[1][a] The off-peak service pattern is two trains per hour in each direction between Epsom Downs and London Victoria via Selhurst.

[6] Off-peak trains from Epsom Downs typically reach Sutton on the Brighton Main Line in around nine minutes[3] and arrive at London Victoria in about an hour.

On Derby Day that year, Nine Elms station, the temporary London terminus, was overwhelmed with around 5,000 people intending to catch the train to Surbiton.

[17] Although Epsom was now served by two railway companies, each with its own station, racegoers were still required to walk around 1 mi (1.6 km) to the course.

The Banstead and Epsom Downs Railway (BEDR) was formed to promote a 4 mi (6.4 km) branch from the existing LBSCR station at Sutton to a southern terminus close to the racecourse.

[18][19] The BEDR began to appoint contractors to build the line, but errors made by the inexperienced board resulted in contracts being drawn up improperly.

Before agreeing terms to operate trains on the branch, the LBSCR insisted that the southern terminus should be built closer to the racecourse.

[28] The initial passenger service was 14 trains each way between Sutton and Epsom Downs on weekdays and four each way on Saturdays, with a typical journey time of around 15 minutes.

These push-pull trains consisted of an A1 class tank engine coupled to a type of passenger carriage, known as a balloon trailer.

By the end of that year, there were 37 return railmotor workings on weekdays on the line – around a third ran to Epsom Downs, but the majority terminated short at either Banstead or Belmont.

[38] D1 class tank engines started to operate push-pull trains on the branch from June 1914, when the number of weekday services was increased to 41.

Although services to Epsom Downs remained steam-hauled, a short section of the northern end of the branch was electrified, to allow terminating electric trains to shunt between platforms at Sutton.

[42] With the formation of the Southern Railway in 1923, a change in policy was announced, with the replacement of the LBSCR overhead AC system by third-rail DC electrification.

[45] Electrification stimulated housebuilding in the local area and the Great Burgh and Nork Park estates were sold for development in the early 1930s.

A system of emergency working was introduced, in which a shuttle service between Epsom Downs and Sutton was run with one train on the up (northbound) track.

The majority of the up line was subsequently lifted and a new signalling system, controlled from London Victoria, was commissioned in June 1983.

A single platform, around 350 yd (320 m) to the north of the original buffer stops, was opened on 14 February 1989 and a housing estate was built on the remainder of the site by the developer, Charles Church.

[55][56] In 2023, the Belmont Rail Frequency Improvement project was awarded £14.1M to double the number of scheduled services on the northern part of the branch line.