Wimbledon & Sutton Railway Company a History
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Wimbledon & Sutton Railway Company A History The Wimbledon & Sutton Railway Company was established in 1910 to promote and build a railway line (In what was then part of Surrey) from Wimbledon to Sutton, via Merton and Morden, and was promoted by local landowners, hoping to increase the value of their land by attracting property developers to the area. The railway was opened in stages, with the first section opened in February 1912, between Wimbledon and Morden (Later to become Morden Junction), with the final section opening in November the same year. Services were initially operated by a small fleet of 5 0-6-0 locomotives, belonging to the WSR itself (See ‘Locos & Rolling Stock for more detail.) and 4 wheeled coaches, joined throughout 1913 by 4 4-4-0 tender locomotives from Sharp Stewart of Glasgow, similar to the Furness Railways’ K2 Class Locomotives, as well as bogie passenger stock. From the outset this stock was outdated, though it soldiered on in front line service until Electrification, and in secondary use well into Southern and even BR days. From January 1914, the District Railway began services over the line using elderly Condensing Beyer Peacock 4-4-0 tank engines and its own coaching stock, with plans laid (In conjunction with the Wimbledon and Sutton, to whom some of the steam stock would be ‘Cascaded’/Sold.) for electrification, to enable electric trains to travel from central London out to Sutton. The electrification was delayed by the First World War, but work continued in earnest, and work was completed in July 1920, and electric services started the same month. In 1923, along with the other major railway companies in the South of England the WSR became part of the Southern Railway. The District Railway retained its running powers over the line, and the Southern Railway introduced its own electric services to the line, initially using ex London & South Western Railway electric trains. In 1933, the District railway became part of the London Passenger Transport Board, and, in the same year, the SR introduced new 2-Bil electric units to the line. In 1935, the LPTB announced their ‘New Works Programme’ of extensions and improvements to the network, one of which was a southern extension to the City & South London Railway (Now part of the Northern Line.), from Morden (To which the line had been extended in 1926.) to Sutton, with station upgrades, and a new junction at the site of the WSR’s Morden station, with the C&SLR station becoming Morden Central. Northern Line trains began running to Sutton early in 1938, with new trains of 1938 stock, and new stations designed by Charles Holden, in the same style as the 1920’s C&SLR extension buildings; Morden Junction , Sutton Common & Sutton all receiving new buildings, and the whole Wimbledon to Sutton line was Re-signalled. The service continues to this day, with Mainline services operated by Govia Thameslink Railway, alongside small ‘Open-Access’ operator Wimbledon Railways. Transport for London operates the Northern and District Line services to Sutton. Class 700’s operate the GTR services, whilst WR currently uses elderly ‘Slam-Door’ stock, though this is gradually being downgraded from frontline services as class 319 units become available following their withdrawal from Thameslink services. These are to be soon joined by Class 508 units cascaded from Merseyrail. Locos & Rolling Stock WSR Era: 1910-1923 Locomotives The original locomotive fleet consisted of 3 0-6-0 tank locomotives, and 2 0-6-0 tender locomotives. The first of the 0-6-0 tank engines, which bore a striking resemblance to the North British Railway’s Holmes class D 0-6-0 tanks appear to have been built at Eastleigh, and assembled at Merton Works. This loco became WSR No.1. The WSR engine featured higher cabs, chimneys and domes than its Scottish look-alikes, but were more-or-less identical mechanically. The other two 0-6-0T’s were ex- LBSCR Class A1’s No.36 ‘Bramley’ and No.39 ‘Denmark’, which had originally been purchased by Pauling & Co. for work on the construction of the Great Central Railway’s London extension. This company also won the contract to construct the WSR, and these two locomotives found use there. At the end of 1912, once the work had been completed, Pauling & Co. offered the locos for sale. The WSR purchased them almost immediately and they found use as shunters at Sutton and at Merton Works. The 0-6-0 tender locomotives were ex-London & South Western Railway class 700 locomotives, bought and modified to WSR standards in 1911 to aid the contractors, and later to provide larger motive power for services. Ex-LSWR No 459 is shown in 1913 as WSR No 5, Originally NO 2, until