Leatherhead railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Leatherhead


manager = Southern
locale = Leatherhead
borough = Mole Valley
code = LHD
usage0405 = 1.338
usage0506 = 1.414
usage0607 = 1.584
platforms = 2
start = 4 March 1867

Leatherhead railway station is a railway station serving the town of Leatherhead in Surrey, England. The station is managed by Southern, who provide train services along with South West Trains.

It is situated at the junction of the Sutton & Mole Valley Line with a branch to Effingham Junction on the New Guildford Line.

History

The present station is one of four that have served Leatherhead over the years (although two were only ever intended to be temporary). Both the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) and the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) had plans to build a railway line into Leatherhead, and an agreement was reached that one would build the line on condition that the other was granted equal running rights over it. However, each company built their own station, a few hundred yards apart: the LBSCR on their line to Dorking and Horsham, and the LSWR on their line to Guildford. The lines through the two stations met a short distance to the north, and the joint line continued towards Epsom.

Following the Grouping of 1923, the LBSCR and LSWR both became part of the Southern Railway, and having two stations was deemed unnecessary. So in 1927 the line from Guildford was diverted to join the former LBSCR line to the south of their station.

The LBSCR station is the one that survives, although the Stationmaster's House (an integral part of the main building) is boarded up along with the building on Platform 2. The only remains of the LSWR station are part of the steps up from road level to platform level.

In the 1930s, it was planned to extend the new line to Chessington to Leatherhead. However, World War II caused this to be put on hold, and a subsequent protection order on Ashtead Common meant that this was never built.

ervices

Southern operate services between London Victoria and Horsham, via Dorking. The typical Monday to Saturday service sees trains every 30 minutes between Victoria and Dorking, with trains continuing to Horsham every hour. On Sundays, there are trains every 30 minutes between Victoria and Dorking only.

Southern also provide a small number of Monday to Friday morning and evening peak period services between London Bridge and Guildford.

South West Trains operate services between London Waterloo and Guildford, and between London Waterloo and Dorking. The typical Monday to Saturday service sees trains from Waterloo approximately every 15 minutes, with trains continuing to each of Guildford and Dorking every 30 minutes. Since December 2007, they have operated a half-hourly Sunday service to Waterloo and hourly services to Guildford and Dorking.

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Typical off-peak journey times from Leatherhead

Based on the December 2006 - May 2007 timetable Frequency in trains per hour

External links