Ash Vale is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

serving the village of

Ash Vale Ash Vale is a village in the borough of Guildford in Surrey, England and the larger, northern settlement of the civil parish of Ash. It is 7 miles (11 km) from Guildford but is closer to the Hampshire towns of Aldershot and Farnborough, the ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is situated at the junction of the London to Alton line and the Ascot to Guildford line, down the line from . The station and all trains serving it are operated by South Western Railway and Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway (train operating company) Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the Greater Western passenger railway franchise. It manages 197 stations and its trains call at over 270. GWR operates long-distance inter-cit ...

The station is on an

embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railway ...

and is adjacent to the

Basingstoke Canal The Basingstoke Canal is an English canal, completed in 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation. From Basingstoke, the canal passes through or near Greywell, North Warnborough, Odiham, ...

. The station opened in May 1870 under the name of "North Camp and Ash Vale", changing to its present name on 30 March 1924. The original main station building of the south side had to be demolished due to subsidence, the current replacements dating from 1972. It is approximately half a mile from Ash Vale to North Camp station on the

North Downs Line The North Downs Line is a passenger-train line connecting Reading, on the Great Western Main Line, to Redhill and , along the Brighton Main Line, linking many centres of population in that part of the North Downs which it traverses en route. ...

(the line between Gatwick Airport, Guildford and Reading), a distance passengers are expected to walk to make any connection. Only disabled passengers may argue that to do so would not be "reasonable" - the

National Routeing Guide The National Routeing Guide is a document, the definitive resource on the validity (and invalidity) of rail tickets for the purpose of rail travel in England, Wales, and Scotland (that is, the United Kingdom except Northern Ireland). As stated b ...

which defines route validity allows for the less able taking circuitous routes at the discretion of staff.

History

Opened by the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

, it became part of the Southern Railway during the

Grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

of 1923. The station then passed on to the

Southern Region of British Railways The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948 until 1992 when railways were re-privatised. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s. The region covered south London, southern England and the south ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

in 1948. When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the net ...

until the

Privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the indust ...

ways. In 1952 the booking clerk at Ash Vale was murdered following a hold-up by a fellow rail worker.

Services

On weekdays, there are trains approximately every 30 minutes between

London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station o ...

and Alton and between Ascot and

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

. On Sundays, trains run every 30 minutes between London and Alton and every 60 minutes between Ascot and Guildford. Train movements in the Ash Vale station area and the junction beyond were controlled by Ash Vale Junction signal box. The signal box, complete with its four residents and cover staff, operated 24 hours a day 364 days a year from a traditional signal box on the junction itself. The signal box closed in 2014Flickr > Ingy The Wingy > Ash Vale Junction
/ref> and has since been removed. Passengers awaiting services at Ash Vale towards London or Ascot can check the route of the train by referring to the signal at the end of platform 1. If the five white directional lights are illuminated, then the train is going towards Ascot; whereas if they are not, then the train is going towards Woking. (A red light means the train is not going anywhere at the moment.)

Gallery

Image:Ash vale station.jpg Image:Ash vale station 2.jpg Image:Aldershot, Ash, Shalford, Basingstoke, Guildford & Peasmarsh , Wimbledon RJD 4.jpg, A 1912

Railway Clearing House The Railway Clearing House (RCH) was an organisation set up to manage the allocation of revenue collected by pre-grouping railway companies for the conveyance of passengers and goods over the lines (or using the rolling stock) of other compani ...

map of lines around Farnham railway station

Notes

References

* *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ash Vale Railway Station Railway stations in Surrey DfT Category D stations Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1870 Railway stations served by South Western Railway