HASLEMERE is now well and truly on track as a key ‘gateway’ to the Surrey Hills.

A three-in-one celebration was held at the station on October 2 to mark the 160th anniversary of the coming of the railway; a bigger and better visitor information centre – and a landmark cow.

The event was hosted by the Surrey Hills to South Downs community rail partnership (CRP) and South Western Railways (SWR) with support from the Surrey Hills AONB team.

CRP chairman Haslemere county councillor Nikki Barton said: “This is the culmination of a true partnership working together to promote the town and our beautiful countryside.”

Opening the enlarged and revamped hub at the station, CRP support officer Dan Wright said the trailblazer partnership supported by SWR, which includes Farncombe, Godalming, Milford and Witley stations, was “one of very few”.

Special guest railway series author Vic Mitchell unveiled a Haslemere Society blue plaque in honour of the transforming effect the coming of the train had on the town.

Society chairman Chris Harrison said it had dramatically reduced travel times and was the reason why a host of Victorian celebrities, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, George Eliot and Tennyson, had made Haslemere their home.

Surrey Hills representatives Caroline Price and Neil Maltby, sponsor of ‘Trusty’ the cow, welcomed the start of a new ‘boom’.