Christ's Hospital railway station, near Horsham, was opened in 1902 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) to serve Christ's Hospital, a significant independent school which had moved nearby in the same year on the reccomendation of a Government Commission. Until the mid-1960s, it remained an important junction. 

The LB&SCR invested £30,000 in the construction of a very substantial station building and adjacent goods yard, gambling on the school generating high levels of traffic and the possible expansion westwards of the growing town of Horsham. Previously, only a very small wooden platform existed, used solely by a local dairy for sending milk to the capital. 

The red brick building station, was constructed from materials made by the nearby Southwater Brickworks, it's minor grandeur reflecting the LB&SCR's aspirations. Five through tracks were laid which served seven platform faces. Three platforms were provided for the Cranleigh Line and two each for the Steyning Line and Arun Valley Line, giving trains travelling from London via Horsham the option of routes to Pulborough, Shoreham or Guildford and beyond.

A single loop on the down line serving two facing platforms was installed to meet the needs of the 835 pupils and their staff, with the school governors subsidising the costs of construction.

Unfortunately, the gamble never paid off.  Incredibly, the LB&SCR had failed to take into account that Christ's Hospital school would only ever accommodate boarders, thus generating minimal daily traffic. Furthermore, the much anticipated new residential development could never materialise because the school had purchased most of the land around the junction, ending any possibililty of housing in the area.

The LB&SCR was therefore left with a white elephant: the capacity and stature of the station being vastly out of proportion with its status as a useful rural interchange, rather than an important railway junction serving much of West Sussex.

Dwindling passenger numbers resulted in the station losing much of its usefulness in the 1960s, when the Steyning Line and Cranleigh Line were closed. For a time Christ's Hospital station itself threatened with closure, but survived following a public outcry and the presentation of a petition with 3,046 signatures to the Queen.

In 1972 British Rail reduced the station infrastructure to a size more suited to its existing traffic, demolishing the station building and reducing the number of platforms from seven to two. The platforms used for the Cranleigh Line (Platform Nos. 5, 6 and 7) were dismantled and fenced off. The down loop (Platforms 1 and 2) was filled in and the sidings have now disappeared. The only platforms that remain in use are Nos. 3 and 4, the down and up platforms, served by the double track line between Horsham and Billingshurst. The only original structures extant are the subway and the Platform 2 and 3 waiting room and toilet.