The station is managed by South Western Railway, which operates all train services.

[1][2] Initially the London and South Western Railway wanted to build the line into the centre of Great Bookham village itself, but as often happened in those early days of rail expansion from London, the key landowners (and villagers) were strongly opposed to that idea and forced the company to adopt a much more northerly route, resulting in the station being built nearly one mile (1.6 km) from the village high street in open country.

It effectively remained in an open-field setting until the later 1950s/early 1960s when there was a massive expansion of the village, with new estates built to fill the space between the high street and station, leaving only National Trust-owned land as a "green corridor" along parts of Church Road.

Immediately to the west of the station the original goods siding was removed in the 1960s and the associated goods shed (used as a coal depot by local businessman Howard Weale at that time) was finally demolished in the 1990s having lived on for a time as a builder's yard (Tredan) and then offices.

The siding area was for a period home to a blacksmith, but that land was sold for housing development, and where the shed once stood is now a purpose-built office block.