Wimbledon and Dorking Railway

The Wimbledon and Dorking Railway (WDR) was an early railway company in southern England. The scheme submitted to Parliament was not fully implemented because the proposed route overlapped with other proposed and existing lines. The part actually constructed became the first section of what was later known as the Mole Valley Line.

History

The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) had a service to Epsom since 1847, supplanting the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) at Surbiton as the railhead for Epsom races. Determined to get a share of the race traffic, the LSWR backed the WDR, formed by an Act of 27 July 1857. The original plan envisaged a route from Wimbledon via Epsom and the Mole Valley gap to Dorking, but this was truncated to accommodate other approved lines in the area. As built it ran from "Epsom Junction" (now Raynes Park), on the LSWR main line, via Worcester Park and Ewell West to Epsom where it connected end-on to the Epsom and Leatherhead Railway. The continuation to Dorking was abandoned, only to be completed 10 years later under LBSCR auspices by the Horsham, Dorking and Leatherhead Railway.

The 5¾ mile line opened on 4 April 1859 and was worked by the LSWR, which formally acquired the company on 3 June 1862.

Much later the line was the basis for the Chessington branch from Motspur Park (itself a later addition) to Chessington South. It was the last line built by the Southern Railway, opened on 28 May 1938 to Tolworth and to Chessington South on 29 May 1939.