Chessington branch line
Class 455 at Chessington South
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Greater London
Termini	Motspur Park Chessington South
Stations	4
Service
Type	Suburban rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	South Western Railway
Depot(s)	Wimbledon
Rolling stock	British Rail Class 455 British Rail Class 450 British Rail Class 701
History
Opened	1938–1939
Technical
Number of tracks	2
Character	Suburban branch
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Electrification	750VDCthird rail
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e Chessington branch line
Legend
mi-ch 0+00 London Waterloo South West Main Line Raynes Park Junction Raynes Park South West Main Line Motspur Park 10+11 Motspur Park Junction Sutton and Mole Valley lines 11+05 Malden Manor Hogsmill River 12+06 Tolworth 13+25 Chessington North 13+73 Chessington South ↓ unbuilt section Malden Rushett Ashtead North Sutton and Mole Valley lines ↑ unbuilt section Leatherhead Sutton and Mole Valley lines toDorking orGuildford

TheChessington branch line is a shortNational Rail railway line in England, mostly in theRoyal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, fromMotspur Park toChessington South.

The branch was intended as a secondary main line to relieve congestion from Leatherhead to Motspur Park, and was thus built as electrified double track from the start. However, the line only got to Chessington beforegreen belt legislation put a stop to completing the line.

The line was the last line built by theSouthern Railway. It was to serve the housing, industrial, engineering and storage developments south ofSurbiton.

It was opened on 29 May 1938 from Motspur Park toTolworth, with an intermediate station atMalden Manor, and extended on 28 May 1939 toChessington North andChessington South.

All the stations on the line were of concrete in anArt Deco style, typical of the period.

Work to extend beyond Chessington was halted by the outbreak of World War II, with track laid beyond Chessington South as far as Chalky Lane, and preparatory works continuing further south. This included an embankment built by the Royal Engineers as a military exercise from Chalky Lane as far south as Chessington Wood, close to where the next station atMalden Rushett would have been built. A second station to serveAshtead, namely at its northern extreme, was also planned.^[1] After the wargreen belt legislation put a stop to any resumption becauseAshtead Common was given protective status. A goods yard south of Chessington South was used as a coal concentration depot from the mid-1960s to the end of the 1980s. The goods yard and the 0.5 miles (0.80 km) of trackbed towards Malden Rushett are overgrown by trees. Two platforms were built at Chessington South but since the extension south was never built only one platform has ever been in public use.

It was originally intended to name Chessington North stationChessington Court and Chessington South stationChessington Grange.^[2]

The line was mainly constructed on embankment with short distances in cuttings and several bridges. A 140-foot (43 m) viaduct crosses theHogsmill River near Malden Manor.

Demand and population in the area increased after the railway's relatively late introduction. Malden Manor station is the line's busiest with 0.60 million journeys made in the 2014-2015 financial year. Its recorded use was 0.58 million ten years before. The total of journeys per year of the four stations on the line has reached 2.219 million recorded journeys. Malden Manor station has formally been assigned E (small staffed) status as its station category.^[3]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toChessington Branch Line.

Illustrated article on Malden Manor station atthis illustrated article on Malden Manor station

• Railway lines in London
• Railway lines opened in 1939
• Standard gauge railways in England
• Transport in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
• Commons category link from Wikidata