Betchworth railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Betchworth | |||
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|---|---|---|---|
| Location | |||
| Place | Betchworth | ||
| Local authority | Mole Valley | ||
| Operations | |||
| Station code | BTO | ||
| Managed by | First Great Western | ||
| Platforms in use | 2 | ||
| Live departures and station information from National Rail | |||
| Annual Rail Passenger Usage | |||
| 2004/05 * | 12,214 | ||
| 2005/06 * | 13,610 | ||
| History | |||
| Key dates | Opened 4 July 1849 | ||
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |||
| * Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Betchworth from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. | |||
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Betchworth railway station is in Surrey, England. The station and all trains serving it are operated by First Great Western. It is on the North Downs Line.
[edit] Services
The typical off-peak service on the North Downs Line is one train every two hours in each direction between Reading and Redhill.
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorking Deepdene | First Great Western North Downs Line |
Reigate | ||
[edit] The Betchworth Quarry Railways
The station was particularly significant for the divergence of the Betchworth Quarry railway system, which was built to serve the Dorking Greystone Lime Company's three pits that lay north of the station. It comprised of four different gauges. The standard gauge portion left the main line narrowly avoiding Betchworth station, before reversing to run to the Eastern and Southern Kiln Batteries. A 3ft 2 ¼in railway system began there and primarily served the quarry with lines diverging to the Main, Upper Western Whitestone and Eastern Greystone Pits. The other gauges serving the works were the 1ft 7in line that ran from a standard gauge siding to the Hearthstone Mine, and a brief 2ft gauge section of track that ran exclusively between the Eastern and Southern Kiln Batteries.
The first engine to shunt on the standard gauge portion, Engine No. 1 (unofficially named 'The Coffeepot') of 1871, is now preserved at Beamish, County Durham.
Several engines that worked the 3ft 2 1/4 inch gauge portion were also saved. These included 'Baxter', the last engine ever used on the line, and now too preserved on the Bluebell Railway (and mentioned in the Rev. Awdry book 'Stepney The Bluebell Engine'). A sister engine, 'Townsend Hook', is also preserved, in pieces, at Amberley Chalk Pits Museum, and is still in the throws of reconstruction and re-steaming.
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