IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Cross Road, TADWORTH, KT20 5SR

The ramp leading down to the London-bound platform.

Located beside the former railway station building.

A branch line along the Chipstead Valley from the Brighton Main Line was first projected in 1884. This scheme failed to take off. The line from Purley East Junction to Kingswood & Burgh Heath was eventually opened on 2nd November 1897 as a single track and this was doubled during 1899. The line finally reached Tattenham Corner on 4th June 1901 - Derby Day. The railway provides attractive views of Chipstead Valley and it is certainly one of the pleasantest rides within London Travelcard Zone 6, even though most of it is in Surrey. Tadworth station opened as Walton-on-the-Hill station on 1st July 1900. This view looks from the down platform up the line towards Purley and London. The original station building seen ahead over the line and which faces onto Cross Road is now disused and at the time this photograph was taken was to let. The exit is now to the right leading to The Avenue. See also http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3623434 for a view of the disused station building from street level.

A similar view of the south end of the station to Image nearly five years earlier. This one shows the height of the trees either side of the line.

The South Eastern & Chatham Railway reached Tadworth quite late in railway history, in 1900. The line runs in a deep cutting, and this building stands on a bridge that crosses it. The structure seems of a generous size for this location in the outermost suburbs. Plainly it housed more than just the booking hall - perhaps a refreshment room, perhaps a parcels office. Waiting rooms - I imagine - would be at platform level, a good many feet below. Current access to the platforms is by means of long ramps (to accommodate e.g. push-chairs and wheelchairs) - and these by-pass the old station building. As built in 1900, the platforms were most likely reached by way of steep staircases descending directly from the booking hall. Anyway, after years of disuse http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3623434 the building now looks quite spruce and is occupied by a restaurant - the 'bridge grill&meze&bar' (yes, all lower case). Customers were coming and going, even on a quiet January afternoon.

A branch line along the Chipstead Valley from the Brighton Main Line was first projected in 1884. This scheme failed to take off. The line from Purley East Junction to Kingswood & Burgh Heath was eventually opened on 2nd November 1897 as a single track and this was doubled during 1899. The line finally reached Tattenham Corner on 4th June 1901 - Derby Day. The railway provides attractive views of Chipstead Valley and it is certainly one of the pleasantest rides within London Travelcard Zone 6, even though most of it is in Surrey. Tadworth station opened as Walton-on-the-Hill station on 1st July 1900. This is the original station building facing onto Cross Road. As can be seen at the time this photograph was taken it was to let, but by 2018 it was spruced up and in use as a restaurant - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5656598 The exit is now up to The Avenue. See http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3623430 for the view from the platform.

Even though the view is southward, this is the 'up' (to London) platform. I notice that while passengers are provided with shelter on the 'up' side, there is no awning on the 'down' platform. Tadworth is just one stop from the branch terminus at Tattenham Corner, so the down platform will see little use other than by homeward-bound commuters. The original station buildings straddle the bridge at the far end of the platforms - see Image which also gives more of the line's history.