Epsom Downs station: a withered arm

Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 21 Feb 2018

The first railway company to make the climb up towards Epsom race-course was the London, Brighton & South Coast, which arrived in 1865. Local opposition meant that its terminus was built more than half a mile from the nearest point on the course. Plainly that didn't deter race-goers: to handle race-day crowds the station had nine tracks. Some 36 years later a rival railway company built a line up to the race-course. The South Eastern & Chatham's terminus was at Tattenham Corner, and just a minute or so's walk from the course. The SE&CR's route from London was less direct - going 'all round the houses' via Purley and Tadworth - but its terminus was far more convenient for race-goers, so the Brighton line's terminus inevitably declined. The site of the old station was finally sold for residential development in 1989, so that the line now terminates at the site seen in the photo - several hundred yards further north-east (and further from the races). Just a single platform, just a single track. Someone I spoke to nearby told me that during Derby week passengers still flood in by the thousand.

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