The station was opened by the Metropolitan District
Railway (MDR, now the District Line) on 3 June 1889 on an extension from
Putney Bridge station to Wimbledon. The extension was built by the London
and South Western Railway (L&SWR) which, starting on 1 July 1889, ran its
own trains over the line via an eastward-facing loop that joins the Clapham
Junction to Barnes mainline.
The section of the District Line from Putney Bridge to Wimbledon was the
last part of the line to be converted from steam operation to electric.
Electric trains began running on 27 August 1905.
Mainline services through East Putney were ended by the Southern Railway
(successor to the L&SWR) on 4 May 1941, although the line remained in
British Rail ownership until 1 April 1994 when it was sold to London
Underground for the nominal sum of £1. Until the sale, the station was
branded as a British Rail station.
The junction between the District Line tracks and what is now the National
Rail loop to the main line is immediately to the south of the station. Two
pairs of tracks (one pair for each operator) run through the station giving
it a narrow Y-shaped arrangement with a shared central island platform and
two separate platforms across the tracks for opposite directions. The
street-level station entrance and buildings lie between the two arms of the
Y. The isolated National Rail platform is disused and overgrown, but the
National Rail platform on the central island is in working order. Although
it is not served by regular trains it is very occasionally used for
terminating services from Wimbledon in connection with engineering works. A
barrier has been built on the central island platform across the part of the
platform that forks off to the north-east and forms the right arm of the Y.
The station has four staircases. The one to the disused National Rail
platform is not accessible to the public, but the two up to the island
platform are both in service.
Although no longer used for timetabled passenger services, the National Rail
connection to the Clapham Junction line remains in place and is still used
periodically to transfer trains - usually Empty Coaching Stock (ECS) - to
the Wimbledon Traincare depot. However, the line is also used periodically
when the normal South Western Main Line route is blocked / unavailable
between Wimbledon and Clapham Junction (and vice-versa).
North of the station, the eastbound tracks of the branch formerly crossed
over the tracks of the Clapham Junction line via a bridge and then ran
parallel with the main line on a viaduct for some distance before merging
with the tracks at Point Pleasant junction to the east of Putney Bridge Road
(A3209). This link is no longer used and connections are made by the former
westbound branch track which operates as a single line. The main deck of the
disused viaduct has been removed although the central piers and the
abutments of the viaduct remain.
East Putney is a proposed stop on the Chelsea-Hackney Line. It is envisaged
that the station's District Line service will be replaced by the new line.