Tongham railway station was a railway station serving the village of Tongham

Tongham

Tongham is a small Surrey village located close to the north-east Hampshire and Surrey border. The village lies in a triangle between the A31 and the A331. Neighbouring villages include Ash and Badshot Lea....

, Guildford

Guildford (borough)

Guildford is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. It is named after Guildford where its council is based....

, Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 which opened in 1849 and closed in 1937.

History

The station was opened in 1849 by the London and South Western Railway

London and South Western Railway

The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...

 (LSWR) as one of two intermediate stops on a now-closed section of the LSWR's Guildford to Alton line

North Downs Line

The North Downs Line is the name of the passenger train service connecting Reading, on the Great Western Main Line, to Gatwick Airport, on the Brighton Main Line...

. Tongham station, along with Farnborough

Farnborough railway station

Farnborough railway station serves the town of Farnborough in Hampshire, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by South West Trains. It is one of two stations serving Farnborough: the other, Farnborough North, is situated on the North Downs Line...

, was one of the first railheads for the military traffic associated with the recently established army camps at Aldershot

Aldershot

Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...

. Its significance was drastically reduced, both as a station and as part of a through route, with the opening of Aldershot railway station

Aldershot railway station

Aldershot railway station is on Station Road, near the town centre of Aldershot, Hampshire, England. It is on the Alton Line, part of the National Rail network, with train services and station facilities provided by South West Trains....

 in 1870 on a new more direct line from Pirbright Junction on the London to Basingstoke line

Alton Line

The Alton Line is a railway line operated by South West Trains. Today Alton station is the terminus of a main line branch, although it was at one time the junction for three lines. The branch leaves the South Western Main Line at Pirbright Junction near Brookwood...

 which linked with the Guildford to Alton line between Tongham and Farnham

Farnham railway station

Farnham railway station serves the town of Farnham in Surrey. It is located on Station Hill by the level crossing that carries the Alton Line across the B3001 secondary road. The town centre is about ten minutes away on foot to the north of the A31 Farnham Bypass via a signal-controlled crossing...

, effectively bypassing the short section. This was followed in 1879 by the laying of a spur from Ash

Ash railway station

Ash railway station serves the village of Ash in Surrey, England. The station is served by South West Trains, who manage the station, and by First Great Western...

 to Aldershot which had the effect of diminishing the Guildford

Guildford (Surrey) railway station

Guildford railway station is an important railway junction on the Portsmouth Direct Line serving the town of Guildford in Surrey, England. It is 30.3 miles from London Waterloo....

 to Farnham traffic.

Although a short branch was laid from Tongham to serve the nearby Aldershot Gas Works in 1898, the line became a forgotten byway and was singled in 1930. Passenger services ceased in 1937 as a consequence of electrification of other lines in the vicinity, but Tongham remained open to serve the Gas Works until its closure in 1954. With the closure of the Gas Works, British Railways

Southern Region of British Railways

The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992. The region covered south London, southern England and the south coast, including the busy commuter belt areas of Kent, Sussex...

 decided that the twice-weekly goods service was no longer justified and the last service ran on 31 December 1960.

Station building

Architecturally, Tongham station was similar to Ash Green Halt

Ash Green Halt railway station

Ash Green Halt railway station known for a time as Ash Green, served the village of Ash Green in the English county of Surrey.- History :...

 in that the main station building was situated at street level on a road bridge crossing the line, with a covered staircase leading down to the Up platform. The booking hall faced the road on the west side of the road bridge. The station was equipped with two platforms, with several sidings to the east of the station as well as the line to the Gas Works which led off to the north-west from the Up line; a short siding also led into Hyde's dog biscuit factory situated to the west of the station.

Present day

The station has been demolished and the course of the line to the west is largely taken up by the A331 "Blackwater Valley Relief Road" which links the A31

A31 road

The A31 is a major trunk road in southern England that runs from Guildford in Surrey to Bere Regis in Dorset.-Route of road:The road begins in the centre of Guildford, meeting the A3 road before running south west along the Hog's Back. It continues past Farnham, Alton and New Alresford before...

 Hogs Back Road with the M3 motorway

M3 motorway

The M3 motorway runs in England for approximately from Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, to Southampton, Hampshire and forms an unsigned section European route E05. It is dual three lanes as far as Junction 8 near Basingstoke and then dual two lane until Junction 9 near Winchester and then dual three...

. A footpath passes to the west of the station. The road bridge which crossed the former railway line was demolished in 1994.