A Visit To Dorking West Station
Dorking West station has a reputation, as one of the least busy stations on the UK network. This was reported here on the BBC, which said it only had 16 passengers in 2011-12.
incidentally, I saw at least seven or eight passengers get off the train at Dorking West station.
The station was generally clean and tidy, although it is very short on facilities, with it would seem nothing convenient to the station, except for the scrapyard. Apparently, a few years ago, the latter caught fire and disrupted the trains, according to someone in Information at Redhill. I’ve since found this report on the BBC.
The Class 166 trains were in good condition too!
It was in some ways an interesting trip, to one of the least used parts of the rail network in the South East England.
Various things have been proposed to generate traffic from electrification, to use as a route from the Channel Tunnel to Reading for freight, but it is unlikely that much will be done.
The Anonymous Widower 
Although lightly served & used, Dorking West’s reputation as the least used the station is a product of anomalies in the statistics.These count “ticket sales allocated to stations” but because of the Dorking station group, the presence of another Dorking station (Deepdene) on the same line and the lack of ticket selling facilities at West the only tickets that get allocated to West are either the tiny number sold on the train for travel between West and Deepdene – a very short journey in itself but one where it’s unlikely you’ll actually meet the ticket seller/inspector in time – or someone deliberately setting out to obtain an ultra rare ticket specifically for West.
Comment by timrollpickering | May 13, 2013 |
I must say, it’s the only station, I’ve found where the only thing to entice visitors in the vicinity is a scrapyard.
Comment by AnonW | May 13, 2013 |