Cranleigh was a railway station on the Cranleigh Line between and . It served the village of

Cranleigh Cranleigh is a village and civil parish, about southeast of Guildford in Surrey, England. It lies on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner of the Weald, a large remnant forest, the m ...

, Surrey in southern England.

History

Opening in 1865 as "Cranley", its name was changed in 1867 to "Cranleigh" at the request of the

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...

as imperfectly addressed letters to "Cranley" were often mistaken for " Crawley" and vice versa. A

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

and second platform were installed at the station in 1880. Cranleigh was the busiest station on the line with regular commuter traffic to and from London ''via'' Guildford. It also handled regular custom for nearby

Cranleigh School Cranleigh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Cranleigh, Surrey. History It was opened on 29 September 1865 as a boys' school 'to provide a sound and plain education, on the principles o ...

, and Southern Railway Class V 4-4-0 "Schools Class" express passenger locomotive no. 936 was named after the school in 1935. Cranleigh had a substantial goods yard equipped with a large loading gantry. Inward freight consisted mainly of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

which was required, in particular, by the local

gasworks A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

, whilst goods outward was mainly timber. The line was closed in 1965 following '' The Reshaping of British Railways'' report of 1963. Cranleigh station was demolished shortly afterwards, replaced by the "Stocklund Square" housing and shopping development. In 2004 part of this development was itself demolished and a Sainsbury supermarket was built on the site. The station's old platform levels still exist behind the shops. The station footbridge also survives, in April 1967 it was re-erected at

Liss railway station Liss railway station is a stop on the Portsmouth Direct Line, serving the village of Liss in Hampshire, England, down the line from via Woking. As a small station, for most of the day there is one train each way (to Portsmouth and London) ...

on the Portsmouth Direct Line.

Future

Studies of the feasibility of reopening the Guildford – Bramley – Cranleigh section of the line were completed in 1994, 1997 and 2009. The 1994 report concluded that the investment required would not justify reinstatement, but

Waverley Borough Council Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stre ...

has protected the line from development in its

Local Plan A development plan sets out a local authority's policies and proposals for land use in their area. The term is usually used in the United Kingdom. A Local Plan is one type of development plan. The development plan guides and shapes day-to-day dec ...

. The 2009 report estimates that reopening the Guildford – Bramley – Cranleigh section would have a positive benefit-cost ratio of 1.7 to 1 including capital costs.

Other Cranleigh Line stations

* Guildford * * * * * *

References

Sources

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External links