East Grinstead railway station is one of the two southern termini of the Oxted line in the south of England and serves East Grinstead in West Sussex. It is from , although trains mostly run to and from . The station is managed by Southern.
The station was formerly divided into two levels: the lower-level platforms being used by services from the Oxted line and the East Grinstead to Lewes Line, whilst the higher-level platforms served the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line and was also used by services from the Oxted line running through to Tunbridge Wells West.
Only the lower-level platforms remain open today, the high level having closed in 1967 with the Three Bridges to Ashurst Junction line as part of the closure programme proposed by the Beeching Report.East Grinstead High Level railway station on Subterranea Britannica A third low-level platform has been constructed at the south of the station by the Bluebell Railway. Bluebell services began running south to Sheffield Park in 2013.
Low Level The current East Grinstead station is the fourth to have been constructed in the town. Prior to the arrival of the railway, the nearest stations were away at on the South Eastern Railway's Redhill to Tonbridge line and at on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's Brighton line.
Early stations
1855 station
The first station to serve East Grinstead was built by the East Grinstead Railway as the terminus of its single-track line from . It was opened on 9 July 1855 in Swan Mead off the London Road, well-situated for the town centre, with the first train out at 12:12pm. Constructed at a cost of £3,000, the station comprised a sandstone main building which survives to this day, as well as timber goods and engine sheds with slate roofs. The goods facilities were described in a specification as being equal to those at Hailsham railway station. There were probably two platform faces and the goods yard was on the up side. The first stationmaster was a Peter Nesbitt; he remained in post until his death on 10 September 1864. The initial passenger service consisted of six trains each way daily and two on Sundays; trains started and finished at East Grinstead. The service appears to have exceeded expectations as the service increased to nine each way on weekdays, with three on Sundays. So well-patronised were the Sunday services that Reverend Woodington, the curate of East Grinstead, regularly visited the station to distribute religious tracts requesting passengers to "listen to the church bells instead of the railway bells."
The journey time to Three Bridges was 20 minutes and the first train departed at 6:55am for arrival in London at 9:15am after a 43-minute wait at Three Bridges for a connecting service via the Brighton main line. The fastest time to London was 1 hours achieved by the 4:00pm down train which was first-class only. As from September 1855, an additional mid-afternoon train was provided each way. This was increased to nine each way by 1862. The rail fare from East Grinstead to London was 6s first class and 3s third class. The line was operated from its outset by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway for an annual rental of £2,000 until January 1865, when it purchased the East Grinstead Railway.
1866 station
In August 1862 legal powers were obtained in the East Grinstead, Groombridge and Tunbridge Wells Railway Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. ccvii) for the extension of the line to via , with the new line forming an end-on junction with the Three Bridges line at East Grinstead. The extension required East Grinstead station to be relocated a few yards north at a lower level in a cutting immediately to the west of the London Road at in order to allow the line to pass under the highway. It was reached by steps from the road by the bridge. During construction, the Surveyor of Highways of the Parish of East Grinstead complained to the Board of Trade that the station approaches were "inconvenient and dangerous" and that the road entrance for carriages was situated on the narrow bridge over the line. Whilst the Board of Trade agreed that the layout was not ideal, it did not order any alterations save for the carriage access to the booking hall which it felt was cramped and should be modified "as soon as there are any complaints of horses [which brought carriages to the station] being frightened by the steam and smoke of the locomotives which will come through the present opening between the overbridge and the station."
The station building straddled the double track with basements at platform level which contained the stationmaster's office and porter's room. A large brick goods shed replaced the previous timber structure, whilst the site of the old station became a goods yard. The new station was opened for traffic on 1 October 1866, and the old one closed the same day. The initial passenger service was poor, with only six trains each way and the withdrawal of three East Grinstead to Three Bridges services. Journey time to Tunbridge Wells was just under an hour. In 1869 annual season tickets to London were £32 first class and £24 second class, while returns were 9s 6d first, 7s 6d second and 4s 8d third.
1882 rebuilding A third re-modelling of East Grinstead station was made necessary by the arrival in the town of two lines: the Lewes and East Grinstead Railway (L&EG) from the south on 1 August 1882, followed by the Croydon, Oxted and East Grinstead Railway (CO&EG) from the north on 10 March 1884. The L&EG would approach the Three Bridges line from the south at a right-angle and the CO&EG would make an end-on junction with it. It was not possible to enlarge the 1866 station to accommodate the new lines and arrange the new station in the form of a or as this would have meant purchasing the adjoining timber yard, which the LB&SCR was not prepared to do. It was therefore decided to build a new station around to the west which would be arranged on two levels. The main buildings were on the low level platform.
