Train station on the Wimbledon to West Croydon line that has now been replaced by the Beddington Lane tram stop.

Clip of photo taken by Eric Montague in 1974. Reproduced by kind permission of the Merton Historical Society. Image reference mhs-em-mc-40

View of the station from the Common, looking to the south west. Clip of photo taken by Eric Montague in 1966. Reproduced by kind permission of the Merton Historical Society.

1953 OS map, reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

This station opened in 1855 and closed in 1997, after which it was demolished for the tramlink. For more details about the station visit the Disused Stations website.

The line was electrified in 1930, according to this article from the Surrey Mirror, Friday 4th June 1929:

TWENTY-MINUTE SERVICE BETWEEN LONDON AND WINDSOR.

The directors of the Southern Railway have sanctioned an expenditure of £597.000 on further extensions to their suburban electrified system, already the largest in the world. new areas for electrification are three: (a) Hounslow Junction and Whitton Junction to Windsor; Hartford to Gravesend; Wimbledon to West Croydon. It is hoped that most, if not all, of the work will completed in time for the summer service of 1930. Principal works on the Wimbledon to West Croydon route are the construction of a halt at Waddon Marsh between Beddington-lane Halt and West Croydon, and the linking of certain sidings to form an independent goods line between West Croydon and Beddington-lane. The new developments will provide for service of trains in each direction every twenty minutes during business periods and every thirty minutes other times. With the addition of these extensions the Southern Railway suburban electrified system will increased to track miles.

A not particularly busy station, in 1953 six hundred people walked from Pollards Hill, across the Common, to the station for an outing to the seaside.

The Advertiser Thursday August 20 1953

Sutton & Epsom Advertiser – Thursday 20 August 1953. Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Pollards Hill moves to Bognor-for a day

Special train takes 600 to the sea

A DAY by the sea — a holiday event which is as popular now as it was fifty years ago. There is something about the seaside which makes the average Englishman rise at the crack of dawn eat a hasty breakfast, gather his family about him and head for the nearest stretch of coastline The fact that thousands of other people have done exactly the same thing and are all heading for the same seaside resort— be it Brighton Southend Hove Westcliff— does not deter him in the least.

One of the largest annual outings organised in East Surrey is that of the Pollards Hill Estate Tenants’ Association. On Sunday morning the Mitcham housing estate became almost deserted as 600 people left their homes and walked across Mitcham Common to Beddington Lane halt where they boarded a special 12-coach train and set off for Bognor.

Everything had been planned with military precision. The 600 walked across the common in parties of 50 and were seen across the busy Croydon Road by a police patrol.

During the one-and-a-half hour journey to Bognor every one of the 363 children in the party was given a shilling. The shillings were carried to the train in a mysterious black bag by Mr W Stephens, the association’s treasurer. They had been supplied by an obliging gas company.

A total of 3,500 half-price amusements tickets were also given to the children.

Headquarters tent

At Bognor a tent was erected on the beach as a headquarters; over it flew a P.H.E.T.A. flag Throughout the day two nurses from the Mitcham Red Cross detachment were on duty to treat minor casualties among the Mitcham party.

Everyone had lorgotten that the tide would come in, and the tent was saved at the last moment as the waves lapped up to the guy ropes just after lunch Eventually the headquarters party were squeezed off the beach on to the promenade Twenty-two officials including the association’s president and chairman Mr T Fitzgibbons and Mr T Shanley spent part of their day on duty looking after the party.

The people of Pollards Hill occupied a long stretch of the Bognor seafront and before long the braver ones were occupying the sea The remainder preferred sand castles and donkey rides or deck chairs and newspapers according to their age groups.

After they had spent eight hours in the resort the Mitcham party left Bognor at 6.28 pm. “A really successful outing” commented Mr Fitzgibbons as the people left the train at Beddington Lane Halt. “It certainly was,” echoed Mr Shanley.