North Downs Line: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 03:12, 9 January 2026

The North Downs Line (NDL) is operated by Great Western Railway from the county town of Reading in Berkshire, to Gatwick Airport via Guilford. The route was built by the South Eastern Railway. The North Downs Line has a ruling speed limit of 90mph and is partly electrified, with 750v DC third Rail.

Route

The line departs Reading with a 30mph limit before making a roughly south eastern route away from the GWML at which point the limit goes up to 90/45mph. We pass non stop through the South Western Railway only stations of Earley, Winnersh Triangle and Winnersh before passing under the M4. Then we slow to 30mph as the route makes it first regular stop at Wokingham which features a grade II listed footbridge at the Up end of the station.

On passing over Wokingham Junction we leave the third rail behind, for the route to Ash which is diesel only and includes stops at Crowthorne, Sandhurst, Blackwater, Farnborough North which until recently had a level crossing which has now been replaced by a fully accessible footbridge, North Camp and Ash. At Ash we re-join the third rail to Shalford, we then pass Wanborough which is only served in the peaks, Guilford.

At Guilford we meet the Portsmouth Direct Line, New Guilford Line and the Mole Valley Line. To are Left is Guilford Area Signalling Centre. On Departure from Guilford on the Down Portsmouth Direct heading towards Havant however we can also run wrong way on the Up Portsmouth Direct, we pass through the 945 Yard Chalk Tunnel. On leaving Chalk Tunnel the North Downs Line passes through a short cutting until we reach the shorter St Catherin's Tunnel at 132 Yards. On leaving St Catherin's Tunnel we pass over Shalford Junction with the line speed breifly dropping to 25mph for the North Downs Line are leave the Portsmouth Direct Line, we very quickly go 30/50 as we cross the river Wey before arriving at Shalford.

Services

The North Downs Line operates, a semi-fast style service on all services, with three different calling patterns. There is an extra calling pattern for the Night Trial service.

North Downs Line off Peak service pattern
Service	Stopping Pattern	Frequency (Trains Per Hour)	Notes
Calling Pattern A	Reading, Wokingham, Crowthorne, Sandhurst, Blackwater, Farnborough North, North Camp, Ash, Guilford, Dorking Deepdene, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport	1 train per hour	XX:24 off Reading and XX:59 off Gatwick Airport
Calling Pattern B	Reading, Wokingham, Blackwater, North Camp, Guilford, Shalford, Chilworth, Gomshall, Dorking Deepdene, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport	0.5 train per hour	XX:54 off Reading and XX:29 off Gatwick Airport
Calling Pattern C	Reading, Wokingham, Blackwater, North Camp, Guilford, Shalford, Dorking West, Dorking Deepdene, Betchworth, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport	0.5 train per hour	XX:54 off Reading and XX:29 off Gatwick Airport
Calling Pattern D (Night Trial)	Reading, Wokingham, Blackwater, North Camp, Guilford, Dorking Deepdene, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport	4 Trains Per Night	1O95 22:36 Reading to Gatwick 1V95 00:24 Gatwick Airport to Reading (Sunday Only) 1O48 02:28 Reading to Gatwick (Friday Only) 1O50 03:30 Reading to Gatwick *1V28 04:00 Gatwick Airport to Reading

The North Downs Line is currently undergoing a 4 month Night Trial from June to October to test if this can be made permeant, to help meet London Gatwick Airport requirement for a second runway of 54% of passengers arriving on Public Transport and the lack of Night service is seen as block over 30% of possible passengers from using Public Transport to get to London Gatwick Airport. This night service is being operated on Friday and Sunday nights only. ^[1]

Old Stopping Pattern

This service pattern was introduced to improve connects to Gatwick Airport which had the side effect of reducing local connections as before the May 2023 Timetable change you used to have one fast an hour between Reading and Gatwick Airport calling at Reading, Wokingham, Blackwater, North Camp, Guilford, Dorking Deepdene, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport and one stopper between Reading and Redhill an hour calling at Reading, Wokingham, Crowthorne, Sandhurst, Blackwater, Farnborough North, North Camp, Ash, Guilford, Shalford then either Chilworth, Gomshall, Dorking Deepdene, Reigate and Redhill or Dorking West, Dorking Deepdene, Betchworth, Reigate and Redhill.

