This famous Southern Region station is the setting for a spectacular homebased layout by RICHARD FOOT. He explains how and why he recreated it in ‘OO’ gauge. Photography, Trevor Jones.
Above: A Bulleid rebuilt ‘West Country’ 4-6-2 thunders through the centre roads at Redhill with a down train. In the foreground Drummond’ T9’ 4-4-0 30313 and Maunsell ‘S15’ 4-6-0 30843 simmer in the sidings.
AS A REGULAR commuter on the Southern Region of British Rail from Redhill to London Victoria over three decades until 2000, I have always had a great interest in the workings at Redhill station. Redhill was initially opened as Red Hill and Reigate Road in 1841 with various name changes until it was renamed Redhill in 1929. Two companies operated out of the station: the South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SECR) and the London Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR). There was always a great conflict between these two companies, so the LBSCR decided to avoid the town entirely by building a bypass route through disused sand quarries and two new tunnels. This route became known as the ‘Quarry Line’. Redhill has always been a complicated station to work with several conflicting routes converging from Tonbridge from …
