 Hello, thank you for joining me. I'm at the very Art Deco service and station today and we're going to do an episode of Branch Line Britain. It's been a while since I've last done one of these. The last time I did one was the Chessington branch, which is also not too far from me on the southwestern railway network. Today I'm going to do the Hampton Corp branch. Now that way, that's looking towards London. About half a mile or so down there, we can't quite see it, but there's the junction for Hampton Corp. The line itself is only about one and a half miles long, so what I'm going to do, I'm going to get far away out the station and we're going to go and find the junction and then we'll explore the branch line. We'll visit the intermediate station, we'll walk to Hampton Corp and then we'll catch a train back to Chessington. It's quite nice that there's a flower bed. It says it's done by the Friends of Serbetton station. It's always nice when you get this group like this who, you know, makes the station look a bit nicer. We've got another one over there. I suspect soon this will all look really nice when the flowers come out. Anyway, I'm going to go now. So here we are outside the front of Serbetton station. We can see the Art Deco Ticket Hall. So this is southwest of Mainline and this opens between Nine Elms and Woking Common in 1838. The station was originally here. There was a station called Kingston, about half a mile towards London. This Art Deco station, complete with clock tower, was added in 1937. So it was 99 years old or the line had been here for 99 years when they built this railway station. What we're going to do, we're going to go over here. Now what's quite interesting is there's one footbridge with two halves inside. That's inside the station, but this one here, this is outside the station. So in effect, there's ticket barriers, but you can walk over this half of the bridge and you don't need a ticket. It's public right of way. We've got the clock tower up there above us. So we're going to go up here. The reason I'm taking you this way before we do the branch itself is there's a recent development to Serbetton railway station, which I thought we might as well feature. Oh, look at that. We're 12 miles and three chains, probably from Waterloo. I doubt it dates back to Nine Elms. There's a zero in the station. Walk over here. So there's a lift shaft behind there. We've got these windows, but there's no window on this side, because on the other side of that wall is the part of the station inside ticket barriers. You look through here, there's no glass in these windows. See, I'm going to put my hand through it. So if a steam train was coming, you don't get many running this way on this extra track, but you get quite a good shot from here. You just get no going away shots. Have a look at that. So that's looking towards London. So the original station, like I said, they're about half a mile that way, and it was called Kingston. That's been a bit of a new development to the station. In fact, I don't even think it's quite open. Out there, you can see just whiteness. There's a new extension to the station. So here, they've built this extension here. They've put a new gate lining. This is now free gate lines. So this is the newest part of the station. They've kept up the Art Deco theme. So if you look out there, you can see out to sort of 1930s, again, looking towards London. So this is the new part of the station. So all of this, I don't know when that's going to open, but it should be quite soon, possibly by the time we watch this video, all of it opens. So we go back to here, outside the ticket barriers, and then that is inside ticket barriers ticket office. And then if we go down these steps here, this will take us to the other entrance of the station. I'm going to go and walk for the housing estate. And we'll talk more about the Hampton Court branch, the main subject of this video. So we get to here, and there's another Art Deco ticket office. Although that's not actually open. I don't know what's in there. Perhaps I should make it into a pub. This is open to new extension. You can see here. I'm going to head off in that direction through the housing estate. Let's go and find the Hampton Court branch. I'm now about half a mile away from Serbetton Town Centre, and I'm in a housing estate. On the other side of Heiner's house is the southwestern mainline. Now, the whole reason for the Hampton Court branch goes back to 1838. That's when Queen Victoria opened Hampton Court Palace up to visitors. So visitors would have travelled from central London, or maybe into London. They'd have travelled by train to go and visit the palace. And the nearest station was Eastshire. Now Eastshire was a good two miles, two and a half miles away. I bet it was like an old horse and coach bus. So it was decided a railway would be the ideal solution going to Hampton Court. So I think it was in 1846. The permission was granted. In 1848, they began building the railway. It opened in 1849. And when it opened, it was nothing like the railway is today. It wasn't even steam powered. It was horse powered. A horse would pull a coach up and down, and then the coach would be attached to trains in the area of Serviton and continue on up to London. That was how you travelled to and from Hampton Court. Also, it had just like a junction straight off the mainline like that. But as times went on, the service got busier. And I think it was 1916. They electrified the line. So it's not been steam for a long time. But in 1915, a year before electrification, it was found that there were too many conflicting moves, trains heading out of London, having to cross the main lines to head north towards Hampton Court was, you know, a conflicting move. So something else was needed. And they built a flyover. And that's this flyover here. See this flyer? You can see there's two of them. You can actually have a bridge behind it. This