Lingfield railway station is on the branch of the

Oxted line The Oxted line is a railway in southern England and part of the Southern franchise. The railway splits into two branches towards the south and has direct trains throughout to London termini. It was opened jointly by the London, Brighton and S ...

in southern England and serves Lingfield in Surrey. It is from , although off peak trains run to and from . The station is managed by Southern. The station adjoins

Lingfield Park Racecourse Lingfield Park Racecourse (commonly referred to as Lingfield) is a horse racing course at Lingfield in Surrey, United Kingdom. It is owned by the ARC Racing and Leisure Group, formerly Arena Leisure Plc. Lingfield is best known as a winte ...

History

The opening of the

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

's (LBSCR) Oxted Line in 1884 brought the railway to the small agricultural parish of Lingfield which, like its neighbour Dormansland, had been earmarked for residential development. The area was also to be the location of a new

racecourse A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also use ...

which was to open in 1890. Lingfield originally had only limited facilities to accommodate passengers and freight, and struggled to deal with the crowds which attended the race meetings. A goods shed and loading dock were added in May 1884, and in 1894 the down platform became an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

and the loading dock was extended to become a departure platform for race specials. The LBSCR obtained authorisation to construct a line directly to the racecourse in 1898, but these plans never materialised. Goods traffic was at a peak during the interwar period, when the sidings saw a variety of interesting traffic. Horseboxes and cattle wagons were numerous, and during the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, it was a stabling point for an emergency tank train. A large banana ripening shed was opened in the late 1950s and this received supplies direct from

Avonmouth Docks The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the Severn estuary, within Avo ...

. This closed on 1 October 1971 as bananas were now

containerised Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the pr ...

and transported by road. Race traffic has also decreased and the track layout was progressively simplified, leaving the remaining traffic to be dealt with by strengthening ordinary services. Further modifications were carried out in 1972 when the station was "modernised" by demolishing the goods shed and removing the down platform canopy. However, the main buildings, together with the adjoining stationmaster's house, have survived as good examples of an LBSCR country station.

Services

Off-peak, all services at Lingfield are operated by Southern using

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to via * 1 tph to During the peak hours and on weekends, the service is increased to 2 tph in each direction. During the peak hours, there are also

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

operated services between East Grinstead, and . These services are operated using EMUs.

References

External links

{{Transport in Surrey Railway stations in Surrey Former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1884 Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway