Wimbledon Chase railway station

Wimbledon Chase
Location
Place	Wimbledon
Local authority	London Borough of Merton
Operations
Managed by	First Capital Connect
Platforms in use	2
National Rail
Station code	WBO
Annual entry/exit	0.070 million **
Transport for London
Zone	3
History
Key dates	Opened 5 January 1930
Transport for London List of London stations: Underground | National Rail
** based on sales of tickets in 2004/05 financial year which end or originate at this station. Disclaimer (PDF)
UK Railways Portal

Wimbledon Chase railway station is in the London Borough of Merton in South London. The station is served by First Capital Connect trains, and is on the Thameslink loop. It is in Travelcard Zone 3 and is arranged as an island 8-car platform, with stairs descending to street level towards the southern end.

History

Parliamentary approval to construct a railway line from Wimbledon to Sutton through what were then undeveloped rural areas had been obtained by the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway (W&SR) in 1910. The main supporters of the scheme were the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) and the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now London Underground's District Line). All held shares in the company and had rights to run trains over the line when built. World War I prevented any work taking place and by the early 1920s continuing financial support from the MDR meant that it had effectively taken control of the company. Through its ownership of the MDR, the London Electric Railway (LER, precursor of London Underground) was able to obtain approval to use part of the route for an extension of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR, now the Northern Line) from Clapham Common through Morden to Sutton. The route would have seen Underground Northern Line trains running on surface tracks from Morden past the nearby Underground depot and on to the Network Rail alignment close to Morden South. The Southern Railway (SR, successor of the L&SWR and the LB&SCR after the 1923 Grouping of railways) objected to this encroachment into its area of operation and the loss of its passenger traffic to a more direct route. The two companies reached an agreement that enabled the C&SLR to extend as far as Morden in exchange for the LER giving up its rights over the W&SR route. The SR subsequently built the line, one of the last to be built in the London area. It opened on 5 January 1930.

Services

The typical off-peak service from the station is 2 trains per hour to Wimbledon (clockwise around the loop) and 2 trains per hour to Sutton (anticlockwise). The station exit for all southbound trains is adjacent to the third carriage; for northbound trains, it is carriage four for 4-car or six for 8-car services.

External links

• Train times and station information for Wimbledon Chase railway station from National Rail
• Street map and aerial photo of Wimbledon Chase railway station from Multimap.com
• Wimbledon Chase railway station is at coordinates 51°24′34″N 0°12′51″W / 51.4095, -0.2142Coordinates: 51°24′34″N 0°12′51″W / 51.4095, -0.2142