 1895 the LSWR informed the Company that both the locomotives they were hiring were worn out and no other suitable machines were available for the line's 8-ton axle loading. However it would be possible, the LSWR said, to operate the service with railmotors. The easy gradients and generous timings were unlikely to show up the deficiencies in pulling power these vehicles had exhibited elsewhere. To make such a change, the LSWR would need to take formal powers to work the line, which they did, effective from 26 July 1909. The railmotor service started from 1 August 1895; the vehicle concerned was No 9 of the H13 class, sister machine No 10 joining in from 1 September 1909. The train service was now ten trains each way daily on weekdays, with five on Sundays in July only. A new halt was also opened at Elmore on 11 April 1910. The railmotors lasted in use until 1915, when the working reverted to locomotive haulage and push-and-pull trains, which remained the pattern for most of the remaining life of the line. During the First World War traffic actually increased on account of military construction work at Lee-on-the­-Solent. Grouping of the railways In 1923 most of the railways of Great Britain were transferred into the ownership of one or other of four new large companies, following the Railways Act 1921, in a process known as the grouping. The Lee-on-the-Solent company, and the LSWR, would transfer into the Southern Railway. The finances of the Lee concern had to be resolved, as a large financial deficit had accumulated. In 1908, expenditure of £1,100 had been remunerated with income of £700 only. The asset value of the line was £4,400 was set against debts of some £14,600. The Southern Railway was reluctant to acquire a