Throughout its early existence, the LSWR had been at pains to secure territory in which it might be the dominant, or only, railway company, and the gauge of the track with which a new line was to be built determined its alliance with the broad gauge interests (the GWR, the B&ER and other associated companies) or railways with the standard gauge of . (In this context the latter were usually referred to as "narrow gauge" railways, and the competitive battles to ensure that new lines were specified to be built to the preferred gauge were referred to as the "Gauge War".)