The Epsom Downs Branch Website - The Network SouthEast era

On June 10th 1986, an event which took place at Waterloo station, would eventually - after years of cutting and pruning - turn the line from Sutton to Epsom Downs into a "consolidated modern" branchline: the launch of Network SouthEast.

Basically, Network SouthEast was one of five BR sectors, formed to coordinate passenger services in the South of England. It was all about modernisation and adapting the railways to the changing needs of rail customers, and the man up front of this administrative entity, managing director Chris Green, knew that communication was a key element in this game from his previous glory days with ScotRail. And so the launch of NSE brought about an entirely new image to the railways of the South East. The striking new livery made sure that each and every passenger knew straight away that something was happening here. However, it was all about far more than just colourful trains.

In the first four years of its existence, passenger income on NSE rose by nearly 20%, government support had fallen by 50%, and the age of rolling stock was reduced by five years. Over 70% of NSE’s stations were refurbished and 310 were modernised and given a complete facelift.

Network SouthEast arrived on the Epsom Downs branch quite quickly. In order to promote the new corporate identity, station signs sporting the strikingly different NSE design were put up soon after the official NSE launch. The most significant impact Network SouthEast had on the Epsom Downs branch, however, was the modernisation of the rolling stock. The classic slamdoor Electro-Pneumatic Brakes (EPB) EMUs were steadily being replaced on South London Lines by Cl 455. The Cl 455/8 EMU, sporting flashy NSE livery, thus replaced the Cl 416/3 (2EPB) and Cl 415 (4EPB) units as the most frequently used type of motive power, and indeed the Cl 455 still reigns supreme today on the Epsom Downs branch.

Cl 455 816 pulls into Banstead with an Epsom Downs to London Victoria service in July 1988.

At long last, the branch could again be seen as being part of the railway's future rather than just a motley collection of its past. Critics argued that there wasn't much more to it than a few pints of paint, but bearing in mind the past thirty-odd years of the branch, just that alone was more than any other managing body had cared to spend on the line. The stations looked bright once again and the general atmosphere was clearly changing for the better.

However, applying the NSE concept of modernisation to the Epsom Downs Branch also brought about the most drastic possible change at the end of the line: the demolition of the original terminus station at Epsom Downs and the opening of a new station 300 yards further up the line. In a way, the story of the Epsom Downs branch came full circle once again - the building of housing estates since the 1920s around the line had produced the commuters the line needed to flourish, and now the building of a housing estate meant that the vast amount of land which Epsom Downs station occupied would be needed...

On February 15th and 16th 1989, the old terminus was pulled down in a par force demolition operation.

The transformation this brought about was indeed unbelievable at first sight. True to its modernisation plans all the way, NSE erected a station building which looked just like one of the newly built houses in its neighbourhood. With now just one platform and a single line of track, virtually nothing remained of what once was Epsom Downs station - indeed, only the pillars supporting the valanced canopy were rescued from the old building and put to decorative use. The reasons for building the terminus - horse racing traffic - had not been of importance to the branch for some decades, but now all traces of its past were completely eradicated.

An 1871 survey map of the original station layout at Epsom Downs, and the position of the new station building and platform built in 1989

From a rational point of view, all NSE had done was to adjust the terminus to its actual amount of traffic. Being able to sell almost all of the old station estate to housing developers not only meant cash for the rail operator, but also got rid of a terminus which was completely overblown for the traffic it saw and therefore had largely fallen into a state of neglect. Commuters, of course, were also more than happy to trade in an increasingly ghostly and untidy spot for a new and bright station.

There have been many rumours about private groups having approached NSE with plans to turn the Epsom Downs Branch into a part-time preservation line on weekends prior to the demolition of the old terminus. Indeed, the line would have offered many ideal opportunities for operating and storing preserved stock, including a direct connection to the rail network at Sutton. Regardless of whether or not such plans were ever put forward to NSE management in a form which would have formed the basis for a substantial review of the proposal, the fact that eventually the branch was turned into a modern "single line commuter shuttle system" is not surprising. The policy of NSE was to look to the future, not to the past of rail transportation, and "preservation" must have been a four-letter word in NSE's ears.