WOKING'S HERITAGE IN DETAIL
The Railway
In the 1790s the Basingstoke Canal had been built across the heathlands of Surrey and Hampshire. In the 1830s the London and Southampton Railway was to follow more or less the same route for more or less the same reason - the heathland was virtually uninhabited (and so there was less opposition) and, more importantly, it was cheap!
Copy of the 1839 timetableThe line was first proposed in 1830, but work did not start until 1834 and it was a further four years before the first section of line was opened - from Nine Elms (Vauxhall) Station in London to the temporary terminus on Woking Heath. The first experimental run took place on Saturday, 12th May, and on Monday, 21st May, the line was officially opened, with five trains leaving Woking for London each day at 7.30am, 10.00 am, 1.00 pm, 3.30 pm and 7.00 pm. The First Class fare was 5s. (single), with a Second Class ticket costing just 3s.
The railway (by now re-named the London & South Western) was an immediate success. In the first week about 10,000 people travelled on the line and at the first Board Meeting in August 1838 it was reported that an average of 7,500 used the railway each week - almost four times the numbers expected. Woking remained the end of the line for just a few months. On 24th September the line was extended to Shapley Heath, with Basingstoke being reached in June 1839 and Southampton in May 1840. By then there were twelve trains a day from London, with the 11.00 am ‘fast train’ making its first stop at Woking at 11.46 am (reaching Southampton at 2.00 pm)!
Some of the staff at Woking Station in the late 19th centuryWoking Station was built where the line crossed the main Guildford to Chertsey Road, with the road being diverted slightly to the west - under what is now called ‘Victoria Arch’. The railway also dissected the route from Old Woking to Horsell and Chobham (White Rose Lane/Church Path/Chobham Road), with the footpath under the station representing the old route today. As the railhead for Guildford - the branch to the town wasn’t built until1845 - Woking Common was an important station. The main entrance was built on the south side (HEATHSIDE) of the line facing Guildford, with many stagecoaches being diverted off of the old Portsmouth road from Stoke next Guildford, through MAYFORD to Woking Station. In 1859 Woking became an important railway junction when the ‘branch line’ to Guildford (which had been extended to Godalming in 1849) finally reached Portsmouth via Havant.
Postcard of Victoria Arch, WokingThere were other branch lines proposed for the area, including the ‘Staines, Wokingham and Woking Junction Railway’ in 1852. The Staines to Wokingham section was actually built (in 1856), but it soon became clear that the ‘Woking Junction’ part of the scheme had been abandoned - clear, that is, to everyone except the villagers of Chobham, who apparently renamed the road to Woking ‘Station Road’ in anticipation of a station being built there!
Other branch lines were built in the Woking area, however, notably the small line that served BROOKWOOD CEMETERY. It was opened in 1854, with the main line station at BROOKWOOD being built ten years later. A branch was also constructed from Brookwood Station to Bisley Camp in 1890. 
Woking Station. Meanwhile more stations had been opened in the area, such as Worplesdon Station in 1883, and in 1887 ‘Woodham and Byfleet Station’ - later renamed WEST BYFLEET. The station at ‘BYFLEET and New Haw’ (originally called ‘West Weybridge’) was not opened until 1927.
The page on the Early Victorian Development contains more information about the railway and surrounding area during that period.
Booklets.
Postcard of main Southampton line from Twin BridgesThe Woking Community Play Association’s book ‘Changing Woking - 1900-1929’ contains a wealth of information on the area - including the Railway, the early history of which is covered in more detail in the booklet ‘The Coming of the Railway’.
The Railway also features in the ‘Heritage Notes’ booklets on Mayford, Brookwood, St Johns, Hook Heath & Star Hill, Woking Town Centre, Maybury Hill and West Byfleet - please see the list of publication on the HERITAGE WALKS page.
