Baynards railway station


Baynards was a railway station on the Cranleigh Line. The line was single track and opened on 2 October 1865.
The station comprises the stationmaster's house, two waiting rooms, covered platforms, storesheds, a booking hall, a porch and a large goods shed. The station covers in all.

History

It was built for Lord Thurlow, the owner of nearby Baynards Park, whose land was on the route of the proposed railway line. As a condition of sale, Lord Thurlow insisted on having a station built to serve his estate, despite there being no nearby settlement. The station was also used as the local post office in times when up to 30 horses and carts would queue outside on market days.
Near the station was the Baynards Brick and Tile Works which was served by its own private siding. In early years it was a brickworks, producing Fuller's earth for the wool industry, and then foundry clay in later years. It then became a chemical processing works, receiving annually 400 tons of goods by rail, whilst also sending out its own goods, from seed dressings to polishing compounds.
The station closed in June 1965 when the Cranleigh Line was closed as part of the Beeching Axe.
The station was used in the 1957 BBC television adaptation of The Railway Children, and several films including: They Were Sisters, Room at the Top, The Grass Is Greener, The Horsemasters, Monster of Terror and Rotten to the Core.

Other Cranleigh Line stations