Sanderstead railway station

Sanderstead station looking north from the bridge carrying Sanderstead Road over the line.

The station was opened on 10 March 1884 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the South Eastern Railway with their line between South Croydon and East Grinstead. The population was around 300, rising to 534 by 1901.[2]

In 1913 the station was set alight in an act of arson. The suffragette Elsie Duval was the main suspect.[3] The replacement building was weather-boarded, cheap to construct but requiring regular maintenance. An extensive bookstall was on the up platform, and a signal box on the down platform.

In 1928 the Southern Heights Light Railway was approved, which would have left the Oxted line south east of the station and finished at Orpington.[4] On it would have run a loop service from Charing Cross to Lewisham and then Woodside-Sanderstead-Orpington and back, or vice versa. However, the scheme could not attract investment and was moribund even before electrification of the Woodside and South Croydon Joint Railway as its first stage. This was from Woodside to Selsdon and over a short section of the Oxted Line to Sanderstead, and was completed in 1935.[5] This route terminating at Sanderstead involved the only electric train service at the station until 1984.

These electric trains, on the Woodside and South Croydon Railway via Selsdon to Elmers End, ran from 1935 until the line closed in 1983; at that time, fewer than 150 people were using the service per day, which operated only on weekdays at peak hours to Elmers End.[6]

Electrification of the South Croydon-Selsdon and Sanderstead-East Grinstead sections of the Oxted Line was approved by BR in the early 1980s: South Croydon-Selsdon was electrified in 1984 using some redundant materials from the closed Woodside-Selsdon line, and a London Bridge to Sanderstead electric train service begun.[7]

The station building was destroyed by fire again in June 1986, and a new brick building opened in September 1987.[8] The signal box closed on 2 November 1985, and was demolished in August 1987.[9]

Electrification to East Grinstead was completed in October 1987.

Off-peak, all services at Sanderstead are operated by Southern using Class 377 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[10]

• 1 tph to London Victoria
• 1 tph to East Grinstead via Oxted

During the peak hours and on weekends, the service is increased to 2 tph in each direction.

During the peak hours, there are also Thameslink operated services between East Grinstead, London Bridge and Bedford. These services are operated using Class 700 EMUs.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
East Croydon or South Croydon		Southern Oxted Line		Riddlesdown
		Thameslink Bedford to East Grinstead Peak Hours Only
	Disused railways
Selsdon		British Rail Southern Region Woodside and South Croydon Railway		Terminus

The station is staffed until five minutes after the last train.[11] There is a small tea bar at one end of the station which has recently been re-opened during morning peak hours. There is a footbridge between the platforms. The station has been selling second hand books for charity since 2009 and a certificate on display shows how much has been raised. A children's table and chairs have recently been installed.

London Buses route 403 serves the station.[12]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sanderstead railway station.

• Train times and station information for Sanderstead railway station from National Rail