Frosty Ballast Train - Kingston upon Railway

Surbiton Station on the London and Southampton Railway opened in 1838 and was named "Kingston upon Railway" since it was some distance from the old coaching town of Kingston upon Thames, the first stop on the London-Portsmouth road.

It was also some little way also from the hamlet of Surbiton - "south of the marshy area of the bittoms". Because it was so convenient for travel into Town, a settlement grew up around the station. It was renamed Surbiton when the railway finally reached Kingston proper in 1869.

I was cycling with my son early on Sunday morning and saw this long ballast train was stationary on the slow down line, coated in frost. Surbiton station, attractively rebuilt in the 30s, is in the distance.