Horsham - Dorking line

[Southern Dvr]

Two schools of thought on this:-
1) if you build it then they will come
2) if you run it down enough they won’t come and you can strip it right back to the bare bones.

Horsham Back Road is on of many examples where the latter is the most likely. Had it not provided an alternative route to the Via Gatwick route then it would have been closed decades ago. Lovely route that it is, there isn’t a lot of purpose and I’ve not noticed a large number of passengers down there ever.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

...Horsham Back Road...

The informal name for the Horsham to Leatherhead / Sutton rail route via Ockley and Dorking presumably?

 

[Surreytraveller]

The informal name for the Horsham to Leatherhead / Sutton rail route via Ockley and Dorking presumably?

Its funny, because it used to be the mainline!

 

[thedbdiboy]

Its funny, because it used to be the mainline!

Officially, the Portsmouth Direct lines, itself a bit of a misnomer

 

[75A]

Officially, the Portsmouth Direct lines, itself a bit of a misnomer

It might be now, but when it opened on June 26th 1846 it was!

 

[Horizon22]

The informal name for the Horsham to Leatherhead / Sutton rail route via Ockley and Dorking presumably?

Indeed. The "back" (slow way) to Horsham is what OBSs / conductors liked to call it. I remember this route during peak mornings - was never really well loaded until at least Leatherhead and more normally, Epsom or Sutton.

 

[cslusarc]

Officially, the Portsmouth Direct lines, itself a bit of a misnomer

I thought it was the Portsmouth Line (as the Direct Line is something else) or the Sutton & Mole Valley Lines.

 

[physics34]

Needed a Horsham

Indeed. The "back" (slow way) to Horsham is what OBSs / conductors liked to call it. I remember this route during peak mornings - was never really well loaded until at least Leatherhead and more normally, Epsom or Sutton.

Yes, us crew call it 'the back road' to horsham lol

 

[Peregrine 4903]

Needed a Horsham

Yes, us crew call it 'the back road' to horsham lol

A bit off topic, but do you like driving the back road to Horsham, or prefer the driving the main route via Gatwick Airport and Crawley?