Redhill to Tonbridge

The North Downs Line services used to run to Tonbridge until the Redhill to Tonbridge Line was electrified in 1993 for Eurostar.

Stations

List of stations on the North Downs Line.

Current Stations

Key, Bold text all services booked to stop, Italic text some services stop, no services booked to stop.

Former Stations

Rolling Stock

The North Downs Line operates with 2 and 3 car class 165 Networker Turbos, there is a handful of 5 and 6 car workings however due to Short platforms along the line only the front unit is in use between Redhill and Reading with the rear units locked out of use. The North Downs Line was meant to receive the 4 car Tri-mode class 769 FLEX, however due to reliability issues this didn't happen and instead they were handed back to Porterbook in April 2023. As part of the class 769 project the platforms were extended to allow trains of around 80m to call there without the requirement SDO.^[2]

The North Downs Line was one of the last steam routes to be coverted to Diesel it wasn't until 1967 the year of the end of Southern Steam that the North Downs Line was fully converted to Diesel traction. This is due to there being insufficant rolling stock to cover those workings. It was only when the 1066 Line saw a service redunction that enough Class 201 units where freed up which were then split into two sets and eacj set gained a driving vechile from a Class 416 to form a Class 206 Taplow unit. They were called Tadpoles due the ex-class 201 vechiles being narrow ther than the class 416 vechiles due to the tight loading gauge on the 1066 Line.^[3]

North Downs Line Rolling Stock
Class	Number of Carriages	Top Speed	Image	years	Notes
Class 165	2 or 3	90mph		1991-Present	Main stay of the Line
Class 166	3	90mph		1991-Present	Rarely seen now due to mainly working in the West
Class 206	3	75mph		1964-1980	Withdrawn
Class 769	4	100mph (87mph on diesel)		N/A	Cancelled

References

[1] ttps://www.railmagazine.com/news/gwr-planning-overnight-reading-gatwick-airport-trains

[2] ttps://www.railwaygazette.com/uk/gwr-fleet-to-shrink-further-as-it-abandons-class-769-introduction/63230.article

