CHESSINGTON SOUTH EXTENSION

[Source: Nick Catford]

The branch line to Chessington South opened on 28 May 1939. Chessington South station was built to a design by architect James Robb Scott in 1939 as a through station on the line being built to Leatherhead. There would have been two further stations at Malden Rushett and Leatherhead North. Construction of the extension stopped, never to be resumed, on the outbreak of World War II and the completed up platform at Chessington South was never used for passenger trains, although the track was used for stabling out of service trains during off-peak times.

An embankment was constructed from spoil from cuttings elsewhere on the Chessington branch and from the widening of the cutting for the new station at Swanley. The embankment was built by the Royal Engineers as an exercise in the early 1940s and extended for half a mile until it petered out at Chessington Wood. A bridge over Chalky Lane was constructed although it is unclear how much track was laid. The 1962 map below shows track as far as Chessington Wood but a 1949 aerial photograph shows the track stopped short of Chalky Lane.

There was a goods yard beyond the passenger station. Parliamentary powers for the Chessington South - Leatherhead line lapsed in 1962. After the continuation to Leatherhead was abandoned, part of the line was used from the mid-1960s to the end of the 1980s for a coal concentration depot.

1962 1:10,560 shows the embankment as far as Chessington Wood. It is unclear how much track was laid. The June 1949 photo below shows the track stopping some distance short of Chalky Lane.

The embankment running north from Chalky Lane (seen at the bottom) in June 1949. The track ends before Chalky Lane is reached.
Photo from Britain from Above

In this view of Chalky Lane bridge from April 1952 it looks as if track might still be in place which is confusing considering the picture above shows no track heading towards the bridge.
Photo from Britain from Above

Section of embankment between Chessington South coal depot and Chalky Lane in January 1968.
Photo by Nick Catford

Site of the bridge over Chalky Lane in January 1968.
Photo by Nick Catford



 

 

 

[Source: Nick Catford]




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