flyer up here, this is what carries the down Hampton Court trains towards Hampton Court. So when they leave Serviton, they continue along on the down slope, they branch off and they take this viaduct. And then this viaduct takes them up and over the southwestern railway. As we get closer, we'll be able to have a better look. You can see beyond there's another bridge, that is the main southwestern rail. So when trains travel in the opposite direction, they don't have to take the flyover. We'll have a look because this junction is quite spread out. So it's sort of, it's a funny junction because it's in between various houses to get across the road. You can see it's quite an extensive viaduct. If we go under the viaduct, we'll get a better view looking westward. You'll see how big the viaduct is. So as I say, trains only go over it in that direction. You won't have to get a train going towards London over this viaduct. We're now walking under it. So you can see it's only the width of a single track. It's only ever been a single track. It only ever needs to be a single track. If you look down there, you can see it curving. And you might just be able to see there, that's a girder bridge. So that actually goes over the tracks of the southwestern mainline. Looking that way, you can see a bit more of the viaduct. And here, this is the southwestern mainline. It looks like this has been widened at some point. You can see the original brick arch bridge, and now we have a girder bridge as well. I'm going to continue that way. We're going to go and find a bit more of this viaduct further on up towards Hampton Court. We're not quite at Thames Dissen station yet. The one intermediate station on the branch. But this is Thames Dissen Green. We've walked through Long Dissen where there is no railway station. This is Thames Dissen. Here you go. Let me see. Rather nice. Thames Dissen. The very elongated junctions behind the house over there. So I'm going to go off on down one of those roads over there, and let's see a bit more of that junction. I'm just around the corner in Claygate Lane. And I'm heading towards the railway line. I can just hear a train. It's not going over those bridges because that is the branch line. I'm going to look at that in a minute. Something slightly more unexpected to find in a branch line Britain video. It's actually another branch for itself. Look, there's a turntable and there's a minute railway. This is the Thames Dissen minute railway. We're not going on that today because it isn't running. I have been here in the past and at some point I will come and do a minute railway Britain video. If you want to see what a ride is like, click the link on the screen now. You can see a trip around there. Although we don't actually do this branch, but it's the Morden and District Society of Model Engineers. At some point in the future we must come and do this. It's a brilliant minute railway. Back to full-size railways. If you're travelling on the full-size railway, you can catch glimpse of the miniature railway. Let's have another look at the railway subjects today, the camps and core grubs. So here we've got a bridge and then above it is another bridge. So that must be the end of that flyover. So the bridge here, this is the island I'm going to change from, that wasn't called. We'll go over this bridge heading towards London and I think if we have a look here, if you look just up there, you can just see the other bridge. That's the down line. So once again, like we were earlier, we're going to be here should be in between the two lines. Maybe not quite because if you think about it, like I said the flyover wasn't originally there. So originally it would have just been this bridge and just another bridge and they had to get our flyover. So yeah, this is quite exciting. As we go under here, you can see the arch. There's like another arch, an even bigger arch or an arch within an arch. That is the new flyover built against the existing brick bridge. So if you look back, look, arch within an arch. So that is the 1916 built flyover. Also added of interest, that looks like a substation, Claygate Lane Bridge. So I think that's the substation for the railway. So there you are. Look, you've got the two different eras of railway bridge to add to the confusion or excitement, whichever way you look at it. That bridge there, that carries us southwest of Mainline. You may have noticed there's another bridge beyond that. That's not really anything to do with today's video, but that is the line that goes down to Guilford via Claygate. So trains heading towards Guilford would take that bridge, but coming back, there's a train. You can't see it, there is a train. They come underneath the main line and up on this side. Maybe another day we'll shoot a video on that. So we're in, you know, quite a complex of junctions. I'm going to walk off up here and hopefully we'll find Templeton Station. And I've been walking through the woods for a little way. Following the route of the railway, I've just sort of followed my down a bit of a short path. And I think I've come to the first intermediate station up there. That looks like Thames Ditton Station as we've already found the village green. So it's quite away from there. It's sort of about half a mile away. Okay. I probably could have come a quick away from where the green was, but because we were looking at the junction, I came this way. And this station isn't quite original. It opened in 1851. So the branch was two years old when they decided to add Thames Ditton Station. So I'm going to go up as a ramp on this side, go up there. We can have a look at the station building. And I'm going to continue my walk to Hampson Court. So it's not particularly far. So we get to here. You can see the, there's the double arrows. There's a bridge. So that's looking towards Hampson Court that way. And then this is the down platform. Probably not many people actually walk up here