Saturday 23rd August 2025
Welcome to the western fringe of Kent for this latest review of a town with two stations, and another fairly small town too with Edenbridge containing around 10,000 population.
Both Edenbridge’s stations are run by Southern and both have an hourly off peak service with some additional journeys in the peaks.
The station named plain Edenbridge is to the north of the town and is on the line between Tonbridge and Redhill, while Edenbridge Town, as its name implies is located closer to the town centre and lies on the Uckfield to London Bridge line which joins the East Grinstead line at Hurst Green, the next station north.
Edenbridge came first, in 1842, and is the quieter of the two stations, with 160,000 passenger entries and exits in 2023/24, while Edenbridge Town came on the scene 46 years later, in 1888 and sees getting on for double the number of passengers with 292,000 in 2023/24.
Trains from Edenbridge used to continue to Victoria, usually by joining to another train at Redhill from Reigate, but now it’s just a shuttle service as far as Redhill only. Tickets to either station to and from London are interchangeable (marked “Any Permitted”). It now takes about an hour to reach London Bridge from Edenbridge by changing at either Redhill or Tonbridge (using Southeastern), whereas a direct journey from Edenbridge Town takes 45 minutes, so I suppose it depends whereabouts in the town you live and which station is more convenient to access and whether you mind changing trains or not.
There’s very limited parking at Edenbridge (above) but more substantial facilities at Edenbridge Town along Station Approach (below) which might also be a factor.
Other facilities at both stations reflect the differing number of passengers with Edenbridge Town boasting a traditional style large station building including a staffed ticket office and toilets…
… while Edenbridge is just a two (staggered) platform, footbridge affair…
… with no station buildings at all.
The steps to the footbridge are looking somewhat worse the wear…
… but you get a nice view of both platforms walking across the top including towards Redhill (platform 1)…
… and towards Tonbridge (platform 2).
If you’re lucky you’ll see the off-peak hourly trains pass each other just west of the station.
There’s a side entrance to platform 1…
… which sadly includes steps so isn’t accessible…
… and leads down to the main road on the south side of the railway bridge.
However, there’s no ticket machine using this entrance/exit, the only one being at the entrance/exit to platform 2.
There’s a basic shelter on both platforms…
… with those rather uncomfortable ledge seats…
… and not a lot else on either platform.
Meanwhile, over at Edenbridge Town the station building on the London bound platform 1 hosts a ticket office…
… and lots of community information…
… and even some toys to keep children occupied while families wait for their train.
It all looks very well looked after and cared for and there’s some bright coloured murals on the wall of the subway which takes you across to platform 2.
… including giving reassurance you’re heading to the correct platform for the next station south at Hever.
Thee’s also an old style traditional waiting room on platform 2…
… but with a modern twist in its furnishings.
Both platforms have traditional canopies…
… and there’s seating on both too.
The platforms are very long, capable of taking 12 coach trains (I would think)…
…although when I visited only a three coach train stopped…
…but you can see how long the platform is with this photo taken as the train was leaving and was at the far end.
Finally, there are also toilets on platform 1…
… as well as an exit for when the station building is closed.
All in all a rather lovely station and would get my custom rather than its namesake up the road, not least during the last couple of weeks when the line from Redhill to Tonbridge has been closed “to complete essential maintenance, including renewing power cables, strengthening embankments, inspecting bridges, and replacing sections of rail.” Rail replacement buses finish tomorrow with the rail service reinstated to the line including Edenbridge from Monday.
Roger French
Did you catch the 16 previous blogs in this series? 1: Hertford; 2: Canterbury. 3: Wigan, 4 Dorchester, 5 Windsor, 6 Wakefield, 7 Reddish, 8 Yeovil, 9 Newark-on-Trent, 10 New Mills, 11 Tyndrum, 12 St Albans, 13 Falkirk, 14 Catford, 15 Helensburgh, 16 Gainsborough.
Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu
BusAndTrainUser 
I did not know the Met from Uxbridge had been extended to Edenbridge, try Uckfield?
