Sanderstead railway station

Sanderstead railway station is on the Oxted Line in the London Borough of Croydon, 1 mile (1.6 km) from Sanderstead village. It is in Travelcard Zone 6, 12 miles 23 chains (19.77 km) from London Bridge. The station is managed by Southern.

Sanderstead
Sanderstead Station
Sanderstead Location of Sanderstead in Greater London
Location	Sanderstead
Local authority	London Borough of Croydon
Managed by	Southern
Station code	SNR
DfT category	D
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	6
National Rail annual entry and exit
2015–16	1.102 million[1]
2016–17	1.009 million[1]
2017–18	1.107 million[1]
2018–19	1.123 million[1]
2019–20	1.098 million[1]
Key dates
10 March 1884	Opened
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51.3484°N 0.094°W
London transport portal

On the up (London-bound) platform is a ticket office, staffed for most of the day, and a self-service ticket machine is outside the station on the up side: there is no PERTIS (Permit to travel) machine. Purley Oaks, also in Travelcard Zone 6, is nearby.

History

Sanderstead station looking north from the bridge carrying Sanderstead Road over the line.

The station was opened on 10 March 1884 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the South Eastern Railway with their line between South Croydon and East Grinstead. The population was around 300, rising to 534 by 1901.[2]

In 1913 the station was set alight in an act of arson. The suffragette Elsie Duval was the main suspect.[3] The replacement building was weather-boarded, cheap to construct but requiring regular maintenance. An extensive bookstall was on the up platform, and a signal box on the down platform.

In 1928 the Southern Heights Light Railway was approved, which would have left the Oxted line south east of the station and finished at Orpington.[4] On it would have run a loop service from Charing Cross to Lewisham and then Woodside-Sanderstead-Orpington and back, or vice versa. However, the scheme could not attract investment and was moribund even before electrification of the Woodside and South Croydon Joint Railway as its first stage. This was from Woodside to Selsdon and over a short section of the Oxted Line to Sanderstead, and was completed in 1935.[5] This route terminating at Sanderstead involved the only electric train service at the station until 1984.

These electric trains, on the Woodside and South Croydon Railway via Selsdon to Elmers End, ran from 1935 until the line closed in 1983; at that time, fewer than 150 people were using the service per day, which operated only on weekdays at peak hours to Elmers End.[6]

Electrification of the South Croydon-Selsdon and Sanderstead-East Grinstead sections of the Oxted Line was approved by BR in the early 1980s: South Croydon-Selsdon was electrified in 1984 using some redundant materials from the closed Woodside-Selsdon line, and a London Bridge to Sanderstead electric train service begun.[7]

The station building was destroyed by fire again in June 1986, and a new brick building opened in September 1987.[8] The signal box had already closed on 2 November 1985, and was demolished the previous month in August 1987.[9]

Electrification to East Grinstead was completed in October 1987.

Services

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

• 2 to London Victoria via East Croydon
• 2 to East Grinstead

In peak period trains run to and from London Bridge, calling at South Croydon, the next station north.

Services normally use Class 377 Electrostars, with Class 700 in the peaks.

Facilities

The station is staffed until five minutes after the last train.[10] There is a small tea bar at one end of the station which has recently been re-opened during morning peak hours. There is a footbridge between the platforms. The station has been selling second hand books for charity since 2009 and a certificate on display shows how much has been raised. A children's table and chairs have recently been installed.

Connections

London Buses route 403 serves the station.[11]

References

1. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
2. Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (March 1995). Croydon (Woodside) to East Grinstead (Country Railway Routes). Midhurst, West Sussex: Middleton Press. p. Plate 30. ISBN 1-873793-48-0.
3. "chertsey museum". chertseymuseum.org. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
4. "Southern Heights Railway". The Times (45098). London. 11 January 1929. col D, p. 9.
5. "The Colonel periodical No. 60, Winter 2002 p. 9" (PDF). Retrieved 7 October 2020.
6. Mitchell, V. and Smith, K., plate 38.
7. Mitchell, V. and Smith, K., plate 55
8. Mitchell, V. and Smith, K., plate 39.
9. Mitchell, V. and Smith, K., plate 35.
10. .
11. "Buses from Purley Oaks and Sanderstead" (PDF). TfL. January 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2020.

External links

• Train times and station information for Sanderstead railway station from National Rail