Bookham railway station

Bookham National Rail
Location
Place Little Bookham
Local authority District of Mole Valley
Grid reference TQ127556
Operations
Station code BKA
Managed by South West Trains
Number of platforms 2
DfT category E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Decrease 0.274 million
2011/12 Increase 0.295 million
2012/13 Increase 0.307 million
2013/14 Decrease 0.305 million
2014/15 Increase 0.319 million
History
Key dates Opened 1885 (1885)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bookham from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal
Bookham Station in 1962

Bookham railway station is in the village of Little Bookham in Surrey, England. It also serves the adjacent village of Great Bookham. The station is managed by South West Trains, who provide the majority of train services; Southern also provide some peak-period services.

History

Bookham railway station was opened on 2 February 1885; the line at the time was owned by the London and South Western Railway.[1][2]

Initially the London and South Western Railway wanted to build the line into the centre of Great Bookham village itself, but as often happened in those early days of rail expansion from London, the key landowners (and villagers) were strongly opposed to that idea and forced the company to adopt a much more northerly route, resulting in the station being built nearly one mile (1.6 km) from the village high street in open country.

It effectively remained in an open-field setting until the later 1950s/early 1960s when there was a massive expansion of the village, with new estates built to fill the space between the high street and station, leaving only National Trust-owned land as a "green corridor" along parts of Church Road.

The station buildings remain largely unchanged to this day, including the footbridge and platform canopies, however, the station master's house has been sold off as a private dwelling.

Immediately to the west of the station the original goods siding was removed in the 1960s and the associated goods shed (used as a coal depot by local businessman Howard Weale at that time) was finally demolished in the 1990s having lived on for a time as a builder's yard (Tredan) and then offices.

There are now scant landmarks to identify it as the original siding and goods yard. The siding area was for a period home to a blacksmith, but that land was sold for housing development, and where the shed once stood is now a purpose-built office block.

Services

The typical service sees trains between London Waterloo and Guildford via Epsom every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday, operated by South West Trains. In addition to these, Southern operates a small number of services during the Monday to Friday morning and evening peak periods. These operate between London Bridge or London Victoria and Guildford via West Croydon and Epsom.[3]

South West Trains introduced an hourly service to London Waterloo via Epsom on Sundays from December 2007.

References

  1. ↑ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 39. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  2. ↑ 'Parishes: Great Bookham', A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3 (1911), pp. 326–35. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=42976. Date accessed: 12 August 2007.
  3. ↑ GB National Rail Timetable, December 2014 Edition – Tables 152 & 182

External links

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Leatherhead   South West Trains
Mole Valley Line
Bookham Branch		   Effingham Junction
Leatherhead   Southern
Peak periods only		   Effingham Junction

Coordinates: 51°17′20″N 0°23′02″W / 51.289°N 0.384°W / 51.289; -0.384


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