Tongham railway station

Infobox UK disused station
name = Tongham
gridref =


caption =
manager = London and South Western Railway
owner = Southern Railway
Southern Region of British Railways
locale = Tongham
borough = Guildford, Surrey
platforms = 2
years = 8 October 1849
events = Opened
years2 = 4 July 1937
events2 = Closed

Tongham railway station was a railway station serving the village of Tongham, Guildford, Surrey in England which opened in 1849 and closed in 1937.

History

The station was opened in 1849 by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) as one of two intermediate stops on a now-closed section of the LSWR's Guildford to Alton line. Tongham station, along with Farnborough, was one of the first railheads for the military traffic associated with the recently established army camps at Aldershot. [Cite book | author=White, H.P. | authorlink= | coauthors= | title=A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain Vol 2. Southern England (Regional Railway History Series) | year=1992 | publisher=David St John Thomas Publisher | location=Nairn, Scotland | isbn=0-946537-77-1 | pages=p. 129] Its significance was drastically reduced, both as a station and as part of a through route, with the opening of Aldershot railway station in 1870 on a new more direct line from Pirbright Junction on the London to Basingstoke line which linked with the Guildford to Alton line between Tongham and Farnham, effectively bypassing the short section. [White, H.P., op. cit. p. 130.] This was followed in 1879 by the laying of a spur from Ash to Aldershot in which had the effect of diminishing the Guildford to Farnham traffic. [Cite book | author=Harding, Peter A. | authorlink= | coauthors= | title=The Tongham Railway | year=1994 | publisher=P.A. Harding | location=Woking | isbn=0-9523458-0-3 | pages=p. 3]

Although a short branch was laid from Tongham to serve the nearby Aldershot Gas Works in 1898, the line became a forgotten byway and was singled in 1930. Passenger services ceased in 1937 as a consequence of electrification of other lines in the vicinity, but Tongham remained open to serve the Gas Works until its closure in 1954. [http://www.tonghamwood.org.uk/history.php Tongham Wood Improvement Group Accessed 31 August 2007] ] With the closure of the Gas Works, British Rail decided that the twice-weekly goods service was no longer justified and the last service ran on 31 December 1960. [Harding, P.A., op. cit. p. 26.]

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Station building

Architecturally, Tongham station was similar to Ash Green Halt in that the main station building was situated at street level on a road bridge crossing the line, with a covered staircase leading down to the Up platform. The booking hall faced the road on the west side of the road bridge. The station was equiped with two platforms, with several sidings to the east of the station as well as the line to the Gas Works which led off to the north-west from the Up line; a short siding also led into Hyde's dog biscuit factory situated to the west of the station. [Harding, P.A., op. cit. p. 14-15.]

Present day

The station has been demolished and the course of the line to the west is largely taken up by the A331 "Blackwater Valley Relief Road" which links the A31 Hogs Back Road with the M3 motorway. A footpath passes to the west of the station. The road bridge which crossed the former railway line was demolished in 1994. [Harding, P.A., op. cit. p. 29.]

References