A Potted History of the Railways of Epsom and Ewell

The first railway to open in the Epsom and Ewell area was the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's (LBSCR) line from West Croydon via Sutton which opened in 1847 with trains from London Bridge or Victoria. It terminated at a station to the east of the present Epsom station.

The second railway to open, on 4 April 1859, was the London and South Western Railway's (LSWR) line from Raynes Park to a station on the site of the present Epsom station, with trains from Waterloo.

In 1860 a line opened from Epsom to Dorking and Effingham Junction (via Leatherhead), with a link line built from Epsom's LBSCR station to the LSWR station. However the LBSCR trains ran through the LSWR station without stopping. The line from Epsom to Leatherhead was owned jointly by both railway companies. The line continuing from Leatherhead to Dorking (and eventually to Horsham) was owned by the LBSCR, and the line from Leatherhead to Effingham Junction (which joined the line from Surbiton to Guildford via Claygate) was owned by the LSWR.

On 1 January 1923, the LBSCR and LSWR companies were absorbed (along with other railways in Kent) into Southern Railway. This new railway company was split into three divisions: - Central (the ex-LBSCR lines); South Eastern (the Kent lines); and South Western (the ex-LSWR lines), with the ex-LBSCR station being renamed Epsom Town.

In 1925 the railways in Epsom were electrified using the third rail system.

On the 3 March 1929 a new combined station was opened at Epsom on the site of the former LSWR station. The former LBSCR station closed, and the services that had called there, called at the new station instead.

Since then the railways have stayed much the same. In 1948 the railways were nationalised and the Southern Railway became the Southern Region of British Railways (later just British Rail). The three Divisions continued as before.

In the late 1980s, Network South East was created as a focus for the railways in the South East of England. One of the first major projects (apart from painting all the lamp posts red) was to reopen the Snow Hill tunnel (in the City of London) which linked the railways of North and South London, and Thameslink was created. A new service, Luton to Guildford was introduced which ran via St Albans, West Hampstead, Kings Cross Thameslink, St Paul's Thameslink, Blackfriars, Elephant & Castle, Herne Hill, West Croydon, Sutton, Epsom, Leatherhead, Bookham and Effingham Junction. This route operated for only a few years as although the trains were direct they were slow.

When the railways were privatised, two of the newly created Train Operating Companies served Epsom: Network South Central for the ex LBSCR lines (which has had various names, but is now called Southern) and South West Trains for the ex LSWR lines.