Little Bookham Railway Staion

Bookham railway station is situated in the village of Little Bookham in Surrey, England. It also serves the adjacent village of Great Bookham. The station is managed by South West Trains, who provide the majority of train services; Southern also provide some peak period services.

History

Bookham railway station was opened on 2 February 1885; the line at the time was owned by the London and South Western Railway.

Initially the London and South Western Railway wanted to build the line into the centre of Great Bookham village itself, but as often happened in those early days of rail expansion from London, the key landowners (and villagers) were strongly opposed to that idea and forced the company to adopt a much more northerly route, resulting in the station being built nearly 1 mile from the village high street in open country. It effectively remained in an open field setting until the later 1950s/early 1960s when there was a massive expansion of the village, with new estates built to fill the space between high street and station, leaving only National Trust owned land as a "green corridor" along parts of Church Road. The station buildings remain largely unchanged to this day, including the footbridge and platform canopies, however, the station master's house has been sold off as a private dwelling.

Immediately to the west of the station the original goods siding was removed in the 1950s and the associated goods shed (used as a coal depot by local businessman Howard Weale at that time) was finally demolished in the 1990s having lived on for a time as a builder's yard (Tredan) and then offices. There are now scant landmarks to identify it as the original siding and goods yard. The siding area was for a period home to a blacksmith, but inevitably that land was sold for housing development, and where the shed once stood is now a purpose built office block.