Box Hill & Westhumble railway station

Box Hill & Westhumble railway station is a railway station in the village of Westhumble in Surrey,^[1] approximately two miles north of Dorking town centre. Box Hill is located approximately half a mile to the east. The station is served by one train every hour towards London Victoria and one train every hour towards Horsham off peak, operated by Southern. More trains operate on Sundays and Public Holidays in each direction.

The station is the end point for the Thames Down Link long distance footpath from Kingston upon Thames,^[2] and lies close to the mid-point of the Mole Gap Trail between Leatherhead and Dorking.^[3] The station is within 0.5 miles of the North Downs Way.

History

The station was constructed at the insistence of Thomas Grissell the owner of Norbury Park, in part compensation for the railway cutting across his land to the north of the village. The main building was designed by Charles Henry Driver in the Châteauesque style and included steeply pitched roofs with patterned tiles and an ornamental turret topped with a decorative grille and weather vane.^[4] The building is currently in use as a private dwelling and commercial premises and is protected by a Grade II listing.^[5]

Grissell also obtained the right from the LBSCR to stop any train on request, a privilege subsequently exercised by Leopold Salomons, who purchased Norbury Park in 1890. This concession was legally abolished by the Transport Act of 1962, however there is no evidence to suggest that it was regularly used after 1910.^[4]

The name of the station has changed many times over the years with "Box Hill" & "Boxhill" and "Westhumble" & "West Humble" used in varying combinations for signs, timetables and railway maps, with many inconsistencies. In 2006, after consultation with local residents, the station's name was changed to "Box Hill and Westhumble" from "Boxhill and Westhumble".^[6]

Terrier tank engine

A Terrier tank engine, built by the LBSCR in 1880, was named Boxhill after the station.^[7] It was used to haul commuter trains in South London and Surrey until the 1920s, when it was moved to become a shunting engine at Brighton. Unlike other engines of its class, its smokebox was not modified in the early 20th century, and it was restored by the Southern Railway in 1947 to its original condition and painted in its original Stroudley yellow ochre livery.^[8] It is now preserved at the National Railway Museum in York.^[7]

Gallery

Typical off-peak journey times

December 2006 - May 2007 timetable
Frequency in trains per hour

References

External links

• Train times and station information for Box Hill & Westhumble railway station from National Rail