But a nice review of two relatively simple and well cared for stations.
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My worst howler yet! Many thanks – now corrected.
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Do you really mean UXBRIDGE, surely UCKFIELD is the station you intended to name.
A long time ago I used both stations during a rather convoluted journey between Hersham and Birchington on Sea.
Edenbridge was one of my longest drives to referee football.
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My worst howler yet! Many thanks – now corrected.
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Rogers next trip for the blog, Uxbridge to Uckfield. Lool
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CORRECTION: I did stop in Edenbridge on my way to Margate but did not use Edenbridge Town Station.
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Its always a pleasure to tootle
along the Uckfield line through
Edenbridge Town:
l’ve walked between the
stations on a number of
occasions, although recently
while changing trains the time
matched up with the delightful
infrequent 233 bus to
Tunbridge Wells along
Bidborough Ridge. It was a sad
occasion as the driver was
saying his goodbyes and
shaking hands with his regular
customers as the route was
being transferred to
Southdown part of Metrobus.
There used to be many
stations with free parking in Kent and Sussex where I used to park a car on a Sunday and pick it up later in the week to head off to the south coast or vice versa.I see Edenbridge Town is now £4.20 until 17:00 on weekdays. I think Cowden is the only one left that’s free.
I forgive you for your occasional typos Roger, the rise of AI especially with place names means the days when wot typed always came out on the screen r part of history. Computing nostalgia!
John Nicholas
P.S. Checked three times, all spelling mistakes are deliberate!
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AI has nearly caught me out!
I’ve just googled “buy on board” for good value Blackpool bus and tram day ticket and it changed in front of my eyes to “buy online”.
It doesn’t matter with Blackpool Transport because the App and cash are the same price as clearly advertised on website and posters at tram stops!
I was nearly caught out in Oxted the other Sunday when I found cost of MetroVoyager ticket was £9.60 in cash and £8.90 on App.
If you Google the uniquely named “Metrovoyager” you get 19 different ticket options!
Fortunately for me the 410 was late leaving Holland.
Bus fares in Edenbridge can be as much of a minefield as travelling by LNER, with the best value £10 Discovery not even advertised.
John Nicholas
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I know the stations well and we will pass them on 23rd Sept.
The Wandering Busman
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indeed you will on a recreation of the 464/465/485 bus routes!
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Unlike most of the station-pairs you have reviewed, Edenbridge would actually benefit from a little imagination on the part of the transport managers, in the way of a usable connection, in both directions between the two. Travelling between Croydon/Oxted and Tonbridge/Tunbridge Wells (plus places east and south) and also between Redhill/Reigate and stations south of Edenbridge Town, could be much easier. It’s a good twenty minute walk between the two stations, not particularly pleasant; both regular bus routes (231/233 hourly, 236 2-hourly) do the journey, but naturally bus-train connections don’t enter the picture.
Edenbridge has a quirky railway feature: the point at which the Edenbridge Town line (ex LBSCR – in a tunnel) crosses under the Edenbrige line (ex SER – in a cutting). This can be viewed from Troy Town bridge (west end of Hilders Lane) which, amazingly, was served half-hourly M-F mornings by Go-Coach’s E1 (sadly cut in 2022 – per your Haves and Have-nots’ blog), but it is a pleasant two-mile-and-a-bit walk from Edenbridge station. Or you can view it on Google Maps …
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I love reading these blogs Roger. They are really informative and impartial. On the train station ones it would also be useful to have some info on bike and bus stop facilities and bus/bus connectivity. As a frequent rail user it’s the connectivity that’s actually as important to me. Thanks Andy Gibbons
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The platforms at Edenbridge Town and all stations down to Uckfield were extended about 10 years ago to take 10 coach trains. This caused a lot of disruption at the time. NR promised that this would provide more capacity and reduce overcrowding. Unfortunately Southern never took advantage of this. The line is plagued by regular cancellations, last minute cessation of all late evening services and short formations. Most people don’t rely on it and travel via Tunbridge Wells. It seems incredible that this has escaped the radar especially as Crowborough’s MP was at one time a Transport Minister.
