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BELMONT
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Belmont,
the first station on the branch, is sited one and a
quarter miles down the line from the junction at Sutton.
The area consisted of less than a dozen scattered
agricultural labourer's cottages before the South
Metropolitan District School was constructed between 1852
and 1855. It served to accommodate children from
impoverished south London families and was heavily
extended shortly after the opening of the railway line.
The presence of a railway station also triggered housing
developments, and in the 1880s the first shops were
opened - not surprisingly in Station Road. A post office
was opened in 1890, by which time the number of
inhabitants at Belmont had more than doubled in ten years
to a total of 450 - not a very large number by any
standards, but that same year a staggering 1,800 children
were recorded to be in attendance at the Met District
School (Kirby, 1983). |
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(click for larger image)
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The school
was closed as a consequence of the 1902 Education
Act, and Belmont remained a very rural place
right up until the 1930s, with the village
growing around the railway station.
The station has quite a
chequered history in respect to its name, having
started out in life as "California".
The LB&SCR chose this name with reference to
the "California Arms" pub which existed
there since 1861 and which can be seen on the
1871 survey map.
There are many stories
relating how traffic destined for this station
would quite often end up in the United States as
officially there was no such place in Britain.
Legend therefore has it that the stationmaster,
faced with massive losses of consignments,
suggested the renaming of the station (Kirby,
1983). The station's name was changed to Belmont
in 1875. The pub was destroyed by a direct German
bomb hit in April 1941, rebuilt in
the 1950s and eventually also renamed "The
Belmont" in the 1980s...
The 1871 survey map also
shows the private siding for the South
Metropolitan Dristricts School, which was later
put out of use and lifted. The land in the
vicinity at this time was still devoid of any
housing.
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The
original station building was completely destroyed in
1940 by enemy action. A direct hit leaving very little at
all to be rebuilt, temporary wooden structures were put
in place, which in time were followed by a concrete CLASP
structure which was reduced to a mere basic shelter over
the years. Refurbishment of the station concourse by
Southern effectively reduced the infrastructure to a
platform with a modern shelter and ticket-machine. |
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The original Belmont station
building and station forecourt in a postcard view
dating from LBSCR days
(Lens of Sutton),
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The contemporary view in 2005
after station refurbishment by Southern
(Adrian Wymann)
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The area
has seen many changes as the open spaces which existed
during the first fifty years of the railway line's
existence gradually disappeared, as the comparison of
historic and contemporary views of the station area
illustrates. |
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Looking north to Sutton from
Station Road Bridge, the main building of Belmont
station is just visible on the right in this
pre-1923 postcard view showing LBSCR
"Stroudley" 0-4-2T "D" class
no. 259 'Barnham' pushing a two-coach train.
(Lens of Sutton) In
2005, the scene has changed almost beyond
recognition as the down line track and platform
serve as the only points of reference left when
comparing the two views. (Adrian
Wymann)
The abundance of trees
literally hides the fact that there are rows of
houses to the left which virtually border on the
railway line.
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The view
looking south to Banstead has changed in a similarly
dramatic way over the past 80 years. Looking in the other
direction from Station Road Bridge, towards Banstead: an
early 1920s postcard of Belmont Signal Box , and the same
location in September 2005. |
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(Lens of Sutton)
The
Brighton Road bridge in the background is the
common landmark which remains.
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(Adrian Wymann)
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27 September 2005
(Adrian Wymann)
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Station
Road Bridge, situated just a few yards away from
the Banstead end of the platform, has served as
vintage viewpoint for photographers of Belmont
station for decades. All the above views -
historic and contemporary - were taken looking
down from this structure.
Still in place and visible in
the left hand foreground of the picture are the
concrete foundations of the footbridge, which was
taken down after platform 2 became redundant due
to the singling of the branch.
The
reduction of the branch to single track on 3rd
October 1982 made both the original up platform
and the footbridge (needed to get there from the
main station area) redundant. As with Banstead
station, the abandoned platform site quickly
became overgrown.
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The main station name sign at
Belmont (still dating from Network SouthEast
days) on the concrete shelter building in 2000
(Adrian Wymann)
The platform at Belmont on 25
September 2004 looking south to Banstead (left)
with the entrance area to the platform to the
right, and looking north to Sutton (right).
(Adrian Wymann)
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The concrete shelter, which
became a fairly dismal affair over the years, was
finally removed by South Central as part of their
station upgrading programme in 2004 - slightly
paradox at first sight in this case, as the
facilities were actually upgraded by downgrading
the station to a simple shelterless platform.
This was, however, more than compensated for by
adding passenger information points and a state
of the art ticket vending machine in 2005.
Newly installed ticket
machine at Belmont, September 2005
(Adrian Wymann)
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Refurbished
Cl 455 840 leaves Belmont with a London Victoria service
on 27 September 2005 - comparison with the picture above
shows that the platform has received new fencing, adding
to the generally tidy atmopshere which Belmont station
has acquired since Southern took over operation of the
line.
(Adrian
Wymann)
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