shareholders of the Portsmouth Railway – the line was leased to the LSWR by them – demanded an increase in the rental charge. This was declined and eventually the status quo was agreed; in fact the Portsmouth Railway was amalgamated with the LSWR by Act of 21 July 1859. The hostility with the LBSCR could hardly continue indefinitely and in early August 1859, agreement was reached; a new pooling arrangement for passenger fares being agreed, as was rental for use of the joint line. Through trains over the Portsmouth Railway route resumed on 8 August 1859. On 2 January 1860 the Farlington Junction to Cosham Junction section, on which the track had been removed by the LBSCR in the face of the disagreement, was reinstated and four passenger trains daily used it. The Havant to Portcreek Junction section remained in LBSCR ownership, but running powers were granted to the LSWR. Competing routes The first route from London to Portsmouth, actually Gosport, had been 89 miles in length. When the Brighton and Chichester Railway was extended to Portsmouth, the route from London Bridge via Brighton (reversing there) was 95 miles. The LBSCR, successor to the Chichester company, promoted an affiliate company, the Mid-Sussex Railway, which completed a route from Horsham to Arundel Junction, about ten miles east of Chichester. It opened in 1863. At first Horsham was reached via Three Bridges but the line from Leatherhead to Horsham completed the route in 1877. Early passenger services The Act authorising amalgamation of the LSWR and the Portsmouth Railway had included clauses specifying a minimum passenger service: six daily in summer and four daily in winter. For some years the LSWR provided only this minimum service on the Portsmouth Railway route, continuing to run good services to Gosport. In fact the LSWR wanted to avoid the route overshadowing the longer original route via Bishopstoke, and Direct Line passenger services remained slow and infrequent. The working timetable for April 1865 shows only four passenger trains and one goods train per day on the line. Extending to the harbour The Portsmouth terminus of the line was at the present-day Portsmouth and Southsea station. There was considerable ferry traffic to the Isle of Wight and to Gosport, involving road transfers through the streets of Portsmouth. Southsea was developing as an important resort, and it too was remote from the Portsmouth station. In 1859 the Portsmouth council