The railway made Raynes Park. Now, that is a fact. This is a commuter town in zone 4 London. West Wimbledon, as people who are snooty will call the area does not exist. Those people who want £30,000 adding to the price of their house by a name use this station and should be proud of it and the community of shops and roads built around it.
A long, long time ago before the railway, a man called Joesph Rayne had a huge amount of land. The railway was supposed to bypass his land and be 200 meters further north but the cost of building, operating and working with the gradient of the hill towards Wimbledon Common was too great. Therefore a change of course was conducted and this made Mr Rayne a rich man.
That is the birth of Raynes Park, you know the place that is near Wimbledon with cheaper property prices. Actually there is anything you need in a commuter town here, with many shops and trains into London Waterloo, Clapham Junction and Vauxhall from platforms one and two of the station about every 8 minutes in daytime. These services are best accessed from the north side (Coombe Lane) entrance which also is the side the 57, 131, 200 buses serve.
The South side (Kingston Road/Grand Drive) is where the majority of the Raynes' fields were and Grand Drive was once a road from one end of his farmland to the other. Now you will find a station entrance, free cashpoint, south african shop, barbers and a dry cleaners. Oh and the 152, 163 and K5 buses stop on this side towards Morden and New Malden/Kingston.
This is where you will get services out of London on platform 3 and 4 to Motspur Park and Epsom branch, Leatherhead, Guildford, Surbition, Kingston and more. There is a nice waiting room with books you can borrow here on this platform, which is cool. A bridge links the two sides and I am not sure if the station staff offer a daytime provision for wheelchair users.
All services are currently provided by South West Trains and whilst there are no ticket barriers at this station, there is also no places to tap in Oyster cards and Pay as you go is not currently accepted from here. read more