[3] ttps://sremg.org.uk/dmu/class206.shtml

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The North Downs Line (NDL) is operated by [[Great Western Railway]] from the county town of [[Reading]] in Berkshire, to [[Gatwick Airport]] via [[Guilford]]. The route was built by the South Eastern Railway. The North Downs Line has a ruling speed limit of 90mph and is partly electrified, with 750v DC third Rail.
+[[File:Departing Farnborough North - geograph.org.uk - 4487766.jpg|thumb|left|First Great Western Class 166, 166219 departs Farnborough North]]
-[[File:Departing Farnborough North - geograph.org.uk - 4487766.jpg|thumb|First Great Western Class 166, 166219 departs Farnborough North]]
+The '''North Downs Line''' (NDL) is operated by [[Great Western Railway]] from the county town of [[Reading]] in Berkshire, to [[Gatwick Airport]] via [[Guilford]]. The route was built by the South Eastern Railway. The North Downs Line has a ruling speed limit of 90mph and is partly electrified, with 750v DC third Rail.
 == Route ==
 [[File:NDLmap.png|thumb]]
-The line departs Reading before making a roughly south eastern route away from the [[Great Western Main Line|GWML]]. Then the route makes it first stop at [[Wokingham]] which features a grade II listed footbridge at the Up end of the station.
+The line departs Reading with a 30mph limit before making a roughly south eastern route away from the [[Great Western Main Line|GWML]] at which point the limit goes up to 90/45mph. We pass non stop through the [[South Western Railway]] only stations of [[Earley]], [[Winnersh Triangle]] and [[Winnersh]] before passing under the M4. Then we slow to 30mph as the route makes it first regular stop at [[Wokingham]] which features a grade II listed footbridge at the Up end of the station.
 [[File:2017 at Wokingham station - level crossing footbridge.JPG|thumb|Grade II Listed Footbridge at Wokingham]]
 On passing over Wokingham Junction we leave the third rail behind, for the route to Ash which is diesel only and includes stops at [[Crowthorne]], [[Sandhurst]], [[Blackwater]], [[Farnborough North]] which until recently had a level crossing which has now been replaced by a fully accessible footbridge, [[North Camp]] and [[Ash]]. At Ash we re-join the third rail to Shalford, we then pass [[Wanborough]] which is only served in the peaks, [[Guilford]].
+At Guilford we meet the [[Portsmouth Direct Line]], [[New Guilford Line]] and the [[Mole Valley Line]]. To are Left is Guilford Area Signalling Centre. On Departure from Guilford on the Down Portsmouth Direct heading towards Havant however we can also run wrong way on the Up Portsmouth Direct, we pass through the 945 Yard Chalk Tunnel. On leaving Chalk Tunnel the North Downs Line passes through a short cutting until we reach the shorter St Catherin's Tunnel at 132 Yards. On leaving St Catherin's Tunnel we pass over Shalford Junction with the line speed breifly dropping to 25mph for the North Downs Line are leave the Portsmouth Direct Line, we very quickly go 30/50 as we cross the river Wey before arriving at [[Shalford]].
 == Services ==
-The North Downs Line operates, a semi-fast style service on all services, with three different calling patterns.
+The North Downs Line operates, a semi-fast style service on all services, with three different calling patterns. There is an extra calling pattern for the Night Trial service.
 {{col}}
 {| class="wikitable"
-! colspan = 3 | North Downs Line off Peak service pattern
+! colspan = 4 | North Downs Line off Peak service pattern
 |-
 ! Service
@@ Line 34: / Line 36: @@
 |-
 |Calling Pattern C
-|Reading, Wokingham, Blackwater, Farnborough North, North Camp, Guilford, Shalford, Dorking West, Dorking Deepdene, Betchworth, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport
+|Reading, Wokingham, Blackwater, North Camp, Guilford, Shalford, Dorking West, Dorking Deepdene, Betchworth, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport
 |0.5 train per hour
 |XX:54 off Reading and XX:29 off Gatwick Airport
@@ Line 41: / Line 43: @@
 |Reading, Wokingham, Blackwater, North Camp, Guilford, Dorking Deepdene, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport
 |4 Trains Per Night
-|1O95 22:36 Reading to Gatwick
+|*1O95 22:36 Reading to Gatwick *1V95 00:24 Gatwick Airport to Reading (Sunday Only) *1O48 02:28 Reading to Gatwick (Friday Only) *1O50 03:30 Reading to Gatwick *1V28 04:00 Gatwick Airport to Reading
-V95 00:24 Gatwick Airport to Reading (Sunday Only)
-O48 02:28 Reading to Gatwick (Friday Only)
-O50 03:30 Reading to Gatwick
-V28 04:00 Gatwick Airport to Reading
 |-
 |}
 The North Downs Line is currently undergoing a 4 month Night Trial from June to October to test if this can be made permeant, to help meet London Gatwick Airport requirement for a second runway of 54% of passengers arriving on Public Transport and the lack of Night service is seen as block over 30% of possible passengers from using Public Transport to get to London Gatwick Airport. This night service is being operated on Friday and Sunday nights only. <ref>https://www.railmagazine.com/news/gwr-planning-overnight-reading-gatwick-airport-trains</ref>
