Starting this series of posts from London, we’ll begin at London Waterloo and travel to Chessington South on the renowned Chessington line, near Chessington World of Adventures. I thoroughly enjoyed my adventures in London, visiting various stations during my last visit in September. Our first station was Queens Park, and from there, we headed to Battersea Park!

Starting from Queenstown Road Station, I opted to take a bus to Clapham Junction to add a bit of variety to my journey. I can’t recall the exact route, but we travelled from Queenstown Road to its terminus at Clapham Station. From there, I caught my next train to Vauxhall Station, which is another reasonably large junction and also serves the London Underground on the Victoria line.

From Vauxhall Station, we head up the line to Raynes Park, which I found quite interesting. Compared to most stations around Merseyside, this part of the line excites me as I see fast SWR, Southern, and the occasional Thameslink train from Wimbledon and even London Bridge flying through at very high speed. It’s all rather thrilling.

From Raynes Park Station we headed back up the line to Earlsfield Station, a rather simple basic two platform station however with fast trains wizzing past at high speed on the outer part of the station. From here we headed towards Chessington South with our first stop on the branch line itself being Malden Manor, I was fascinated by the canopies of the station, very art deco in style.

We then made our way to Motspur Park. It appears that this station has recently had lifts installed on the island platform and on either side of the railway to make it step-free for those who are less able to walk up stairs, have pushchairs, or even wheelchairs. Having transitioned from Merseyrail with our Class 777 trains featuring sliding steps, it feels quite strange to have to step onto the train like we used to with our 507/8 units.

It’s interesting to note that this line was originally intended to extend much further beyond Chessington South. However, I believe that during its construction, they either ran out of funding or the need diminished. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a man named Dr. Beeching who was tasked with downsizing the railway under British Rail at the time.

From Motspur Park, I travelled to my penultimate station, Tolworth, before reaching my final destination, Chessington South. The stations on this section of the line are quite similar, all designed and constructed around the same time, with canopies that closely resemble those at other nearby stations like Malden Manor, Tolworth, and Chessington North.

And finally, at our last station for this adventure on my blog! After this, I headed to Wimbledon before continuing towards Hampton Court station, which was another route I found quite exciting and intriguing. I am very much looking forward to visiting London again and exploring some new stations I have never been to.

Following my London adventures, I have two blog posts to write about the branch lines from Lancaster to Heysham Port and Oxenholme to Windermere, which I recently visited and initially shared on my TikTok page. Once those are completed, I can focus on the Calder Valley line between Preston, Blackpool North, Colne, and Leeds! Please consider subscribing so you don’t miss out on my next big adventure.