Martin W
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ah its the turn of my town! Love that we have two stations and whilst generally people have a very negative view of Edenbridge Town services I find them great. Southern work well with the local train user group for Edenbridge (Tonbridge Line Commuters) and have scheduled the works for school holidays, Edenbridge has no secondary school so majority of students attend schools in Tonbridge. Great blog!
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The line through Edenbridge Town is one of the few passenger railways in the south east which has not been electrified.
I understand that the diesel units which operate the Uckfield branch are not permitted into Victoria as their exhausts don’t line up with the extractor fans at Victoria station (whereas the previous “Thumper” units did). Hence the Uckfield trains running to/from London Bridge instead.
In years gone by, the service through Edenbridge station ran to/from Reading via Guildford. After the line was electrified, Edenbridge was served by Victoria <> Tunbridge Wells and Three Bridges <> Maidstone West services. The services alpng the North Downs line from Reading had been diverted to Gatwick Airport instead of Tonbridge.
Malc M
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The comment by another reader re parking charges reminds me of the nonsensical situation at Runcorn which is just 20 minutes from Liverpool with all its restaurants , shops and entertainment venues yet weekday parking is £12.50 . No afternoon or evening reduced rates .
What a missed opportunity to generate leisure related train usage .
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Living at Hurst Green as a kid, I got to know the whole area pretty well on my bike, especially watching trains go by on both lines (steam and then DEMU).
Colloquially, we always called the Redhill-Tonbridge line ‘Edenbridge Top Line’ and Edenbridge Station Edenbridge Top’ station.
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So the busier of the two stations is on a non electrified line and diesel trains operate into central London over the electrified lines. Whereas the quieter station that used to have direct electric services to London (by exploiting multiple unit flexibility to attach to another train) is now a shuttle. Having just read Alfred Raworth’s Electric Southern Railway I wonder what he and the then Southern Railway management would think.
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Alfred-Raworths-Electric-Southern-Railway-Hardback/p/20513
Peter Brown
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Another interesting, informative blog as usual Roger. Prompted me to delve into my photo archive to compare now with 42 years ago. On 30th March 1983, I and a friend set off by car to visit the soon to be closed Woodside/Sanderstead line. On the way we visited Lingfield (LBSCR signal box and semaphores), Edenbridge Town (signal box closed, disconnected and vandalised, Edenbridge, where we photographed a passing westbound freight train, and on to Sanderstead, where we purchased 2 cheap day returns to Elmers End. (My pink Edmondson style card ticket cost 80p)
At Edenbridge, to the south of the running lines and eastbound platform, there was a ground frame controlled siding (The bare ballasted area to the left of the trees in picture 11). Good to see some investment at both Edenbridge stations since 1983, but a pity the Uckfield line has missed out on electrification as mentioned earlier.
Anthony H.
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I thought that was all rather brief as far as the Tonbridge to Redhill line was concerned as the history of the train service in the timescale since the end of steam is quite varied. When I lived in Ashford and worked at Southern House East Croydon I would catch the 1646 EC to Redhill with Lavs or Bills then under the subway to catch the 1704 Tadole to Tbge to catch the 1745 to Ad connections which always aways worked. Later the WR DMMUs worked through from Reading and I have photos of them at Penshurst. Don Benn
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The platforms were extended for 10 coach trains at great expense when commuting increased pre-Covid. Since then commuting has not been as popular with no 10 coach trains at peak times and few extra rush-hour services. All stations on the Uckfield line south of Oxted were upgraded and, to be fair, traffic is increasing, especially leisure. A massive footbridge was constructed at Crowborough with lifts as this was the only way disabled access could be provided. The footbridge at Eridge was also rebuilt, alas without the parcel chute! If only the line continued south to Lewes and Brighton!
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