Mitcham tram stop

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**Mitcham**

Management
Managed by	Tramlink
Transport for London
Travelcard Zone	4
Location
Place	Mitcham
Local authority	London Borough of Merton
Statistics
Platforms in use	2
History
Key dates	Opened 1803 (SIR) Closed 1846 (SIR) Opened 1855 (W&CR) Closed 1997 (Railtrack) Opened 2000 (Tramlink)

Mitcham tram stop is a former railway station and now a Tramlink stop in Mitcham in the London Borough of Merton. The stop is on Tramlink route 1 between Belgrave Walk and Mitcham Junction.

[edit] History

The station was first opened by the Surrey Iron Railway (SIR) in 1803, the world's first long distance railway, with trains pulled by horses. After the SIR went out of business in 1846, the Wimbledon & Croydon Railway (W&CR) took over the route and the station in 1855 and the route was operated as a conventional railway until closed by Railtrack in 1997 for conversion to tram operation. Station Court, on the north of the tram line and east of London Road A217, was one of the SIR's original station buildings, used as a merchant's home, making it one of the oldest railway buildings in the world.

[edit] Infrastructure

Due to limited track space in the cutting northwest of the station towards Belgrave Walk tram stop, the tracks are interlaced for a short distance with one rail of the southeast bound track between the two rails of the northwest bound track. East of the station the tramway is single track to Mitcham Junction.