Celebrate 200 Years of Railway History! Tuesday 30th September 5.45 - 6.15pm
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 Horley 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.
Horley Station
Horley railway station is on the Brighton Main Line, 25 miles 60 chains (41.4 km) down the line from London Bridge via Redhill, and train services are provided by Thameslink and Southern. There are 4 platforms, all 270 yards (247 m) long, capable of accepting 12-car-long trains.
The present Horley station is in fact the second in the town. The original station, constructed by the London and Brighton Railway, opened on 12 July 1841, was located 301 yards (275 m) north of the present site, where the Factory Shop is. The first station was designed by David Mocatta and was on a larger scale than other intermediate stations on the line. Horley was situated almost midway between London and Brighton, and was chosen for the erection of the London and Brighton Railway carriage sheds and repair workshops. These were later moved to Brighton railway works. The station was enlarged in 1862 by addition of a second storey to the building. A canopy and footbridge were added in 1884.
The current Horley station opened 31 December 1905, to coincide with the quadrupling of the railway line by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway. The original station then became the Station Master's house and survived until the 1960s.
In the 1870s William Stroudley considered moving the locomotive works to Horley but was persuaded to keep them in Brighton. Nevertheless, the sidings at Horley were used for storing withdrawn locomotives and those awaiting repair until the First World War.
The Thameslink Programme turned some of the Southern services over to the expanded Thameslink network currently operated by Govia Thameslink Railway. This project saw most services that previously terminated at London Bridge continuing through the Thameslink core in Central London and northwards via the Midland Main Line and East Coast Main Line to destinations such as Bedford and Peterborough.