renumbering took place upon the introduction of the 4-4-0 tender locomotives. The photograph below was taken at Merton Works in July 1915. The building to the left of the photograph is the coaling stage, as this was also the line’s main loco depot. The 4-4-0 tender locomotives introduced in 1913 were purchased new from Sharp-Stewart of Glasgow, to practically the same design as had already been used, successfully, by the Furness Railway, in the form of the K2 Class ‘Seagulls’, and also by the Cambrian Railway, and differed little from the K2s, the only significant difference being the colour scheme, a beautiful dark green (With polished brass fittings.) as applied to all WSR Locomotives. An image of one of the locos (As delivered from Sharp-Stewart, prior to the application of numbers, presumably taken at Merton Works.) is shown below. The 3 ex-District Railway 4-4-0 tank engines were merely repainted at Merton Depot, with no other changes, other than the fitment of cabs, to afford the crew protection from the elements. No photographs survive of these locomotives in WSR condition, but there are several of District railway examples, one of which is shown below. Other locomotives were purchased on a piecemeal basis from the LSWR until 1923, and are documented elsewhere, so are not mentioned in this history. Rolling Stock The first items of rolling stock to arrive on the railway, a couple of months before the first locos, were 10 Contractor’s open wagons from Pauling & Co. These were used to carry spoil, men, machinery and materials along the line during construction. Very little is known about these wagons, but it is believed that they survived in Southern Railway departmental use until circa 1932, after which their fate is un-known. However, a wagon currently under restoration at a private site in West Sussex, recovered as a sludge/storage wagon from Newhaven Marine station, is believed to be of the design seen in photographs of WSR freight trains. Most freight trains were through: (I.e., LSWR, LBSCR, or Cross-London trains, with locos changed at Sutton and Willesden.) but a small number of local goods services were run, mostly using the archaic contractors wagons (Purchased with the A1’s), and a few ex-LSWR and ex-LBSCR vans, suitably repainted, as-well as brake vans purchased from those companies. Coaching stock initially consisted of a few plain-green liveried 4 wheeled coaches, but (by 1913) new bogie coaches were being introduced in the handsome WSR ‘Holly and Cream’ carriage livery, as shown below. This became the standard livery, though lining was generally not applied from 1915 until 1919, and no more coaches were introduced after 1913. Southern Railway Era: 1923-1948 Southern Railway Rolling Stock With the line to Sutton already electrified by the District Railway, the Southern commenced electric services, using ex-LSWR ‘3-SUB’ Electric units, in 1925 . This remained the case until 1933, when the newer ‘2-BIL’ Units were introduced, remaining in use until the 1970’s. (By that time under British Rail operation.) These were later mixed with ‘2-HAL’, and newer ‘4-SUB’ (To replace the old ‘SUB’s.) through to Nationalisation in 1948. All of the above units are pictured below. 3-SUB 2-BIL 2-HAL 4-SUB LPTB/TFL Era: 1933-Present District Railway (Later District Line of LPTB/TFL) District Railway services commenced in 1914, using elderly wooden coaches, and Beyer Peacock 4-4-0 open cabbed condensing tank engines, pictured below. After electrification was completed in 1920, electric services commenced over the line, offering electric services from central London, out to Sutton, using District Railway electric units (Original ‘C’ Stock.) pictured below. The District Railway became part of the LPTB in 1933 Later on ‘Q’ Stock was introduced, however, by the mid-late 1930’s these units were showing their age and more modern ‘Q38’ and ‘CO/CP’ stock was introduced, and had begun to drift onto the ex- WSR line. The trains above are pictured below. Q Stock Q38 Stock CO/CP Stock This, itself, was replaced by ‘C’ Stock, and then ‘D78’ Stock in the late 1960’s and throughout the1970’s, As pictured below. C Stock D78 Stock In 2013, now under TFL, the new ‘S7’ and ‘S8’ Stock was introduced to the District line, and made its way onto the Sutton Branch by 2014. Until 2017, a large amount of services were still operated by D78 stock. The ‘S’ stock has replaced the ‘C’ Stock, and the ‘D78’ Stock has been phased out, and is being gradually turned into Diesel Units by Vivarail at Long Marston. S7 Stock pictured below. City & South London Railway (Later part of the Northern Line of LPTB/TFL.) The C&SLR had been extended from its original southern terminus at Clapham to a new terminus at Morden, to the North of the WSR station there, in 1926.