Cranleigh railway station

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Cranleigh
Cranleigh Railway Station.jpg
General information
Location Cranleigh, Waverley, Surrey
England
Grid reference TQ056391
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Pre-grouping London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Post-grouping Southern Railway
Southern Region of British Railways
Key dates
2 October 1865Opened as "Cranley"
1867Renamed "Cranleigh"
14 June 1965Closed

Cranleigh was a railway station on the Cranleigh Line between Guildford and Horsham. It served the village of Cranleigh, Surrey in southern England.

Contents

History

Guildford - Horsham auto-train in 1957 Cranleigh Station, with Guildford - Horsham auto-train geograph-2658600-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
Guildford - Horsham auto-train in 1957

Opening in 1865 as "Cranley", its name was changed in 1867 to "Cranleigh" at the request of the Postmaster General as imperfectly addressed letters to "Cranley" were often mistaken for "Crawley" and vice versa. [1]

A passing loop and second platform were installed at the station in 1880. [2] Cranleigh was the busiest station on the line with regular commuter traffic to and from London via Guildford. It also handled regular custom for nearby Cranleigh School, [3] and Southern Railway Class V 4-4-0 "Schools Class" express passenger locomotive no. 936 was named after the school in 1935. [4] [5]

Cranleigh 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 was mainly timber. [6] [7]

The line was closed in 1965 following The Reshaping of British Railways report of 1963. [2] Cranleigh station was demolished shortly afterwards, replaced by the "Stocklund Square" housing and shopping development. [8] In 2004 part of this development was itself demolished and a Sainsbury supermarket was built on the site. The station's old platform levels still exist behind the shops. The station footbridge also survives, [9] in April 1967 it was re-erected at Liss railway station on the Portsmouth Direct Line.

Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Bramley & Wonersh
Line and station closed
  London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Horsham and Guildford Direct Railway
  Baynards
Line and station closed

Future

Studies of the feasibility of reopening the Guildford – Bramley – Cranleigh section of the line were completed in 1994, 1997 and 2009. The 1994 report concluded that the investment required would not justify reinstatement, but Waverley Borough Council has protected the line from development in its Local Plan. The 2009 report estimates that reopening the Guildford – Bramley – Cranleigh section would have a positive benefit-cost ratio of 1.7 to 1 including capital costs. [10]

Other Cranleigh Line stations

See also

Related Research Articles

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Cranleigh is a village and civil parish, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Guildford in Surrey, England. It lies on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner of the Weald, a large remnant forest, the main local remnant being Winterfold Forest directly north-west on the northern Greensand Ridge.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guildford railway station</span> Railway station in Guildford, Surrey, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutton and Mole Valley lines</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cranleigh School</span> Public school in Cranleigh near Guildford, Surrey, England

Cranleigh School is a public school in the village of Cranleigh, Surrey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ's Hospital railway station</span> Railway station in West Sussex, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leatherhead railway station</span> Railway station in Surrey, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slinfold railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Slinfold railway station was on the Cranleigh Line and served the village of Slinfold in West Sussex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arriva Guildford & West Surrey</span>

Arriva Guildford & West Surrey was a bus operator based in Guildford, England. It was a subsidiary of Arriva. The company operated services in West Sussex and Surrey, as part of the Arriva Southern Counties division. Services that were run were primarily centred on hubs at Guildford, Woking and Cranleigh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downs Link</span> Footpath in England, United Kingdom

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Rudgwick is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The village is 6 miles (10 km) west from Horsham on the north side of the A281 road. The parish's northern boundary forms part of the county boundary between Surrey and West Sussex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baynards railway station</span> Disused railway station in Baynards Park, Surrey

Baynards was a railway station on the Cranleigh Line, between Guildford and Horsham. The station opened with the line on 2 October 1865.

The Cranleigh line was a railway line in England that connected Guildford in Surrey, with Horsham in West Sussex. Construction of the line was started by an independent company, the Horsham and Guildford Direct Railway, but management failures delayed construction, and the company was taken over by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR). The LBSCR completed the construction of the line and it was opened in 1865; it was nearly 16 miles in length.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bramley & Wonersh railway station</span> Disused railway station in England

Bramley & Wonersh was a railway station on the Cranleigh Line. It served the villages of Bramley and Wonersh in Surrey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudgwick railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Rudgwick railway station was on the Cranleigh Line. It served the village of Rudgwick in West Sussex until June, 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reading Southern railway station</span> Former railway station in the English town of Reading

Reading Southern railway station was opened as the western terminus of the South Eastern Railway's route from Redhill, a junction station at the time of opening known as Reigate Junction in south-east Surrey, having direct links thence to Dover port, Brighton and London Bridge. The station was referred to for exactly one century by an identical name to its neighbour, 'Reading', until 1949. Seven years after its opening the station expanded its uses by becoming the terminus of a new company's Waterloo to Reading line from London Waterloo station. This mid-length line added to the town's connections with more intermediate stops, beyond nearby Wokingham and mid-south parts of Surrey which had been directly served by the station and added a competing service, approximately one third longer in distance to a London terminus than the adjacent Great Western Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tillingbourne Bus Company</span> Former Surrey bus operator

Tillingbourne Bus Company was a bus company based in Cranleigh, Surrey. The company operated bus and coach services in Surrey, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire from 1924 until 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baynards Park</span> Privately owned park in Surrey, England

Baynards Park is a 2,000 acres (810 ha) estate and site of a demolished country house with extant outbuildings, privately owned, in the south of the parishes of Cranleigh and Ewhurst, Surrey.

References

  1. Mitchell & Smith 1982, Fig. 15.
  2. 1 2 Jackson 1999, pp. 59–61.
  3. Jackson 1999, pp. 140–141.
  4. Swift 2006, pp. 81, 93.
  5. Winkworth 1982, pp. 29–30.
  6. Welch 2006, p. 41.
  7. Jackson 1999, pp. 191–192.
  8. Oppitz 1988, p. 81.
  9. Weir, Luke (30 November 2021) [20 November 2021]. "The lost Surrey railway stations and what they are now amid Boris Johnson's HS2 changes". Surrey Live. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  10. Connecting Communities: Expanding Access to the Rail Network . London: Association of Train Operating Companies. June 2009. pp. 16, 18.

Sources

51°08′28″N0°29′32″W / 51.1412°N 0.4922°W / 51.1412; -0.4922