Cranleigh railway station

Cranleigh
Location
Place	Cranleigh
Area	Waverley, Surrey
Grid reference	TQ056391
Operations
Pre-grouping	London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway Southern Region of British Railways
Platforms	2
History
2 October 1865	Opened as "Cranley"
1867	Renamed "Cranleigh"
14 June 1965	Closed
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

Guildford - Horsham auto-train in 1957

Cranleigh was a railway station on the Cranleigh Line which served the village of Cranleigh. Opening in 1865 as "Cranley", its name was changed in 1867 to "Cranleigh" at the request of the Postmaster General as badly addressed letters to "Cranley" were often mistaken for "Crawley" and vice versa. Cranleigh was the busiest station on the line with regular commuter traffic to and from London via Guildford; it also saw regular patronage from the nearby Cranleigh School, so much so that a Southern Railway 4-4-0 express passenger locomotive (no. 936) was named after the School in 1935. It was one of the 40 so-called "Schools Class" locomotives. A passing loop and second platform were installed at the station in 1880.

Cranleigh also had a substantial goods yard equipped with a large loading gantry. Inward freight consisted mainly of coal which was required, in particular, by the local gasworks, whilst goods outward were mainly timber.

A victim of the Beeching Axe, the station closed in 1965 and was demolished shortly afterwards, replaced by the "Stocklund Square" housing and shopping development. In 2004 part of this development was itself demolished and a Sainsbury's supermarket was constructed on the site. The station's old platform levels are still visible at the rear of the shops.

There is a possibility that Cranleigh may yet see another train; a study was carried out in the 1990s to determine whether re-opening part of the Cranleigh Line to passenger traffic from Bramley to Guildford would be economically viable. Although the conclusion was that the investment required would not justify reinstatement, Waverley Borough Council have protected the line from development in its Local Plan.

The Association of Train Operating Companies have applied for funding for a new line to Cranleigh.^[1]

Other stations

• Guildford
• Bramley & Wonersh
• Baynards
• Rudgwick
• Slinfold
• Christ's Hospital
• Horsham

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Bramley & Wonersh		British Rail Southern Region Guildford to Horsham Cranleigh Line		Baynards

See also

• List of closed railway stations in Britain

References

1. ^ "ATOC Connecting Communities Report". http://www.atoc.org/general/ConnectingCommunitiesReport_S10.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-15. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Cranleigh station on Subterranea Britannica
• Cranleigh station at cranleighrailway.info
• Schools Class Engine No. 936 - Cranleigh
• An evacuee's account of Cranleigh station

Coordinates: 51°08′29″N 0°29′31″W / 51.14144°N 0.49187°W / 51.14144; -0.49187