West Horsham Railway Station Posted on 10th October 201312th April 2020 by Laurence The old railway station at Christ’s Hospital, known as ‘West Horsham Christ’s Hospital’, was opened at the start of the 20th Century, at the time the Christ’s Hospital school relocated from London because they wanted more rural surroundings. The school contributed to the cost of constructing the station, which consisted of seven platforms when it originally opened. The size of the station in such a rural area owes itself to planned development of a large town for which it could serve, however Christ’s Hospital had already bought much of the surrounding land, probably to prevent too much building around them…precisely why they wanted to move out of London. As such, the town never materialised, and although the extra lines, heading directly to Guildford, were well used, the ticket sales at the station remained low (due also in part to the school pupils boarding, thus not needing to travel every day) and the Horsham to Guildford line was closed in 1965. Trackbed with platforms The station was subsequently reduced, and the grand station building was demolished in 1972, at the same time the number of platforms was reduced to two. Some of the railway beds remain in place and form part of the Downs Link and other public footpaths, the buildings have long since been demolished, and all that remains beyond the two existing Christ’s Hospital platforms are a number of overgrown platforms and track beds. A bricked up arch at the end of the subway is the only trace visible in the current station. You can’t get to the disused platforms via the station, though there is a footpath just before you enter the car park, and they are easily accessible this way. When I went it was early dusk, I had quite a trek back home but it was still light when I got back. That’s not to say it wasn’t slightly eerie being there on my own. It was incredibly quiet. The photos are deceiving…every picture included here was taken with a 5-25 second exposure on a tripod so it looks like daylight. I did take videos but they’re even poorer quality than the Blair Witch Project (although probably more atmospheric), so I’m not going to include them here. Also nearby are a pair of derelict cottages which were inhabited by dairy workers whose job it was to load milk from the dairy onto the trains. Exploration of these, though, is for another day. Related posts
