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Ashley Road, HAMPTON, TW12 2HU

Crowds gathering on the up line platform for Shepperton branch line trains heading towards London and to the England-Wales rugby match at Twickenham. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton,_London

A good group is waiting on this Sunday morning at Hampton station, for a Shepperton to London Waterloo local service.

The Thames Valley Railway opened on 1st November 1864 between the Kingston Loop south of Twickenham to Shepperton. Hampton station also opened on 1st November 1864. Within a year the line was taken over by the London & South Western Railway. When it opened the branch was a meandering single line through small communities. It was described as "crossing a flat and somewhat dreary region of Middlesex to terminate in a potato field, as if weary of going further in such country". A double track was provided as far as Fulwell in about 1867, and further doubling reached Sunbury in 1878 following the sale of the Kempton Manor estate for conversion to a racecourse. There was no really significant residential development along the line before 1914. At Hampton, a large estate called Marling Park to the north of the station was laid out for building in mid-Victorian times but filled only very slowly. The large gaps in the service during the first 40 years cannot have helped - four hours each way in the afternoon between trains. This is the view of the station looking from the down platform up the line. The next stop in this direction is Fulwell, on the way to Waterloo.

Looking towards Fulwell and Strawberry Hill. Passenger services began in 1901 suggesting that the station dates to circa 1900 and the line was electrified in 1916.

The Thames Valley Railway opened on 1st November 1864 between the Kingston Loop south of Twickenham to Shepperton. Hampton station also opened on 1st November 1864. Within a year the line was taken over by the London & South Western Railway. When it opened the branch was a meandering single line through small communities. It was described as "crossing a flat and somewhat dreary region of Middlesex to terminate in a potato field, as if weary of going further in such country". A double track was provided as far as Fulwell in about 1867, and further doubling reached Sunbury in 1878 following the sale of the Kempton Manor estate for conversion to a racecourse. There was no really significant residential development along the line before 1914. At Hampton, a large estate called Marling Park to the north of the station was laid out for building in mid-Victorian times but filled only very slowly. The large gaps in the service during the first 40 years cannot have helped - four hours each way in the afternoon between trains. This is the view of the station looking from the footbridge with the up platform on the left. The next stop in this direction is Fulwell, on the way to Waterloo.