The low level station was set at a right-angle to the high level and it had two platforms to serve the L&EG and CO&EG. From the L&EG's opening on 1 August 1882 until 14 October 1883, services continued to use the 1866 station as the new station was still in construction and because residents found the older station more convenient for the town centre. On 15 October 1883 both high and low level stations opened and the 1866 station was closed. The old station was later demolished in February 1908 and sold for scrap for £15. The bridge over the London Road was demolished in 1978 with the construction of the Inner Relief Road. The CO&EG opened for traffic on 10 March 1884 with a service of four trains each way between and via , plus four South Eastern services each way between London Bridge and Oxted. The new line to London was shorter than the route via Three Bridges but some passengers continued to use the old line for the fast services from Three Bridges.
The main station building was built in the architectural style of other stations on the L&EG: an upper timber storey with plaster infill which was later covered with hung tiles with impressed flower patterns. The architect was Thomas Myres, the inspiration behind what was termed the Queen Anne School, who prepared the design of the other stations on the L&EG, as well as those on the Chichester to Midhurst and Eridge to Polegate branches. It was a substantial structure with refreshment rooms on both levels, with that on the low level said to house a billiards room for travellers. Only passengers with valid tickets and railway staff had access to the rooms, which were licensed to sell alcohol and managed by the former owner of East Grinstead's Crown Hotel. The East Grinstead Parish Magazine complained of the distance from the new stations to the town and hoped that new roads would be built to connect it and the approaches improved. An 1885 publication about East Grinstead described the station as "very commodious and convenient" and "a pleasing object" with "embankments on the outside planted with shrubs and flowers".
It is thought that an engine shed was provided upon the opening of the L&EG, given that as the first train of the day started at East Grinstead and the last train terminated there, there would have been a need to house the engine. However, the exact date of the shed's opening is unknown. Records show that LB&SCR D1 class No. 233 Handcross was allocated to East Grinstead shed when new in March 1883. The shed closed at the end of 1894; there were by now sheds at Three Bridges and Tunbridge Wells West. However, station plans from 1910 show that the water tank, water column and engine pit still remained. The station had north and south signal boxes; the north box was occasionally used to operate a crossover to the north but operation was transferred to the south box in the 1920s which was operational until 17 July 1987. The box has since been demolished and the line is worked from the Oxted signalling panel.
1970 rebuilding
From 1955, the low level station fell into virtual disuse with most passengers using the high level station. The L&EG closed on 16 March 1958 and for a short time afterwards a faster service to Brighton via Three Bridges ran which reached the coastal town in 45 minutes after leaving East Grinstead. The last train on the L&EG ran on 16 March 1958 after which very few trains used the down platform and none departed from the up. The Oxted line timetable was revised as from 6 January 1964 so that, with a few exceptions, the regular services from Victoria terminated at the low-level platforms. After the closure of the Three Bridges-Ashurst Junction line on 2 January 1967, all London trains used the low level with the up platform used for services during busy periods, leaving the down platform to deal with both arrivals and departures.
Demolition works on the 1882 building started in February 1970 and were complete by November 1971; the replacement single-storey prefabricated CLASP structure opened in 1972 immediately south of the old building. Contractors for the demolition and reconstruction were J. Longley of Crawley. The smaller modern construction which reflected the station's new status as the terminus of a branch line from Oxted. Several fittings from the old station, including cast-iron pillars and brackets, valancing, gas lamps, nameboards and coloured glass, were sold to a Californian restaurant owner, Robert Freeman. The sidings in the low level goods yard remained until their removal in 1987. Following the closure of the high level station, the "Low Level" suffix was no longer used. A concrete footbridge was erected in 1970 to link the two platforms as the demolition of the high level station had removed the means of access to the up platform. The Oxted line was electrified following works between May 1986 and October 1987 and the track layout in the station was modified. The platforms were also lengthened to take eight-car trains.
2013 rebuilding By September 2012, a new station building costing £2.1 million had been erected next to the existing structure which was scheduled for demolition in March 2013 once the new building and expanded car park became fully operational. The works, which were completed as part of the Department for Transport’s National Station Improvement Programme, also included new platform waiting shelters, bicycle facilities, a new transport interchange on the site of the old building, platform lengthening to accommodate 12-car trains and the installation of a pre-fabricated single deck on the car park to increase capacity from 236 to 336 spaces. It was designed by Howard Fairbairn MHK Architects.