The Tattenham Corner line is an railway line in Surrey and Greater London, England. It runs from its western terminus at , near Epsom Downs Racecourse, to a junction with the Caterham line south of . There are intermediate stations at , , , , and Reedham. All seven stations are managed by Southern, which operates all passenger trains. Most services run between Tattenham Corner and via .
The line was promoted in two parts by the Epsom Downs Extension Railway and the Chipstead Valley Railway companies. The first section, between Purley Junction and Kingswood, opened on 2 November 1897 as a single-track line. The South Eastern Railway (SER) operated all services from the outset. The SER took over the line in 1899 and was responsible for finishing its construction and the provision of double track. Tattenham Corner station finally opened on 4 June 1901, the day of the Epsom Derby. The Southern Railway electrified the line using the 750 V DC third-rail system in 1928.
Infrastructure and services
The Tattenham Corner line is a railway line in Surrey and Greater London, England. It runs for from its terminus at Tattenham Corner station to an at-grade junction with the Caterham line, down the line from London Charing Cross and south of Purley station. The maximum speed permitted on the branch is . The line is electrified using the 750 V DC third-rail system and is double tracked throughout. Signalling is controlled from Three Bridges and Track Circuit Block is in operation. There are two tunnels on the line – the Kingswood Tunnel and the Hoppity Tunnel – both of which are to the east of Tadworth station. The steepest gradient on the line, between Chipstead Viaduct and the summit at Tadworth Street Bridge, is 1 in 80.
The seven stations on the branch are managed by Southern, which operates all services. Tattenham Corner has three operational platforms, but the other six stations have two platforms each. The buffer stops at Tattenham Corner are down the line from London Charing Cross, when measured via .
The off-peak service pattern is two trains per hour in each direction between Tattenham Corner and London Bridge. At Purley, trains join with or split from a train travelling to or from . Most trains serve all stations between and Tattenham Corner, but run non-stop between London Bridge and East Croydon.
{|class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed"
|+ class="nowrap"|Stations on the Tattenham Corner line
|-
!scope="col"|Station
!scope="col"|Distance from Charing Cross<br> via Norwood Junction
!scope="col"|Number of<br> platforms
!scope="col"|Opening date
!scope="col" class="unsortable"|Original name
!scope="col" class="unsortable"|Ref.
|- style="background:#F8F8FF"
|Reedham||||2||||Reedham Halt||
|-
|||||2||||Smitham||
|-
|||||2||||||
|-
|||||2|||| ||
|-
|||||2||||Kingswood & Burgh Heath||
|-
|||||2||||Tadworth & Walton-on-the-Hill||
|-
|||||3||||||
|}
History
Proposals and authorisations
The first proposals for a railway serving Tattenham Corner and Tadworth were drawn up in 1891 and a private bill was presented to Parliament in December 1891. The line, called the Epsom Downs Extension Railway (EDER), was to run from a station near Walton-on-the-Hill northwards to a junction with the Epsom Downs Branch near the Drift Bridge. The driving force behind the scheme was a group of local landowners, including Cosmo Bonsor, later the chairman of the South Eastern Railway (SER). Although the (55 & 56 Vict. c. cxlv) was passed, there were several objectors including the Epsom Grand Stand Association, who feared that their plans to extend the racecourse would be jeopardised by the construction of the line. The Surrey Advertiser and County Times reported a formal ceremony on 6 June 1892 marking the start of construction, although royal assent was not granted until 27 June.
thumb|upright|A 1905 [[Railway Clearing House map showing the eastern end of the Tattenham Corner line and its connection to the Caterham line and Brighton Main Line]]
A second line, the Chipstead Valley Railway (CVR), running from the southern terminus of the EDER to a junction with the SER Caterham line south of Purley, was proposed in 1893. Authorisation was granted by an act of Parliament, the (56 & 57 Vict. c. cliii), on 27 July of that year. In proposing this second scheme, Bonsor had intended that the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) would take over both the CVR and the EDER, and combine them into a single railway that it would then operate. The LBSCR refused and the CVR began to purchase the necessary land to construct their line. In October 1896, the SER agreed to seek parliamentary approval to take over both lines, which were by then under construction. The following year, the EDER was given approval in the (60 & 61 Vict. c. xlii) to abandon its plans to build the section of its line north of Tattenham Corner. The SER formally absorbed the CVR and EDER in 1899.
Construction and openings
thumb|right| station. The line is in a deep cutting at this point and the main station building is on a bridge above the tracks
As initially surveyed, the CVR was to have been a single-track railway costing £11,000 per mile to build. The SER was unhappy with the proposals and provided an additional £3000 per mile to widen the formation for two tracks and to reduce the maximum gradient from 1 in 60 to 1 in 80. On 2 November 1897, the section between Purley Junction and Kingswood opened as a single-track line with a passing loop at Chipstead, the only intermediate station. From the outset, the line was worked by the SER. The section to Tadworth was opened as a single line on 1 July 1900. Double track was commissioned between Purley and Kingswood the following day and to Tadworth in November of the same year. All three CVR stations were provided with goods yards.
thumb|right| station in 1901
The final section of the line, between Tadworth and Tattenham Corner stations, opened on 4 June 1901, the day of the Epsom Derby. The terminus was laid out to cope with the volume of passengers travelling to the racecourse and had six operational platforms. Between 1902 and 1928, it saw no regular timetabled services and only opened for race day and summer excursion specials. Trains taking horses to the racecourse also used the station and the Epsom Grand Stand Association erected stables for 100 horses nearby.
Later 20th century developments
Detailed plans for Smitham station (now Coulsdon Town) had been drawn up in 1898 and 1899, but it was not opened until 1 January 1904. It was very close to station on the Brighton Main Line, which had opened on 5 November 1899 and closed on 1 October 1983. Reedham station opened on 1 March 1911 as a halt. It closed for two years between 1 January 1917 and 1 January 1919, and became a staffed station on 5 July 1936.
During the First World War, racing at Epsom Downs was suspended and the area was used for military training camps. The line was used extensively for transport of troops and supplies. Following the end of the war, sidings at Tattenham Corner station were used to store surplus War Department locomotives. During the Second World War, casualties from the liberation of France were transported to a field hospital at Epsom Downs Racecourse via the line.
Electrification was first proposed in 1913 by the LBSCR. The company offered to install its overhead 6,700 V system, on the condition that it could lease the line from the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR, the successor to the SER) and operate all services. Following the end of the First World War, the SECR engineer, Alfred Raworth, recommended that the LBSCR scheme should be adopted. The plans were not pursued and under the Railways Act 1921, the Tattenham Corner line became part of the London Central Division of the Southern Railway in 1923. A new proposal to electrify the line using the 750 V DC third-rail system was authorised in August 1926.