and get on the train to Hampson Court because, you know, it's only, well, half a mile at the most. It's not a very long, maybe a little bit more. It's not a very long journey. Anyway, so it's not, but probably quite a lot of people on the other side will go up the other slope and head towards Hampson Court. Thames Ditton Station. Straight onto the platform line today. As usual, when I go to London, I've got a day travel card, which thank God they didn't kill off like they were planning to. That would have probably meant making these videos a lot more difficult than it is being happened. So no point complaining about that. We got this long, long slope. Reminds me a bit when I did the green for branch of some of the railway stations we had on there. Was it Drayton Green and Castle Bar Park? No, not Drayton Green. Castle Bar Park will have this feel of a long slope which you walk up to get to the station. And we get to here in front of us. We should see the station building, having a bit of work done, scaffolding up on it. Next train going to Hampson Court. I noticed as I was coming up it did say calling it Hampson Court only, which it can only call it Hampson Court. And then that way it's looking down towards London. So this is Thames Ditton. I'm going to leave the station now. I might hang around to see a train, see if there is one coming soon. If not, I'm just going to continue back down there, follow my way through the housing state. Let's go and find what there is around Hampson Court. We'll just come out of Thames Ditton Station again as we arrived. I mentioned this bridge. I feel like this bridge deserves a little bit more attention than I originally thought to gave it. It looks fairly, you know, just like any other bridge, too arches. But what's quite funny is these cars now demonstrating it's become a roundabout. I don't think when they built this bridge they ever intended it would be a roundabout. So you've got the road going off down there and then you've got this one here, Ember Court Road. We'll get on to why this is called the Ember Court Road a bit later. So I think originally it was just two separate roads and there's this what you could call like a miniature little park or common. I think this probably once went right up to the bridge. I might be wrong, but I don't think it was intended to become quite the what I think is an official roundabout. I don't think when the builders built it they intended for it to be an official roundabout. But I like it how, you know, when things develop like that and they're built in one way and they find they're quite useful for another way. So it kind of means if you're coming down this road here you want to go up here and actually have to go under the bridge. But possibly when it was open you may well have had to have walked under the bridge as I'm doing now. As we come under the bridge you can just see over there that's the entrance to the up platform. If you're traveling to London you ought to go up there. I'm going to walk off down here now into this housing estate and I'm going to make my way to Hampton Court itself. Not too far now from Hampton Court Station. I'm now on Summer Road. I've noticed a little cul-de-sac going off there. That's called Summer Crossing. If you wonder why, well here's the answer. Here is the only level crossing on the Bronx. Now there's not a train coming just now so we'll walk across. And just up there is Hampton Court Station. So if a train departs on the other track just there, so if a train departs on this track there's the crossing over to the up line. I don't like to hang about on crossings. I always feel you know you should. It's all right to watch a train from outside a crossing but I just never like to hang about on crossings. So we've now crossed the railway. So we're back on this side. I'm going to continue on up there and we're going to go and have a look at the River Mole and the River Ember. There's a reason why. I'll tell you when we get there. Well there's a slight change of subject now from railways but it'll become obvious why in a minute. This is the River Ember. But that waterfall there that's the River Mole flowing in to the River Ember. We've featured the River Mole before. Last year we went to Payne Seal Park over in Cobham. So if you want to see that have a look at the link on screen now. Completely different video featuring the River Mole. The reason this is all relevant is the River Mole never used to come down here. We're standing on a bridge here. This bridge was designed by Edwin Lutchins. There's another one around the corner. You're probably thinking isn't Hampton Court on the River Thames. You are right. It is on the Thames. We'll get to that in a minute. The River Mole would have continued on down there and into the Thames. But when they redesigned the road and Edwin Lutchins built this bridge and the bridge just over the Thames over there. They re-rooted the mole here into the River Ember. So all the water can flow out there and we've literally just missed it. But see those lights there. That is the platforms of the railway station. It might be easier said than done. They get across the road. It's quite busy. Well there's a gap after the Institute Scovers. If I can get across the road and if we can get a gap on the other side I'll be able to show you what it's all about and I'm not going to run. Okay I'll show you when I get there. This might be a while. Here we are on the other side of the road and this is where the River Ember flows out beneath the platform of Hampton Court Station. So probably most people who get on the train here may not even be aware that Hampton Court Station, Hampton Court, is so associated with River Thames. Its platform is actually Strabbled River Ember Stroke Water from the River Lull but it does. People like me, as we probably will do, when I go on a train somewhere like that I always go right down the Engs. It's always less busy down the Engs so