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Emily Davison Drive, EPSOM, KT18 5QH

These excellent new houses, which were built on former railway land adjacent to the station, are ideally placed for those wishing to travel daily by rail to London. Sensitively, the road has been named Emily Davison Drive, and, if you didn't happen to know, Emily Davison was the courageous young suffragette who, in 1913, threw herself in front on the King's horse during the Derby. She died without regaining consciousness. The King's horse did not win the race.

Suburban railway station on Epsom Downs, close to Epsom Racecourse. It will be used by commuters and racegoers alike.

The first railway company to make the climb up to the downs was the London, Brighton & South Coast, which arrived in 1865. Its wish to build a station close to the race-course met with local resistance, so its terminus - known as Epsom Downs - was built at about TQ 226 595, more than half a mile from the nearest point on the course. To handle race-day crowds the station had nine tracks. The station at Tattenham Corner - far more convenient for race-goers - was opened by a rival company (the South Eastern & Chatham) in 1901 - very late for railway development in this part of England. The SE&CR climbed to the downs by a somewhat roundabout route from the south and east, by way of Purley and Tadworth. Inevitably the Brighton line's station then declined. In 1989 it was demolished and replaced by a much smaller station (still called 'Epsom Downs') a quarter of a mile or so short of the original terminus. I gleaned the above history in part from Dendy Marshall's 'History of the Southern Railway', but also have to thank Marathon for citing this very useful link: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/e/epsom_downs/index.shtml

See also Image, and Image for the reason why there is a new building here.

Two of Southern's fleet of class 455 electric units while away the weekend at platform 1 of Tattenham Corner station, while on the extreme right one of the same company's class 456 units awaits departure for London Bridge. Platform 1 seems to be used mostly for storing trains overnight and at weekends, but it also has a large gate near the buffer stops which appears to be there to provide direct access to Epsom Racecourse for passengers from the Royal Train. The white structure in the centre of the picture is a large mirror to enable train drivers to check that the trains doors can be closed without injuring passengers.

A train waits to return to Charing Cross. At first sight, the wide platforms might seem excessive at this suburban outpost, but this station is close to Epsom racecourse and attracts large crowds on race days.

Unit 455 810 waits with a train for Charing Cross. This station is a mere shadow of its former self.

Not even a single seat graces Platform 2 (or 1 or 3 for that matter) as unit 455 810 leaves forming a service to Charing Cross.