Esher railway station

Esher National Rail
Location
Place Esher
Local authority Borough of Elmbridge
Coordinates 51°22′48″N 0°21′09″W / 51.38°N 0.3526°W / 51.38; -0.3526Coordinates: 51°22′48″N 0°21′09″W / 51.38°N 0.3526°W / 51.38; -0.3526
Grid reference TQ146658
Operations
Station code ESH
Managed by South Western Railway
Number of platforms 4 (2 in use)
DfT category C2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2012/13 Increase 1.105 million
2013/14 Increase 1.160 million
2014/15 Increase 1.189 million
2015/16 Decrease 1.187 million
2016/17 Increase 1.189 million
History
Key dates Opened 21 May 1838 (21 May 1838)
Original company London and Southampton Railway
Pre-grouping London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping Southern Railway
21 May 1838 (1838-05-21) Opened as Ditton Marsh
c. 1840 Renamed Esher and Hampton Court
July 1844 Renamed Esher and Claremont
1 June 1913 Renamed Esher
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Esher from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Esher railway station is a mid-priority station on the South Western Main Line operated by South Western Railway in England. The station adjoins the north of Esher with two footpaths skirting Sandown Park Racecourse, the town’s commercial area being 300 metres beyond the racecourse entrance. The station is situated between Surbiton and Hersham and is 14 miles 31 chains (23.2 km) from London Waterloo.

History

The railway arrived here in 1838. A minor request stop was immediately opened and a station built and named Ditton Marsh, being the wetter part of Ditton Common. The common marks the boundary between what was then the west of Thames Ditton and Esher. The station was opened on 21 May 1838, and the name changed to Esher and Hampton Court about 1840.[1] It has since been renamed twice more: to Esher and Claremont[n 1] in July 1844, and to Esher on 1 June 1913.[2] It has also been shown as Esher for Claremont, or as Esher for Sandown Park in some timetables.[2]

Amenities

The station and track is elevated above street level[3]

A special gate on the platform opens directly onto Sandown Park racecourse, particularly on its busier race days.

Services

At off-peak times two trains per hour in both directions call at Esher, the termini being London Waterloo station and the larger Surrey town of Woking.

Additional trains operate during peak hours.[4]

Woking is the point of change for services to longer distance destinations to the south-west (see stations below).

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Surbiton   South Western Railway
Waterloo to Woking		   Hersham

Former amenities

Two additional island platforms are disused and not accessible to passengers though passed by through trains.

Bus services 515 and on Sundays 715 serve the station.

Location

The station is to the west of Weston Green which falls within the Esher postal district. Esher parish is close by the station and has included the Sandown Park grounds since its establishment in the early medieval period.[5][6][7] Two footpaths to the west of the station skirt Sandown Park Racecourse. The town’s commercial area lies 300 metres beyond the racecourse entrance, followed by Lower Green, West End and Claremont. The station is the closest to Esher by road.[3] Thames Ditton railway station on the branch line to Hampton Court is closest to the eastern half of Weston Green, which lies within the Thames Ditton postal district.

In film, television, fiction and the media

Esher railway station featured on an episode of the children’s TV series Little Howard's Big Question, in which the Dutch graphic and mathematical artist M. C. Escher was confused with Esher and one of his drawings mistakenly thought to be the railway station.

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ The reference from 1844 until 1913 was to Prince Leopold's Claremont House and Landscape Garden being 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south
References
  1. ↑ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 80. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  2. 1 2 Butt 1995, p. 92
  3. 1 2 OS Map with Listed Buildings and Parks marked Archived 24 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Association of Train Operating Companies - official timetable
  5. ↑ H.E. Malden (editor) (1911). "Parishes: Esher". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  6. ↑ H.E. Malden (editor) (1911) Index Map Retrieved 11 January 2014 (and see http://www.achurchnearyou.com/esher-christ-church/ for Esher parish map which confirms this unusual slight misnomer)
  7. ↑ Weston Green village boundaries The Church of England parish map. Retrieved 2014-01-11

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