you generally get quite a journey when you get to the Lulley Road by the Buffers. So this is the first Edwin Lutchins bridge. I know it's not tenderly stood railway. I do like Edwin Lutchins architecture. Last year when I went to France I was visiting Narragaid Railways but I had to stop and have a look at one of the Edwin Lutchins war memorials. This one here. So I think he's a fantastic architect. Maybe another day we'll do a video on Edwin Lutchins architecture possibly in the future. Anyway, Hampton Court Station let's go over the Thames now. So just a little way on from the bridge. You probably would never have realised if I certainly hadn't but there is this like dick in the ground. That's because that is the disused course of the River Lull as I've already mentioned it's been diverted. This is Hampton Court Station having a bit of work done. It's thought it was designed by William Tite the station building although that's never actually been confirmed. One and two if we go across here I'm going to try and get to the bridge. So although this is the railway station here in front of us complete with a picture of the palace itself we're not going in there just yet. We're going to go in there in a minute. We'll have a look at the station. I just thought we can't come to Hampton Court without you know having a look at the river possibly the palace itself. So that's the end of the railway there. It seems to be a lot of work going on but we are here. We are at Hampton Court. We're just walking up here now towards the Thames and the other bridge by Edwin Lutchins. So the River Lull would have flowed off down there and just like I say somewhere just down there would have flown into the river Thames actually. Just looking ahead deciding which route to take. I can see the palace. There's quite a nice little raised area. Let's go up here. There's the palace over there. Let's go up these steps. Oh this is cool. So we're on the Edwin Lutchins bridge. Over there we made it to the Thames. Over there is the palace. The whole point of building this railway obviously the branch and the station Hampton Court take their name from the palace. Here's Edwin Lutchins bridge. It's a really nice bridge. Like I say I really like Edwin Lutchins architecture. I'm going to go over to the railway station now and get my train home. So here we are. We're on the platforms now at Hampton Court Station. That station building back there. I think the cannabis probably did come down further. I'm not too sure if you know do comment and tell me. There are ticket barriers here now so it's the only station well say it's the only station on the branch. There's only two Thames. This one has gotten Hampton Court. There would have been more platforms here. As you can see there's a platform there out of use. I don't think there's probably much chance of it ever being put back into use because I think the two platforms they've currently got is more than enough. What are we going to do? Before we catch the train. The train obviously hasn't arrived yet. We're going to walk over the river again just because we can and it's novel you know. I'm trying to think where else is there a railway station which platforms Straddle River Strosbury does with the River Severn. Although it's not that well known. Not many people actually realise it does but it does. So when we get to here we can see the Edwin Lutchins Bridge. So it's like the little sister of the bridge over the Thames at Hampton Court. So that's where we were a moment ago. Interestingly it looks like there either were or they built provision for having more tracks crossing the river. You can see the abutments stick out a lot further. There would of course been a goods yard there. Like most railway stations the good yard has become the inevitable car park. I'm going to hang around here now at Hampton Court in Zone 6 and wait for my class 455 to take me back. Well class 455s they've been the staple diet on this branch for quite a long time now probably ever since they came in. At one point class 456s worked here but they've all been scrapped. They used to make the A-car trains 10 cars. I think that's a shame you know they they cut back and scrapped them but yeah they're gone then even preserved one. I don't know if any other Southern EMUs have ever been down here whether the 450s ever have. Again if you know do comment and tell me. I tell you the most unusual thing I've ever seen. I did once see a class 20 down here. I think it was one of the Routal Commons probably Pathfinder did a buffer puffer which went up and down this branch a Chestington branch a Windsor branch. So I have seen a loco who'll train down here. Passenger one as well which is very unusual. Right I'm going to wait for my what is very very likely to be a class 455 back to London. Yeah we're just pulling out of Hampton Court station on a class 455 on the way back to Waterloo. As I said these trains have been the staple diet of this line for well ever since they've been around longer than I've been alive for that many years. That will change soon because now the class 701 is the first few evented service. Eventually they will take over and we'll see them coming along here. I've got one more thing I want to show you. I don't know if it's going to work but I want to show you the flyover from the train. I'm thinking in a minute when we go get there I'll press the camera against the window and you should get a view of the flyover as we join the main line. That's us passed over flyover or past beside the flyover. Should I say we're now on the southwest of the main line. We're stopping at Cernerton soon. I'm going to stay on the train back to Waterloo to go home. I hope you enjoyed this video. Thank you very much for watching. I hope to do more branch line Britain videos this year so do keep an eye out for them. Please do feel free to like, subscribe and comment and from a class 455 in their final days heading to Waterloo.