Celebrate 200 Years of Railway History! Friday 26th September 6.00 - 6.30pm
In 1825, the Stockton & Darlington Railway opened the world’s first passenger railway station on Tuesday 27th September — a milestone that transformed travel forever. Steam locomotives carried passengers and goods at unprecedented speed, sparking a transport revolution that connected towns, boosted industry, and shaped modern Britain.
This special SideTracked Railway 200 event at Salfords Station is part of a nationwide celebration running from Wednesday 24th to Tuesday 30th September 2025. All finds and hides from this event count towards your SideTracked statistics, and a unique profile badge will be created especially for this event. Whether your chosen location is old, disused, miniature, or still bustling today, it’s part of a railway story that’s been 200 years in the making.
Salfords station was originally built in 1915 for workers at the Monotype Corporation, which had constructed a factory next to the railway line in 1899. From its opening on 8 October 1915, the train service was not advertised and sparse to simply meet the needs of Monotype Corporation staff. On 17 July 1932 the line was electrified on 750 Volts DC third rail and concurrently the station was served by a regular advertised train service. The station name, originally Salfords Halt, was simplified to Salfords on 1 January 1935.
On 14 January 2008, the station received a minor upgrade. This involved the replacing of the wooden huts with modern glass waiting areas and the installation of dynamic digital displays with information about the next trains.
Salfords is on the Brighton Main Line, 23 miles 37 chains (37.8 km) down the line from London Bridge (via Redhill) and is managed by Southern. Train services are provided by Thameslink and Southern.
The station has four lines running through it - two slow lines with platforms and two express lines that have no platforms. The ticket office is open weekdays from 6:30am to 10:30am. Journey times are around 45 minutes to London, 25 to Croydon, 7 to Redhill and Gatwick Airport, 10 to Crawley and 20 to Horsham.
Day Aggregates made use of the open land beside the station to store and transport their loose stones for construction in the area for some time. The sidings used still exist, including a bay platform at the station and most of the machinery used to expel and fill the wagons that transported the stone at the site.