Lingfield railway station serves Lingfield

Lingfield, Surrey

Lingfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is most famous for its horse racing course, Lingfield Park. Lingfield lies to the east of a section of the A22 which runs between Godstone and East Grinstead...

 in Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

, in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Train services from the station are provided by Southern

Southern (train operating company)

Southern is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Officially named Southern Railway Ltd., it is a subsidiary of Govia, a joint venture between transport groups Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, and has operated the South Central rail franchise since October 2000 and the Gatwick Express service...

, and the station is on the East Grinstead

East Grinstead railway station

East Grinstead railway station serves the town of East Grinstead in West Sussex. The station was formerly divided into two levels: the higher level platforms serving the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line, whilst the lower level platforms received services from the Oxted Line 49 km ...

 branch of the Oxted Line

Oxted Line

The Oxted Line is a railway line in southern England. It was originally operated jointly by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the South Eastern Railway. It is now part of the Southern franchise....

. The station adjoins Lingfield Park Racecourse.

History

The opening of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its apex, practically the whole coastline of Sussex as its base, and a large part of Surrey...

's (LBSCR) Oxted Line in 1884 brought the railway to the small agricultural parish of Lingfield which, like its neighbour Dormansland

Dormansland, Surrey

Dormansland is a village and civil parish approximately one mile south of Lingfield in Surrey, southern England. It is bordered on the east by the county of Kent and on the south by West Sussex.The Prime Meridian passes just to the west of Dormansland....

, had been earmarked for residential development. The area was also to be the location of a new racecourse which was to open in 1890. Lingfield originally had only limited facilities to accommodate passengers and freight, and struggled to deal with the crowds which attended the race meetings. A goods shed and loading dock were added in May 1884, and in 1894 the Down platform became an island

Island platform

An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...

 and the loading dock was extended to become a departure platform for race specials. The LBSCR obtained authorisation to construct a line directly to the racecourse in 1898, but these plans never materialised.

Goods traffic was at a peak during the interwar period, when the sidings saw a variety of interesting traffic. Horseboxes and cattle wagons were numerous, and during the war, it was a stabling point for an emergency tank train. A large banana ripening shed was opened in the late 1950s and this received supplies direct from Avonmouth Docks

Avonmouth Docks

The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the Severn estuary, within Avonmouth....

. This closed on 1 October 1971 as bananas were now containerised

Containerization

Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...

 and transported by road. Race traffic has also decreased and the track layout was progressively simplified, leaving the remaining traffic to be dealt with by strengthening ordinary services. Further modifications were carried out in 1972 when the station was "modernised" by demolishing the goods shed and removing the Down platform canopy. However, the main buildings, together with the adjoining Stationmaster's house, have survived as good examples of an LBSCR country station.

Services

The typical off-peak service is:

• 2tph (trains per hour) to London Victoria
  Victoria station (London)
  Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. It is named after nearby Victoria Street and not Queen Victoria. It is the second busiest railway terminus in London after Waterloo, and includes an air terminal for passengers...
  
  
• 2tph to East Grinstead
  East Grinstead railway station
  East Grinstead railway station serves the town of East Grinstead in West Sussex. The station was formerly divided into two levels: the higher level platforms serving the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line, whilst the lower level platforms received services from the Oxted Line 49 km ...