Esher railway station is a station on the

South West Main Line The South West Main Line (SWML) is a 143-mile (230 km) major railway line between Waterloo station in central London and Weymouth on the south coast of England. A predominantly passenger line, it serves many commuter areas including south we ...

operated by South Western Railway in Surrey, England. The station adjoins the north of

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up ...

with two footpaths skirting Sandown Park Racecourse, the town's commercial area being 300 metres beyond the racecourse entrance. The station is situated between and and is from .

History

The railway arrived here in 1838. A minor request stop was immediately opened and a station built and named ''Ditton Marsh,'' being the wetter part of Ditton Common. The common marks the boundary between what was then the west of Thames Ditton and

. The station was opened on 21 May 1838, and the name changed to ''Esher and Hampton Court'' about 1840. It has since been renamed twice more: to ''Esher and Claremont'' in July 1844, and to ''Esher'' on 1 June 1913. It has also been shown as ''Esher for Claremont'', or as ''Esher for Sandown Park'' in some timetables.

Amenities

The station and track is elevated above street levelOS Map with Listed Buildings and Parks marked
A special gate on the platform opens directly onto Sandown Park racecourse.

Services

At off-peak times two trains per hour in both directions call at Esher, the termini being London Waterloo station and the larger Surrey town of Woking. Additional trains operate during peak hours, of which at least 4 (2 in the morning rush-hour, 2 in the evening) terminate at Guildford (which also serves as the terminus for stopping trains on Sundays). Woking is the point of change for services to longer distance destinations to the south-west (see stations below).

Former amenities

Two additional

island platforms An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

are disused and not accessible to passengers though passed by through trains. Bus services 515 and on Sundays 715 serve the station.

Location

The station is to the west of Weston Green which falls within the

postal district. Esher parish is close by the station and has included the Sandown Park grounds since its establishment in the early medieval period. A footpath to the west of the station skirts Sandown Park Racecourse and leads to the Lower Green area of Esher. The town's commercial area lies 300 metres beyond the racecourse entrance, followed by West End and Claremont. The station is the closest to Esher by road. Thames Ditton railway station on the branch line to

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

is closest to the eastern half of Weston Green, which lies within the Thames Ditton postal district.

In film, television, fiction and the media

Esher railway station featured on an episode of the children's TV series Little Howard's Big Question, in which the Dutch graphic and mathematical artist M. C. Escher was confused with Esher and one of his drawings mistakenly thought to be the railway station.

Notes and references

;Notes ;References

External links

{{Transport in Surrey Railway stations in Surrey Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1838 Railway stations served by South Western Railway Borough of Elmbridge