Letter: Campaign to Gauge Opinion on Restoring the Railway Line to Cranleigh

Published on: 31 Oct, 2024
Updated on: 31 Oct, 2024

Cranleigh station before its closure in 1965. Picture supplied by Ben Darnton.

From Adrian Chandler

See: What Cranleigh Really Needs is a Restored Railway Link

I was interested in the recent articles in The Guildford Dragon concerning restoration of the railway line which used to run to Cranleigh and beyond to Horsham. This has nicely coincided with a campaign the British Regional Transport Association has started to gauge opinion and enthusiasm for a restored railway.

Initially, leaflets (see below) are being distributed in Cranleigh where we feel that residents there will drive the interest.

I became interested in this line many years ago and became more involved when Guildford Borough Council was contacted by a councillor from Waverley just over five years ago. He initially needed to establish where the train would terminate at Guildford (possibly platform 3).

Working together, we visited various sites along the route to try and see if there could be any problems and, if found, how we could overcome them.

Sites visited were where it crosses the Horsham Road (A281) (possible tunnel), Bramley Station, the route south of Bramley as it ran alongside the Horsham Road and a possible site for a new Cranleigh Station (on the opposite side of the B2130 to the Hewitts Industrial estate).

Our conclusion was that a single track was certainly feasible whilst still maintaining the Downslink to Cranleigh and further options to Dunsfold and Horsham could be looked into. We didn’t see a problem with using modern rolling stock.

Responses to Letter: Campaign to Gauge Opinion on Restoring the Railway Line to Cranleigh

Jim Allen Reply

October 31, 2024 at 9:10 am

Considering the persistent objections by home owners and walkers, a quieter option would be a monorail above ground allowing walking routes to remain and stations being naturally accessible.

Some residents in Bramley, over the years, have always been the worst detractors to any improved travel route to Cranleigh and the biggest obstacle to reopening public transport.
Warren Gill Reply

November 2, 2024 at 7:38 pm

I’m afraid there is very little chance of it happening due the residents of Bramley kicking off about it and the noise.

Even though it’s not as if it’s a train thundering through Bramley at 100mph or more every few minutes, it would be probably be a 40-70/80 mph, or so, railway with modern engineering standards as trains will either be starting away from Bramley station or slowing for the Bramley station call. The only exceptions would be early and late trains running empty to position themselves for the start or end of service which would pass through at any speed and that would depend on the infrastructure.

However it’s the residents of Linnersh Wood who are the primary objectors to it, from what I am aware from previous attempts at reinstating the line. West Sussex Council wants it back to ease the traffic on the A281, yet it’s a number of individuals who have “influence” and a couple of Conservative councillors that are stopping it.

Bramley residents who vociferously complain about its possible reinstatement are more often than not the same ones who complain bitterly about the traffic on the A281 with its noise, speed and pollution, yet when something that would take a loads of cars on the school run to St Catherine’s and Gosden House schools as well as commuters to and from Guildford and Horsham.

The levels of traffic are only going to increase and get worse with Dunsfold and other housing developments in the pipeline and the new government’s obsession with building housing everywhere.

It’s also ironic that the residents of Bramley are quite happy to drive to Shalford, Farncombe or Godalming and clutter up the roads there with their cars.

However the simple fact is there is no point in terminating the line at Cranleigh, it needs to be reinstated in full back to Horsham, albeit with some diversions such as Baynards (due to the partially filled in and restrictive tunnel) to develop the line’s full potential as it would provide a valuable link to the employment hotspots of Crawley and Gatwick Airport as well as serve local journeys.
Stephen Spark Reply

July 29, 2025 at 9:43 am

I can’t see a monorail being viable. Yes, it would leave the trackbed free, but it would be visually intrusive and if the precious residents of Bramley are so afraid of a conventional railway train rattling their chinaware, imagine their reaction if passengers could look down from on high and peer into their gardens. The mere thought of it is too, too much!

In fact, there are plenty of mitigations that could be employed to reduce noise, vibration and visual intrusion – from earth banks and suitable vegetation to hide the unholy monsters of the Industrial Revolution, to rubber noise-damping track fixings. Modern trains are far quieter these days. On a line of this length, battery power would be the obvious solution (avoids the need to install power infrastructure), and I doubt that more than 40mph would be necessary or even desirable.

I was born and brought up next to a railway line (the Surbiton-Guildford New Line) and there have been many days when I have had to make a special check to see whether the trains were running – the line and the trains blend so seamlessly into the background that you completely fail to register their presence. The noise of aircraft, lawnmowers, leafblowers, hedgetrimmers and the M25 are far more intrusive. I wonder what the sensitive Bramleyites think of those?
Nigel Keane Reply

July 30, 2025 at 1:59 am

Why not have trams/light rail as in Croydon They can be battery powered as are the new planned trains on the Reading-Gatwick line.

We have to remember that the lines were closed by Dr Beeching, who was a scientist not a rail expert. The Minister of Transport at that time was Ernest Marples a shareholder of the road building company of the same name.