EARLY HISTORY
(1865 - 1928)

When Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary on 25th May 1663 "a great throng going to the downs upon a great horse and foot race", the place he had in mind were in fact the downs above Epsom. When exactly horse-racing began on Epsom Downs is uncertain, but regular meetings were established by 1730 and the first "Derby" took place on 4th May 1780.

Even in the days when no form of public transport was available, flocks of people from all over South-East England would come together on Epsom Downs to attend the races - in the 1820s, crowds of up to 80'000 were reported.. It is therefore hardly surprising that right from the beginning of the railway age in the South East, horse racing events were seen as an important market segment. The London & Southampton Railway, for example, opened its line between Nine Elms and Woking earlier than planned in May 1838 and arranged for unscheduled train stops at a location close to where Surbiton station now stands. The result was dramatic: 5'000 people tried to get a seat at Nine Elms on "Derby Day"...

As the race traffic (described by period sources as "a noisy, dusty and beer-swilling pilgrimage") continued to grow, a group of local businessmen got together and formed a company known as the Banstead & Epsom Downs Railway. They applied to Parliament and received authority on 17th July 1862.

The heading of the published act, taken from an original 1862 print
(personal collection)

The act, totalling 56 paragraphs on 18 pages, not only dealt with standard questions in conjunction with the building of a new railway line but was also set out to safeguard third party interests. Primarily, this concerned the London Brighton & South Coast Railway which had every intention of guarding controlling power in every respect at Sutton station (now to become a junction), but it also concerned the trustees of the Ewell to Burgh Heath turnpike, which the railway planned to cross by means of a bridge, for which detailed building conditions and instructions were set up (the complete act - scanned from an original 1862 print - can be downloaded as a pdf file).

And so, what is today the Epsom Downs Branch was born out of one reason only: horse-racing. It was the time of short railway line proposals all over England, a large part of which found themselves in some kind of trouble almost right after their Bill had been passed. The Banstead & Epsom Downs Railway Company fared no better. First of all, the original plans to bring the terminus as close to the Grandstand as 220 yards were shattered by the opposition of both the Lord of the Manor of Epsom Downs and the Epsom Grandstand Association - in the end, Epsom Downs station came to be built some 1'100 yards from the Grandstand) Mounting disagreement amongst the local leaders of the project resulted in the forming of bitter factions and finally brought about negotiations on the disposal of the contracts which lead to a transfer of management into the hands of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway in March 1863. In June 1864, the Banstead & Epsom Downs Railway Company was amalgamated into the LB&SCR. The railway finally opened to traffic on 22nd May 1865, and transported some 70'000 people during the races of that week.

This photograph, which was specially set up on Derby Day in 1907, shows what a large and complex affair the station at Epsom Downs was. On the extreme left, the Royal Train can be seen, and the number of signals and engine release roads (with earth mounds acting as bufferstops) is quite impressive.
(Lens of Sutton)

In order to accomodate the huge amount of race traffic on Derby Days, the line was double track right from the beginning of the first planning stages. The starting point was Sutton, which had been opened by the LB&SCR in 1847 as part of the Epsom extension of the London Bridge to West Croydon line (opened in 1839).

In 1865, Sutton was a simple through station with two platforms. Construction of the Epsom Downs branch turned Sutton into a junction, with its double track turning South immediately. Thus, while the Epsom line platforms (1 & 2) were straight, the branch platforms (3 & 4) were (and still are) sharply curved. The entrance to the station buildings, which were mainly located in the fork of the two lines, was at street level, with passengers having to descend stairs to get to the platforms below.

This picture of Sutton, which was taken in 1867, shows the station and track layout after the branch to Epsom Downs (on the left) was opened.
(Lens of Sutton)

In 1891 proposals were put forward in connection with the question as to how Tadworth (a fast growing and popular high-class residential area since the 1880s) should be connected to the railway system. A local interest group obtained an act in 1892 for the proposed "Epsom Downs Extension Railway" (the line would have run off the Epsom Downs branch near Banstead to climb southwards to Tadworth), but these plans were immediately faced with huge problems due to insufficient capital and an obvious lack of interest on the side of the LB&SCR. The Chipstead Valley Railway (an act for which was obtained in 1893) planned a railway from a junction wiht the LB&SCR mainline at Purley and intended to connect with the proposed Epsom Downs Extension Railway, thus creating a through line between Purley and Sutton. Eventually, the line was built from Purley to Kingswood in 1897 by the South Eastern Railway, and finally completed to Tadworth and Tattenham Corner in 1901. The Epsom Downs Extension Railway never materialized, but oddly enough, Surrey County Council was required to pronounce itself in 1997 on suggestions that a rail link should be built between Tattenham Corner and Epsom Downs stations to create a loop line and shorten journey times. These plans, however, were dismissed on the grounds that construction costs would be prohibitive in such a densely populated area.

Epsom Downs station became a part of Britain's social history when on Derby Day 1913, militant suffragette Mary Richardson was beaten and subsequently chased to the station by an angry crowd after Emily Wilding Davison, who had accompanied Richardson, had ran in front of the King's horse. Davison subsequently died from her injuries, while Richardson was given refuge for several hours at the station by a porter.

On 1st January 1923, the Epsom Downs branch together with the LB&SCR became, by act of Parliament, part of the Southern Railway. This proved quite decisive with respect to the electrification of the line. While the LB&SCR had started building up a 6700 volts A.C. overhead electric system on its lines since 1909 (overhead wires services were actually taken up between Victoria and Sutton via West Croydon in April 1925), the Southern eventually opted for the now well-known third rail system using 750 volts D.C. On 17th June 1928 the third rail electrification was completed to Epsom Downs - the last regular steam train on the line left Epsom Downs on that very same day. The now redundant turntable at Epsom Downs was removed in February 1931.

Conceived and built to handle masses of trains and people on a few racing days a year, the terminus at Epsom Downs saw little traffic on regular working days - a contrast which is nicely illustrated by this 1928 scene.
(R.C. Riley Collection)

The last Royal train had run to Epsom Downs in 1924 (after which the Royals went by road until after WW2, when they returned to rail travel but chose Tattenham Corner, which had been opened in 1901 and was more conveniently situated, i.e. closer to the Grandstand).

Continue to Southern Electrics: 1928 - 1986
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Page last revised on May 9th 2005