A down Southampton special working in the charge of a Drummond T9 4-4-0 and almost certainly in connection with the White Star Line's inaugural Trans-Atlantic crossing in 1907. The period feel to this original image is enhanced by the station furniture with many gas lamps, semaphore signals and the Coombe & Malden running-in board clearly visible.

photograph: Mike Morant collection.

Opened in December 1846 as just plain Malden, the station went through a surprisingly large number of name changes in its history which probably reflect the changing environment in which it was situated as, in its lifetime, it's changed from being a country junction station into a thriving Londoon suburban one. It was renamed New Malden and Coombe in May 1859 but that lasted only briefly until March 1862 when the title was swapped around to become Coombe and Malden, which survived in that form until 1912 when the name was slightly changed to read Coombe for Malden. That name remained for the next 43 years but changed in 1955 under the auspices of the BTC who, in their infinite wisdom swapped the names around to produce Malden for Coombe. However, wiser heads prevailed and that lasted for less than two years with the BTC applying the name New Malden, which it bears to this day.

There seems to have been some administrative miscommunication during that extensive history as the only names applied to luggage labels were Malden back in its early days, Coombe & Malden from then until 1912 and then just plain Malden until nationalisation.

The station is on the electrified network that radiates from Waterloo and is the junction for the line to Kingston and the Hounslow loop. The operation of the tracks is based on the local lines on the outside with the equivalent main lines sandwiched between them in the same direction which means that the latter occupy the island platform.

Forty years on and we see Waterloo-bound Bulleid original West Country pacificNº34023 Blackmore Vale (but sans nameplates) charging past New Malden station. The shot was taken from the road bridge which is central to the earlier 1907 image.

photograph: Mike Morant collection

Text from Mike Morant.