SOUTHERN ELECTRICS

With the third rail electrification completed to Epsom Downs on 17th June 1928, a new era commenced for the Epsom Downs branch.

Special excursion trains to the Derby were still run to Epsom Downs by Southern Electric in BR days (this example handbill dates from 1949), but the trains were common third class services
(personal collection)

While the reason for actually building the line - horse racing - was still of some importance at that time (Pullman, first class and Lord Derby's specials continued to use Epsom Downs until 1939, and Pullmans and first class specials were resumed after the war until 1953), it was already becoming quite clear that the increasingly intensive build-up of a residential area around the line and the commuters this produced would soon become the main source of income for the Epsom Downs branch. In 1927, the line saw the purchase of 3'000 season tickets - by 1933, this figure had grown to 13'000 and rising. The coming of the Southern Electrics not only heralded a change in appearance of the traffic on the line, the traffic itself was, in fact, changing.

Between 1928 and 1940 (in which year Belmont station was destroyed by enemy action), platforms at Belmont and Banstead were extended to accomodate 8-car trains. With the introduction of the EMU service on the line, Epsom Downs became a motorman's signing-on point, and the abundance of platforms was put to use by stabling electric stock overnight. In 1938, for example, six 8-car trains were stabled overnight and seven 3-car sets and six 2-car trailers were stabled between the morning and evening peaks. During WW II, Epsom Downs also saw the stabling of non-regular stock - according to SR and Ministry of War Transport records, a V1 bomb damaged 10 stored Pullman coaches on July 19th 1944.

The originally A.C. overhead service between Sutton and Victoria was converted to third rail during 1929 and officially opened on 6th July 1930, from which date trains also ran to and from Epsom Downs, giving commuters a choice of travelling either to London Bridge (as before) or London Victoria. While the service pattern introduced at that time (with trains running at 20-minute intervals peak and 30-minute intervals off-peak) basically lasted well into the 1960s, the growth of the commuter traffic demanded additional trains from London Bridge to Epsom Downs. In 1958, introduction of the 5-day week reduced Saturday services to two trains per hour on each route. The numerical headcodes for the routes served were "39" (London Bridge - Epsom Downs via West Croydon), "84" (Victoria - Epsom Downs via West Croydon) and "0" (Victoria - Epsom Downs via Mitcham Junction).

By the end of the 1950s, the effects of the fast growing number of people owning a car began to be felt on the line, particularly regarding the off-peak travel. All of the London suburban services were beginning to require heavy subsidising, and the governments were putting pressure on the railways for greater economies accordingly. Major cut-backs on the Epsom Downs services were introduced in 1961, with most off-peak trains from London Bridge terminating at Sutton.

May 1969 saw the closing of Epsom Downs as a motorman's signing-on point, and the berthing of stock ceased on 1st May 1972. The resulting effect for the (off-peak) passenger arriving at Epsom Downs station could at times be quite eerie, and it is quite probable that people who travelled there for their first time during this period of the Epsom Downs branch couldn't help but wonder if all of these platforms served ghost trains...

Semaphore signals still guard the station throat at Epsom Downs, but the view dates from the late 1960s
(Lens of Sutton)

With both Banstead (1964) and Belmont (1969) goods yards closed, the line was now passenger-only. 1969 also saw the introduction of track circuit block and hence both Belmont and Banstead signalboxes were abolished. In May 1969, Sunday services ceased, and the branch was put through some further slimming when platforms 1-3 and 6-9 were put out of use at Epsom Downs and platforms 4 and 5 renumbered 1 and 2.

The Epsom Downs branch had finally received most of the blows other branch lines all over the UK had felt in their own times. But there was one major and very important difference: the line was still open, and commuter patronage was such that there was no threat of closure, and so the line marched stubbornly through the difficult era of the 1970s into the brave new world of the 1980s.

On the night of 16th November 1981, Epsom Downs signal box (built in 1879) was destroyed by fire, an event which should prove to affect the future appearance of the Epsom Downs branch in a decisive manner. The immediate result was that there were no through trains onto the branch from 26th November 1981 until 4th November 1982. On some occasions, the shuttle service between Sutton and Epsom Downs was operated by preserved 4SUB unit 4732, restored to original green livery and bringing back some original Southern Electrics atmosphere to the line.

On 3rd October 1982, the inevitable happened - the singling of the Epsom Downs branchline beyond a point some 40 yards on the Belmont side of Ventnor Road bridge midway between Sutton and Belmont. From that point on the line is single over the old Down line, while the old Up line was lifted. The signalling is now controlled from the electronic box at Victoria (signals on the branch thus displaying numbers with VC).

On the face of it all, this was logical in many ways, but ever since, an atmosphere of growing disrepair has befallen many parts of the line. This picture, taken in July 1987, shows a Cl 455 EMU in the Banstead cutting, bound for Belmont. It's almost five years since the Up line was lifted, but sleepers and lifted track still indicate that this is not how it used to be. Another ten years on, these witnesses would be all but gone, hidden by shrubs which ventured onto what once was a trackbed.