Wimbledon station

The first railway station in Wimbledon was opened on 21 May 1838, when the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) opened its line from its terminus at Nine Elms in Battersea to Woking. The original station was to the south of the current station on the opposite side of the Wimbledon Bridge.

On 22 October 1855, the Wimbledon and Croydon Railway (W&CR) opened the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line to West Croydon via Mitcham and on 1 October 1868 the Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway (TM&WR) opened a line to Streatham via Tooting Junction (now just Tooting).

On 3 June 1889, the District Railway (DR, now London Underground's District line) opened the extension of its line from Putney Bridge,[8] making Wimbledon station the new terminus of that branch and providing Wimbledon with a direct connection to the developing London Underground system. The station was rebuilt on its current site for the opening of this service.

District line steam-hauled services were replaced by electric services from 27 August 1905. Main line suburban services were gradually replaced by electric rolling stock either side of World War I although long distance journeys continued to use steam traction until 1967.

The station as it was in 1966

The station was rebuilt again with its current Portland stone entrance building by the Southern Railway (SR, the post grouping successor to the L&SWR) in the late 1920s as part of the SR's construction of the line to Sutton. Parliamentary approval for this line had been obtained by the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway (W&SR) in 1910 but work had been delayed by World War I.[9] From the W&SR's inception, the DR was a shareholder of the company and had rights to run trains over the line when built. In the 1920s, the London Electric Railway (LER, precursor of London Underground) planned, through its ownership of the DR, to use part of the route for an extension of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR, now the Northern line) to Sutton.[9] The SR objected and an agreement was reached that enabled the C&SLR to extend as far as Morden in exchange for the LER giving up its rights over the W&SR route. The SR subsequently built the line, one of the last to be built in the London area. It opened on 7 July 1929 to South Merton and to Sutton on 5 January 1930.[9]

On 2 June 1997, the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line was closed by Railtrack for conversion to operation as part of the Tramlink tram operations. Part of platform 10 was used for the single track terminus of Tramlink and rail tracks and infrastructure were replaced with those for the tram system. The new service opened on 30 May 2000. The other part of platform 10 was used as a terminus for Thameslink services. In 2015 platform 10 was split into two tram platforms, 10a and 10b, to allow higher frequency service on Tramlink.[10]

Wimbledon Station was also the haunt of a 'Railway Collection Dog'. Airedale Terrier "Laddie" was born in September 1948 and started work on Wimbledon Station in 1949, collecting donations on behalf of the Southern Railwaymen's Homes at Woking, via a box strapped to his back. He retired in 1956 having collected over £5,000 and spent the rest of his days with the residents at the Home. On his death in 1960 he was stuffed and returned to Wimbledon Station. He continued to collect for the Homes, in a glass case situated on Platform 5, until 1990 when he retired once more and became part of the National Railway Collection.[11]

Wimbledon station approach in 2008, prior to the removal of vehicle access.

Wimbledon station approach in 2011, shortly after the removal of vehicle access.

Before 14 March 2011, there was a roundabout outside the main entrance to the station to allow for vehicles to drop off passengers. This made the approach to the station somewhat cramped and not ideal during busy times. On Monday 14 March 2011, vehicle access to the station's forecourt was permanently removed and the approach to the station was completely repaved. This gave a much larger open space outside the station's entrance more ideal during busy times. These works were completed by June 2011 and the approach was hastily cleared in preparation for the Wimbledon Championships which would see a large increase in passengers passing through the station.

To increase the number of Tramlink services, a second platform was built in place of the former Thameslink bay platform track.[12] In order for the work to be carried out, the service was suspended between Dundonald Road and Wimbledon from 13 July until November 2015. The new platform is called '10b' and opened on 2 November 2015.[13] As a result, tram frequency increased from 8 per hour to 12 per hour from April 2016.[14]

• On 12 October 1972, a freight train ran into the rear of an electric multiple unit that was standing at platform 10. Twelve people were injured. The accident was due to inattentiveness by the driver of the freight train.[15]
• On 6 November 2017, a passenger train formed of two Class 450 electric multiple units derailed near Wimbledon.[16] Four people were injured; over 300 passengers were evacuated from the train.[17]

