Wimbledon and Dorking Railway

The Wimbledon and Dorking Railway (WDR) was an early railway company in southern England. The scheme submitted to Parliament was not fully implemented because the proposed route overlapped with other proposed and existing lines. The part actually constructed became the first section of what was later known as the Mole Valley Line.

History

The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) had a service to Epsom since 1847, supplanting the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) at Surbiton as the railhead for Epsom races. Determined to get a share of the race traffic, the LSWR backed the WDR, formed by an Act of 27 July 1857[1][2]. The original plan envisaged a route from Wimbledon via Epsom and the Mole Valley gap to Dorking, but this was truncated to accommodate other approved lines in the area. As built it ran from "Epsom Junction" (now Raynes Park), on the LSWR main line, via Worcester Park and Ewell West to Epsom where it connected end-on to the Epsom and Leatherhead Railway. The continuation to Dorking was abandoned, only to be completed 10 years later under LBSCR auspices by the Horsham, Dorking and Leatherhead Railway.

The 5¾ mile line opened on 4 April 1859 and was worked by the LSWR, which formally acquired the company on 3 June 1862.[3]

Much later the line was the basis for the Chessington branch from Motspur Park (itself a later addition) to Chessington South. It was the last line built by the Southern Railway, opened on 28 May 1938 to Tolworth and to Chessington South on 29 May 1939.[4]

Services

The Raynes Park to Epsom line links the South Western main line to several routes through Surrey. As of 2020 it is used for the following weekday off-peak services by South Western Railway from London Waterloo:

  • Waterloo to Chessington South
  • Waterloo to Guildford via Epsom
  • Waterloo to Dorking via Epsom

Epsom also has Southern services from London Victoria and London Bridge, providing connections beyond Dorking to Horsham and back to Sutton and South London.

References
  1. White, H. P. (1987). Greater London. A Regional History of The Railways of Great Britain. 3 (3rd ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 63.
  2. "The statutes of the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: 1863".
  3. Grant, Donald J. (2017). Directory of The Railway Companies of Great Britain. Leicester: Troubador Publishing Ltd. p. 616.
  4. White, H. P. (1987). Greater London. A Regional History of The Railways of Great Britain. 3 (3rd ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 72.
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