Hampton Court & Cheam Railway Stations

[STEVIEBOY1]

I was having a local day our yesterday using my travel card. one train I took was from Hampton Court Station which I have never used before. I departed from platform 2, which, from looking at it's track does not seem to be used so much. I can see that there was a third platform but the track has been taken up. I think they was also and other lane beyond platform one, I presume these would have allowed for loco run arounds in the days of steam. It's quite a nice station.

Does anyone know what the small river is that the line goes over at the London end of the platforms? (Is it the Mole?)

I think there were some covered up wagons there too.

Later I traveled through Cheam Station. I was surprised how much space there was between the tracks, was there 2 or 3 through lines and maybe also a central platform, perhaps to allow fast trains to run through and overtake slow services. I think that line once saw mainline trains to the south coast.

It just seemed surprising how roomy the station layout was.

The station buildings on the Chessington Branch are quite unusual too. I think that line was built much later in the 1920s or 1930s and you can see that in the architecture.

 

[steamybrian]

At Hampton Court the station is indeed over the River Mole. The station is actually in East Molesey with Hampton Court being situated the other side of the Thames.

At Cheam there were two through lines which were removed in the late 1960s or early 1970s. When the station was originally constructed there was space reserved for a central island platform which was never built.

The Chessington branch was built in a distinct unusual concrete style so typical of the 1930s and was opened through to Chessington South in 1939 as part of a new loop line to Leatherhead. At Chessington South the up platform was completed but never used. Beyond Chessington South some unfinished embankments still survive today.

 

[30907]

Hampton Court was rebuilt in 1899 and had, as well as the 3 platforms, a goods yard (now car park), a small loco depot on the down side south of the River Mole (now industrial area) and carriage sidings on the up side (now wooded, going by Google maps).

 

[DavidToad]

I believe it is the River Ember that joins the Thames just south of Hampton Court Station - the River Mole joins the Ember approx 50 yards upstream to where the railway crosses.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

I was having a local day our yesterday using my travel card. one train I took was from Hampton Court Station which I have never used before. I departed from platform 2, which, from looking at it's track does not seem to be used so much. I can see that there was a third platform but the track has been taken up. I think they was also and other lane beyond platform one, I presume these would have allowed for loco run arounds in the days of steam. It's quite a nice station.

Does anyone know what the small river is that the line goes over at the London end of the platforms? (Is it the Mole?)

I think there were some covered up wagons there too.

Later I traveled through Cheam Station. I was surprised how much space there was between the tracks, was there 2 or 3 through lines and maybe also a central platform, perhaps to allow fast trains to run through and overtake slow services. I think that line once saw mainline trains to the south coast.

It just seemed surprising how roomy the station layout was.

The station buildings on the Chessington Branch are quite unusual too. I think that line was built much later in the 1920s or 1930s and you can see that in the architecture.

Many thanks for these most informative & useful replies. I had a feeling that the Chessington Branch was supposed to go further but I guess this was stopped when WW2 broke and like many other projects throughout the country etc, it never got completed. (There were similar planned extentions in North London to the Underground that likewise did not materialise or get completed for the same reason.)

 

[30907]

Many thanks for these most informative & useful replies. I had a feeling that the Chessington Branch was supposed to go further but I guess this was stopped when WW2 broke and like many other projects throughout the country etc, it never got completed. (There were similar planned extentions in North London to the Underground that likewise did not materialise or get completed for the same reason.)

Specific reason for Chessington, Aldenham etc not restarting post war was Green Belt legislation IIRC. Lullingstone on the Swanley -Sevenoaks line was another case.

 

[Iron Girder]

At Hampton Court the station is indeed over the River Mole. The station is actually in East Molesey with Hampton Court being situated the other side of the Thames.

At Cheam there were two through lines which were removed in the late 1960s or early 1970s. When the station was originally constructed there was space reserved for a central island platform which was never built.

The Chessington branch was built in a distinct unusual concrete style so typical of the 1930s and was opened through to Chessington South in 1939 as part of a new loop line to Leatherhead. At Chessington South the up platform was completed but never used. Beyond Chessington South some unfinished embankments still survive today.

I used to live in the area (Tolworth), and the prevailing story as I remember it was that the ground works beyond Chessington South station were built by Royal Engineers training to build railways. It goes on quite a long way before fizzling out in dense woodland.