In September 1975, The Railway Magazine looked back at forty years of rail-air links at Gatwick. The article traced the story from the opening of Tinsley Green station in 1935 through to the rail connection serving the airport in 1975.
FORTY YEARS OF RAIL-AIR AT GATWICK
WHEN Airports Limited planned its new “air station” at Gatwick in 1935, an essential part of the scheme was a rail-air link provided from a new station, Tinsley Green (for Gatwick Airport), on the electrified London-Brighton line of the Southern Railway. The station was opened on September 30, 1935, well ahead of the first regular air services, which was transferred to Gatwick from Heston on May 17, 1936, the formal opening of Gatwick Airport being on June 6.
A direct subway connection
Air passengers had a direct subway connection from the station platforms to the air terminal, which was described as “Martello-type”, being an almost circular building, with the control tower on the roof, around which aircraft could taxi from the nearby hangers to take up their allotted berths. The main building was the circulating area and booking hall from which radial passageways gave direct access, via covered gangways, to the waiting aircraft. Thus, the passenger was under cover all the way from London to the aeroplane.
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From Tinsley Green to Gatwick Airport
Tinsley Green was at first served by nearly 30 down trains daily, and 36 up, the average journey time to and from London being between 51 and 55 min. After the airport opened, additional services were stopped there. The station was renamed Gatwick Airport from June 1, 1936, and served the old airport terminal building (soon nicknamed the “Beehive”) until it was replaced, from May 28, 1958, by the present Gatwick Airport, served by a station of the same name which was rebuilt on the site of Gatwick Racecourse Station, first opened in 1891. The present Gatwick Airport was officially opened on June 9, 1958, when a revised summer timetable for the Brighton line, including the new Gatwick services, was introduced. Present journey time from Gatwick Airport Station to Victoria is 38 min.
Directly linked to the terminal
Passengers now make their way from the station platforms to a footbridge (the British Airports Authority would like to see escalators installed) which is directly linked to the terminal buildings of the airport, from which a pier connects, via covered bridges, to the aircraft, maintaining the concept of travelling dryshod (and dry-headed) from Central London to the aeroplane, first envisaged forty years ago.
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