Wimbledon station presents an unusual procedure with the Oyster card pay as you go electronic ticketing system.[18] Ordinarily, London Underground and National Rail passengers with Oyster cards must "touch in" at the start of their journey and "touch out" at the end; those who fail to "touch out" will be charged the maximum possible fare from their starting point. However, Tramlink passengers starting a journey at Wimbledon, after passing through the entry gates, will not be able to "touch out" at the end of their tram journey, since tram stops provide no facility to do so; instead they must "touch in" a second time on the tram platform at Wimbledon, after passing through the ticket barrier, and the system will then recognise that no train or tube journey has been made.[19]

A similar issue arises for passengers arriving at Wimbledon by tram. Normally tram users do not touch out, but at Wimbledon they must do so to leave the station; touching out at the regular turnstile accomplishes this. If, however, a passenger touches their card at a standalone Oyster reader (such as the one by the manual gates), the system will see this as starting a new journey rather than ending one, and will deduct a maximum fare from the card.

Wimbledon station
South Western Main Line to London Waterloo Earlsfield District line to Earl's Court Wimbledon Park Wimbledon Park depot Sutton Loop Line to Streatham Haydons Road Wimbledon[20] Dundonald Road Tramlink lines 3 & 4 to West Croydon Wimbledon Chase Sutton Loop Line to Sutton Raynes Park South Western Main Line towards Woking

South Western Railway operates northbound services to London Waterloo and southbound services to Dorking, Richmond, Guildford, Cobham & Stoke D'Abernon, Hampton Court, Epsom, Shepperton, Chessington South and Woking. On Sundays only, services run to Basingstoke and Alton. On a less regular basis, Thameslink operate services to Luton, one via Tooting and the other via Morden South. There are 2 trains per hour via each route. In addition to these services, during peak times Southern operates services to London Bridge in the evening peak and Sutton in the morning peak. London Trams operates stopping tram services to New Addington, serving other National Rail stations such as Mitcham Junction, West Croydon and East Croydon. On the London Underground District Line there are services to Barking, Tower Hill and Edgware Road.

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Terminus		District line		Wimbledon Park towards Upminster or Edgware Road
	National Rail
Earlsfield		South Western Railway South Western Main Line		Raynes Park or Surbiton
Haydons Road		Thameslink Thameslink		Wimbledon Chase
		Southern Sutton Loop Line Limited Services
Preceding tram stop		Tramlink		Following tram stop
Terminus		Tramlink Wimbledon to Beckenham Junction		Dundonald Road towards Beckenham Junction
Terminus		Tramlink Wimbledon to Elmers End		Dundonald Road towards Elmers End
	Future Development
Preceding station		Crossrail		Following station
Raynes Park towards Hampton Court or Shepperton or Chessington South or Epsom		Crossrail Line 2		Balham towards New Southgate or Broxbourne
	Disused railways
Terminus		Southern Railway Merton branch		Merton Park
		Connex South Central West Croydon to Wimbledon Line
	Abandoned Plans
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Elm Grove towards Sutton		District line (Wimbledon & Sutton Railway)		Wimbledon Park towards Barking or Edgware Road

If Crossrail 2 is built, new tunnels will be dug between Wimbledon and Raynes Park, calling at Wimbledon in tunnel and routing trains via Chelsea and central London to Hackney and beyond to either Alexandra Palace (in tunnel the whole way) or Hertford East (surfacing before Tottenham Hale, taking over the West Anglia Main Line north of there). This would provide another set of transport links for the area and direct services to Euston and King's Cross St. Pancras.

There is also a proposal for an extension of the Tramlink services running from Wimbledon to Sutton via Morden, St. Helier and Rose Hill.

• London Buses routes 57, 93, 131, 156, 163, 164, 200, 219 and 493 and night route N87 serve the station.
• During the annual Wimbledon Championships there is a dedicated bus service between Wimbledon Station and the Lawn Tennis grounds in Church Road.

• Wimbledon Traincare depot – located a little to the north of the station, on the west side of the main line tracks.

• Jackson, Alan A. (December 1966). "The Wimbledon & Sutton Railway – A late arrival on the South London suburban scene" (PDF). The Railway Magazine: 675–680. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
• Rose, Douglas (1999). The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History. Douglas Rose/Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-219-4.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wimbledon station.

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Side entrance to Wimbledon station, 1955. This entrance has been rebuilt as part of the Centre Court shopping centre development.
• Pictures of both entrances to station