You never need to be bored on a train journey from Wimbledon Station again! You might have already seen the posters advertising the “Wimbledon Station Book Swap” in the waiting room on platforms 5 and 6. 
Just borrow or take books you fancy for free from the waiting room, and return them when you’re done – or donate your old books.
Focus Team member Anthony Fairclough set up the scheme with South West Trains, inspired by the success of a similar scheme at Raynes Park station. Anthony said:
“It’s a really good way to make use of your old books – just drop them in the waiting room, so that other commuters can enjoy them too. Hundreds of books have already passed through the scheme, on a huge number of topics and we’ve also managed to negotiate for Wimbledon library to give us some of their old books. It will hopefully help to make rail journeys just that little bit more pleasant!”
You can email Anthony on stationbookswap@googlemail.com if you have old books you want to donate, or if you want to help out collecting books or designing bookswap stickers to spread the message.
UPDATED: The books go extremely quickly, so please make sure to donate some books – even just two or three – so that we can keep the scheme going witha regular supply. Just leave them in the waiting room next time you’re there. We also have a Facebook group – search for “Wimbledon Station Bookswap”.
08/02/2010 at 5:37 pm
Well done, an excellent idea, hope it spreads around the network.
09/02/2010 at 1:26 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by clarinette, Kurren. Kurren said: #Wimbledon Station #Book Swap: Never need to be bored on a train journey from Wimbledon Station again! http://bit.ly/apKZvw [...]
05/03/2011 at 5:29 pm
[...] God bless South West Trains. Not a phrase you’ll often hear in London’s leafier southern suburbs – but without one of their seasonal delays in service last week, I wouldn’t have stumbled into the waiting room at Wimbledon Station and discovered, joy of joys, the Station Bookswap. [...]
29/11/2011 at 11:35 pm
[...] There are book swaps at Wimbledon, Raynes Park and (reportedly) Morden station. You can find out more about the Wimbledon Station bookswap here. [...]
11/12/2011 at 10:44 pm
Hi, we have a gallery/cafe (EC1V 3QJ) close to old street station. We would like to participate in book swaps. I know the space is not at the station but is it possible? can you please advice ? thank you, Hajni
11/12/2011 at 11:51 pm
Dear Hajni, yes – it would be possibe. Set aside an area for a bookswap, with a shelf or something, and do some publicity advertising the book swap, and find some books to start the swap off!