West Sutton Station
Parliamentary
approval to construct a railway line from Wimbledon to Sutton
through what were then undeveloped rural areas had been obtained by
the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway (W&SR) in 1910. The main
supporters of the scheme were the London Brighton and South Coast
Railway (LB&SCR), the London and South Western Railway
(L&SWR) and the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now London
Underground's District Line). All held shares in the company and
had rights to run trains over the line when built.
World War I prevented any work taking place and by the early 1920s
continuing financial support from the MDR meant that it had
effectively taken control of the company. Through its ownership of
the MDR, the London Electric Railway (LER, precursor of London
Underground) was able to obtain approval to use part of the route
for an extension of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR,
now the Northern Line) from Clapham Common through Morden to
Sutton. The route would have seen Underground Northern Line trains
running on surface tracks from Morden past the nearby Underground
depot and on to the Network Rail alignment close to Morden
South.
The Southern Railway (SR, successor of the L&SWR and the
LB&SCR after the 1923 Grouping of railways) objected to this
encroachment into its area of operation and the loss of its
passenger traffic to a more direct route. The two companies reached
an agreement that enabled the C&SLR to extend as far as Morden
in exchange for the LER giving up its rights over the W&SR
route. The SR subsequently built the line, one of the last to be
built in the London area. It opened on 5 January 1930.
This will require STEALTH as it is quite an open hide.
Please be careful to replace as found and watch out for
muggles!
The cache is a
magnetic 25mm Film Canister and has a log book only, bring a pen
please!