Parliamentary approval for a line from
Wimbledon to
Sutton was obtained by the
Wimbledon and Sutton Railway (W&SR) in 1910 but work was delayed by the
First World War. From the W&SR's inception, the
District Railway (DR) was a shareholder of the company and had rights to run trains over the line when it was built. In the 1920s, the
Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL, precursor of
London Underground) planned, through its ownership of the DR, to use part of the route for an extension of another of its lines, the
City and South London Railway (C&SLR, now the
Northern line), to Sutton. The
Southern Railway (SR) objected, and an agreement was reached that enabled the C&SLR to extend as far as
Morden in exchange for the UERL giving up its rights over the W&SR route. The SR subsequently built the line, one of the last to be built in the London area. In the original 1910 proposals, the next station to the north was to be at
Elm Farm and the next station to the south at
Collingwood Road. In the 1920s W&SR and UERL proposals, Elm Farm and Collingwood Road stations were omitted, the next station to the north being
South Morden and the next to the south being
Cheam. When the line was built by the SR,
Morden South was constructed in a different location from that planned for South Morden, and Cheam station was omitted.
West Sutton was added. Sutton Common station opened on 5 January 1930 when full services on the line were extended from South Merton. In recent years the small shed-like station building has been completely demolished. The platforms are directly accessed from the street via the stairs, with a ticket machine at street level. ==Services==