The Epsom and Leatherhead Railway (E&LR) was a railway company in Surrey, England. Promoted independently, it opened its short line in 1859 and was worked by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). It was transferred to the joint ownership of the LSWR and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) in 1860. Those companies operated passenger trains to Waterloo and London Bridge station respectively. In 1867 the LBSCR built an extension line from Leatherhead to Dorking, with the declared intention of continuing to the Sussex coast. A new Leatherhead station was built on the new line, and the LSWR was obliged to build its own independent, new Leatherhead station; this was a terminus for some years.
In 1885 the LSWR opened a new line from Hampton Court Junction, near Surbiton, to Guildford via Cobham, the New Guildford line. This had a branch from Effingham to Leatherhead, terminating at the 1867 station which became a through station. Some trains ran from Waterloo to Guildford via the E&LR and Effingham. Meanwhile the LBSCR developed the main line into Sussex, slowly increasing fast services on the route. The E&LR line was electrified in 1925, and in 1938 electrification was continued to the south coast and on to Portsmouth; electrically operated express trains ran over the E&LR route.
At the present day the express trains have been diverted to the Gatwick Airport route, but the E&LR continues to serve commuters and other local passenger requirements.
History
The Croydon and Epsom Railway
The London and Croydon Railway had started operation in 1839, and used the atmospheric system of traction. On 29 July 1844 an affiliated company, the Croydon and Epsom Railway, was authorised by Act of Parliament. It too would use the atmospheric system. In fact at one stage a direct London and Portsmouth Railway using that system throughout was proposed, using the Epsom extension as part of its route.
The London and Croydon Railway amalgamated with the London and Brighton Railway and the Croydon and Epsom Railway, as well as certain others, resulting in the formation of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, by Act of 27 July 1846. The London and Croydon Railway had been experiencing a series of practical difficulties with the operation on the atmospheric system, and at the end of 1846 the new LBSCR decided to abandon the system, and use steam engines on the Croydon and Epsom line. The line opened to Epsom on 10 May 1847, worked by steam locomotives. The Epsom station was some way east of the present-day station, on the north side of Upper High Street.
Epsom and Leatherhead Railway
Local interests had promoted the Epsom and Leatherhead Railway, and they received its authorising Act of Parliament on 14 July 1856; authorised share capital was £30,000. The Act authorised the establishment of a joint station to which the LBSCR would be a party, to the west of their existing Croydon and Epsom terminus. The E&LR line would be a single track, 3m 54ch in extent, from near the LB&SCR station at Epsom via Ashtead to a terminus on the east side of Kingston Road, Leatherhead.
The promoters of the E&LR encouraged the development of another scheme, the Wimbledon and Dorking Railway (W&DR), for a line from what became Raynes Park station on the LSWR main line, to Epsom, joining the E&LR there. This obtained an authorising Act on 27 July 1857. A further Act of 1859 authorised the W&DR to use the joint station at Epsom. The LSWR Was persuaded to construct part of the W&DR, between Raynes Park and Epsom, as a double line, and to work it.
The LSWR had made an agreement with the LBSCR in 1858 not to promote or encourage lines that might encroach on one another's territory The W&DR as far as Epsom complied with the agreement, and the LSWR was working the E&LR's line, but now the E&LR Company asked the LSWR to agree to work the Epsom and Leatherhead line. In compliance with the territorial agreement, the LSWR refused. In frustration the E&LR company applied to Leo Schuster, the Chairman of the LBSCR, who immediately agreed to work and lease the E&LR. This was directly in breach of the agreement. At this stage, the E&LR directors hesitated to proceed, partly because the LBSCR route to London was longer, which they thought would diminish the business that their company would do. They put the question to a general shareholders' meeting, which instructed the Board to negotiate with the LSWR.