Gatwick Express 442412 and Southern 377421

Horley railway station serves the town of

Horley Horley is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England, south of the towns of Reigate and Redhill. The county border with West Sussex is to the south with Crawley and Gatwick Airport close to the town. It has its own eco ...

in Surrey, England. It is on the

Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line (also known as the South Central Main Line) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom that links Brighton, on the south coast of England, with central London. In London the line has two branches, out of and station ...

, down the line from via , and train services are provided by

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

and Southern. There are 4 platforms, all long, capable of accepting 12-car-long trains.

History

The present Horley station is in fact the second in the town. The original station, constructed by the

London and Brighton Railway The London and Brighton Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in England which was incorporated in 1837 and survived until 1846. Its railway ran from a junction with the London and Croydon Railway (L&CR) at Norwood – which gives it access fro ...

, opened on 12 July 1841, was located north of the present site, where the Factory Shop is. The first station was designed by

David Mocatta David Alfred Mocatta (1806–1882) was a British architect and a member of the Anglo-Jewish Mocatta family. Early career David Alfred Mocatta was born to a Sephardic Jewish family in 1806, the son of the licensed bullion broker Moses Mocat ...

and was on a larger scale than other intermediate stations on the line. Horley was situated almost midway between London and Brighton, and was chosen for the erection of the

carriage sheds and repair workshops. These were later moved to

Brighton railway works Brighton railway works (also known as Brighton locomotive works, or just the Brighton works) was one of the earliest railway-owned locomotive repair works, founded in 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway in Brighton, England, and thus pre-da ...

. The station was enlarged in 1862 by addition of a second storey to the building. A canopy and footbridge were added in 1884. The current Horley station opened 31 December 1905, to coincide with the quadrupling of the railway line by the

London Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

. The original station then became the Station Master's house and survived until the 1960s. In the 1870s

William Stroudley William Stroudley (6 March 1833 – 20 December 1889) was an English railway engineer, and was one of the most famous steam locomotive engineers of the nineteenth century, working principally for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (L ...

considered moving the locomotive works to

but was persuaded to keep them in Brighton. Nevertheless, the sidings at Horley were used for storing withdrawn locomotives and those awaiting repair until the First World War. The

Thameslink Programme The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the ...

turned over some of the Southern services over to the expanded

network currently operated by

Govia Thameslink Railway Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a train operating company that operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) rail franchise in England. Within the franchise, GTR runs the Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Expr ...

. This project saw most services that previously terminated at London Bridge continuing through the Thameslink core in Central London and northwards via the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

and East Coast Main Line to destinations such as and .

Facilities

*Concourse *Ticket Office (1 Window) *Quick Ticket *Café *Waiting Room (x2) *Telephone *Toilet (Unisex) *Car Park (x2)

Services

Off-peak, all services at Horley are operated by

using EMUs. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 2 tph to via * 2 tph to * 2 tph to Three Bridges * 2 tph to During the peak hours, the station is served by an additional half-hourly Southern between and . During the night, the station is served by an hourly Thameslink service between Three Bridges and Bedford (not calling at London Bridge). This service runs on Sunday-Friday nights with an hourly Southern service to London Victoria on Saturday nights. Although the station is outside Greater London, Oyster Pay as you go and contactless payment cards are valid. However, the station is outside the London Fare Zone area and as a result, special fares apply.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horley Railway Station Railway stations in Surrey Former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1905 Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway 1905 establishments in England David Mocatta railway stations Horley