Wimbledon station

Wimbledon railway station in 1917

Wimbledon station

On 3 June 1889, the District Railway (DR, now London Underground's District line) opened the LSWR-built extension of its line from Putney Bridge,[10] making Wimbledon station the new terminus of that branch and providing Wimbledon with a direct connection to the developing London Underground system. The station was rebuilt on its current site for the opening of this service. District line steam-hauled services were replaced by electric services from 27 August 1905.

The station was rebuilt again with its current Portland stone entrance building by the Southern Railway (SR, the post grouping successor to the L&SWR) in the late 1920s as part of the SR's construction of the line to Sutton. Parliamentary approval for this line had been obtained by the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway (W&SR) in 1910, but work was delayed by World War I.[11] From the W&SR's inception, the DR was a shareholder of the company and had rights to run trains over the line when built. In the 1920s, the London Electric Railway (LER, precursor of London Underground) planned, through its ownership of the DR, to use part of the route for an extension of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR, now the Northern line) to Sutton.[11] The SR objected and an agreement was reached that enabled the C&SLR to extend as far as Morden in exchange for the LER giving up its rights over the W&SR route.

The SR subsequently built the line, one of the last to be built in the London area. It opened on 7 July 1929 to South Merton and to Sutton on 5 January 1930.[11]

On 2 June 1997, the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line was closed by Railtrack for conversion to operation as part of the Tramlink tram operations. Platform 10, originally the down platform for the Wimbledon & Croydon and Wimbledon & Sutton lines, was used for the single track terminus of Tramlink and rail tracks and infrastructure were replaced with those for the tram system. The new service opened on 30 May 2000. The other end of Platform 10 became a terminating bay for trains from the Tooting direction. Platform 9, the W&C and W&S up platform, became a reversible platform for all Thameslink services between the Sutton and Tooting lines.

To increase the capacity of Tramlink services, a second platform was built in place of the former Thameslink bay.[12] The service was suspended between Dundonald Road and Wimbledon from 13 July until November 2015 for the work to be carried out. The original tram platform was renumbered to '10a' with the new part called '10b', opening on 2 November 2015.[13] As a result, tram frequency increased from 8 per hour to 12 per hour from April 2016.[14]

Wimbledon station approach in 2008, prior to the removal of vehicle access.

Before 14 March 2011, there was a roundabout outside the main entrance of the station to allow for vehicles to drop off passengers. This made the approach to the station somewhat cramped and not ideal during busy times. On 14 March 2011, vehicle access to the station's forecourt was permanently removed and the approach to the station was completely repaved. This made the much larger open space outside the station's entrance more ideal during busy times. These works were completed by June 2011 and the approach was hastily cleared in preparation for the Wimbledon Tennis Championships which would see a large increase in passengers passing through the station.

Wimbledon station was also the haunt of a 'Railway Collection Dog'. Airedale Terrier "Laddie" was born in September 1948 and started work on Wimbledon Station in 1949, collecting donations on behalf of the Southern Railwaymen's Homes at Woking, via a box strapped to his back. He retired in 1956, having collected over £5,000 and spent the rest of his days with the residents at the Home. Upon his death, in 1960, he was stuffed and returned to Wimbledon station. He continued to collect for the Homes, in a glass case situated on Platforms 7/8, until 1990, when he retired once more and became part of the National Railway Collection.[15]

South Western Railway operates frequent northbound services to London Waterloo and southbound services to Dorking, Richmond, Guildford, Cobham & Stoke D'Abernon, Hampton Court, Epsom, Shepperton, Chessington South and Woking. On Sundays only, hourly services run to Basingstoke and Alton.

During Wimbledon Tennis Championships, long distance trains may have an additional call made at Wimbledon.

Thameslink operates services through central London to St Albans City, with two trains per hour via Tooting and two trains per hour via Sutton.

Frequent District line services operate to Tower Hill, Upminster and Edgware Road.

London Trams operates frequent stopping Tramlink services to Beckenham Junction and Elmers End, which also serve the National Rail stations at Mitcham Junction, West Croydon and East Croydon.

Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Terminus		District line		Wimbledon Park towards Upminster or Edgware Road
Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Earlsfield		South Western Railway South West Main Line		Raynes Park or Surbiton
Haydons Road		Thameslink Sutton Loop Line		Wimbledon Chase
Preceding station	Tramlink			Following station
Terminus		Tramlink Wimbledon to Beckenham Junction		Dundonald Road towards Beckenham Junction
		Tramlink Wimbledon to Elmers End		Dundonald Road towards Elmers End
Future development
Preceding station	Crossrail			Following station
Raynes Park towards Hampton Court, Shepperton, Chessington South or Epsom		Crossrail 2		Balham towards New Southgate or Broxbourne
Disused railways
Terminus		Southern Railway Merton Branch		Merton Park
		Connex South Central West Croydon to Wimbledon Line
Abandoned plans
Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Elm Grove towards Sutton		District line (Wimbledon & Sutton Railway)		Wimbledon Park towards Barking or Edgware Road

A train of S7 Stock at Wimbledon Station