+=== Old Stopping Pattern ===
+This service pattern was introduced to improve connects to Gatwick Airport which had the side effect of reducing local connections as before the May 2023 Timetable change you used to have one fast an hour between Reading and Gatwick Airport calling at ''Reading, Wokingham, Blackwater, North Camp, Guilford, Dorking Deepdene, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport'' and one stopper between Reading and Redhill an hour calling at ''Reading, Wokingham, Crowthorne, Sandhurst, Blackwater, Farnborough North, North Camp, Ash, Guilford, Shalford'' then either ''Chilworth, Gomshall, Dorking Deepdene, Reigate and Redhill'' or ''Dorking West, Dorking Deepdene, Betchworth, Reigate and Redhill''.
+=== Redhill to Tonbridge ===
+[[File:Approaching Redhill station - geograph.org.uk - 546718.jpg|thumb|A [[Class 119]] off Tonbridge approaches Redhill]]
+The North Downs Line services used to run to [[Tonbridge]] until the Redhill to Tonbridge Line was electrified in 1993 for [[Eurostar]].
+== Stations ==
+List of stations on the '''North Downs Line'''.
+=== Current Stations ===
+Key, '''Bold text all services booked to stop''', ''Italic text some services stop'', no services booked to stop.
+*'''[[Reading]]'''
+*''[[Earley]]''
+*''[[Winnersh Triangle]]''
+*[[Winnersh]]
+*'''[[Wokingham]]'''
+*[[Crowthorne]]
+*[[Sandhurst]]
+*'''[[Blackwater]]'''
+*[[Farnborough North]]
+*'''[[North Camp]]'''
+*[[Ash]]
+*''[[Wanborough]]''
+*'''[[Guilford]]'''
+*[[Shalford]]
+*[[Chilworth]]
+*[[Gomshall]]
+*[[Dorking West]]
+*'''[[Dorking Deepdene]]'''
+*[[Betchworth]]
+*'''[[Reigate]]'''
+*'''[[Redhill]]'''
+*''[[Horley]]''
+*'''[[Gatwick Airport]]'''
+=== Former Stations ===
+*[[Nutfield]]
+*[[Godstone]]
+*[[Edenbridge]]
+*[[Penshurst]]
+*[[Leigh]]
+*[[Tonbridge]]
 == Rolling Stock ==
-The North Downs Line operates with 2 and 3 car [[British Rail Class 165|class 165 Networker Turbos]], there is a handful of 5 and 6 car workings however due to Short platforms along the line only the front unit is in use between Redhill and Reading with the rear units locked out of use. The North Downs Line was meant to receive the 4 car Tri-mode [[British Rail Class 769|class 769 FLEX]], however due to reliability issues this didn't happen and instead they were handed back to Porterbook in April 2023. As part of the class 769 project the platforms were extended to allow trains of around 80m to call there without the requirement [[Selective Door Operation|SDO]].
 [[File:GWr 769959.jpg|thumb|Great Western Railway Class 769 at Guilford on North Downs Line]]
+The '''North Downs Line''' operates with 2 and 3 car [[Class 165|class 165 Networker Turbos]], there is a handful of 5 and 6 car workings however due to Short platforms along the line only the front unit is in use between Redhill and Reading with the rear units locked out of use. The North Downs Line was meant to receive the 4 car Tri-mode [[Class 769|class 769 FLEX]], however due to reliability issues this didn't happen and instead they were handed back to Porterbook in April 2023. As part of the class 769 project the platforms were extended to allow trains of around 80m to call there without the requirement [[Selective Door Operation|SDO]].<ref>https://www.railwaygazette.com/uk/gwr-fleet-to-shrink-further-as-it-abandons-class-769-introduction/63230.article</ref>
+The North Downs Line was one of the last steam routes to be coverted to Diesel it wasn't until 1967 the year of the end of Southern Steam that the North Downs Line was fully converted to Diesel traction. This is due to there being insufficant rolling stock to cover those workings. It was only when the 1066 Line saw a service redunction that enough [[Class 201]] units where freed up which were then split into two sets and eacj set gained a driving vechile from a [[Class 416]] to form a [[Class 206]] ''Taplow'' unit. They were called Tadpoles due the ex-class 201 vechiles being narrow ther than the class 416 vechiles due to the tight loading gauge on the 1066 Line.<ref>https://sremg.org.uk/dmu/class206.shtml</ref>
+{{col}}
+{| class="wikitable"
+! colspan = 6 | North Downs Line Rolling Stock
+|-
+! Class
+! Number of Carriages
+! Top Speed
+! Image
+! years
+! Notes
+|-
+| Class 165
+| 2 or 3
+| 90mph
+| [[File:Great Western Railway 165, 105 Reading.jpg|100px]]
+| 1991-Present
+| Main stay of the Line
+|-
+| Class 166
+| 3
+| 90mph
+|
+[[File:A Class 166 unit at Ash station in 2015.jpg|100px]]
+| 1991-Present
+| Rarely seen now due to mainly working in the West
+|-
+| Class 206
+| 3
+| 75mph
+|
+[[File:Deepdene station, Dorking - geograph.org.uk - 1541696.jpg|100px]]
+| 1964-1980
+| Withdrawn
+|-
+| Class 769
+| 4
+| 100mph (87mph on diesel)
+|
+[[File:Oxford Up Carriage Sidings - GWR 769946.JPG|100px]]
+| N/A
+| Cancelled
+|-
+|}
+== References ==