Dr_Paul
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- 3 Sep 2013
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The growth of Surbiton, as we know it today, is interesting, as it might not have happened in the same way had the LSWR main line been built where the company had intended, that is, from New Malden to Long Ditton skirting the southern end of Kingston and the hill at today's Surbiton. Local interests did not want a station in or close to Kingston town centre, and so the line was built over a mile to the south, in a cutting that has had several landslips over the years.
Kingston station would have been somewhere near where the Guildhall, the Poly (now University) or Surbiton Crescent are, and subsequent station-oriented development would have been around there, not where it occurred around today's Surbiton station. Kingston would have developed differently, oriented more to the south, and it is a moot point whether the line from Teddington through Kingston to New Malden (today's Kingston loop) would have been built had the original station for Kingston been a few hundred yards from the town centre and on the LSWR main line.
Kingston station would have been somewhere near where the Guildhall, the Poly (now University) or Surbiton Crescent are, and subsequent station-oriented development would have been around there, not where it occurred around today's Surbiton station. Kingston would have developed differently, oriented more to the south, and it is a moot point whether the line from Teddington through Kingston to New Malden (today's Kingston loop) would have been built had the original station for Kingston been a few hundred yards from the town centre and on the LSWR main line.