Crystal Palace (High Level) | |
---|---|
General information | |
Location | Crystal Palace, Dulwich England |
Coordinates | 51°25′17″N0°04′43″W / 51.4214°N 0.0785°W |
Grid reference | TQ337709 |
Platforms | 6 |
Other information | |
Status | Disused |
History | |
Original company | Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway |
Pre-grouping | London, Chatham and Dover Railway South Eastern and Chatham Railway |
Post-grouping | Southern Railway British Railways |
Key dates | |
1 August 1865 | Opened as Crystal Palace (High Level) |
1 November 1898 | Renamed Crystal Palace High Level and Upper Norwood |
1 January 1917 | Temporarily closed |
1 March 1919 | Reopened |
9 July 1923 | Renamed Crystal Palace High Level |
July 1925 | electrified |
22 May 1944 | Temporarily closed |
4 March 1946 | Reopened |
20 September 1954 | Station closed to passengers |
Crystal Palace (High Level) was a railway station in South London. It was one of two stations built to serve the new site of the Great Exhibition building, the Crystal Palace, when it was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill after 1851. It was the terminus of the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway (CPSLJR), which was later absorbed by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR). The station closed permanently in 1954. The Grade II listed subway, that led to the exhibition halls, was restored in 2024 using £2.8m of grant funding; on completion, the station was expected to be removed from the Heritage at Risk Register. [1] [2] It reopened in late 2024.
In 1860 the LCDR had a route from Beckenham Junction to Victoria via the existing Crystal Palace station (later known as "Low Level"), but this was owned and operated by the rival London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR). To capture traffic from the LBSCR the LCDR promoted the CPSLJR to construct a branch from Peckham Rye on the South London Line via Nunhead to a new terminal station above the Crystal Palace park.
The line, and the terminus only, opened on 1 August 1865. It was on the southern boundary of the Hamlet of Dulwich division of the ancient Civil Parish of Camberwell St. Giles. [note 1]
The station was designed by Charles Barry Jr. as a lavish red brick and buff terra cotta building. It was excavated into the ridge below Crystal Palace Parade, approached from the north through the 439 yards (401 m) Paxton Tunnel, [3] requiring major engineering works. There were subway exits leading under Crystal Palace Parade into Crystal Palace Park, linking the station directly with the palace. The subway was a vaulted and tiled chamber resembling a Byzantine crypt; it was designed and built by cathedral craftsmen from Italy.[ citation needed ]
The building was a fine example of High Victorian architecture with high brick side- and end-walls and a glass and iron trainshed roof. It had square towers at each corner, each topped with four short spires, and passenger concourses above the tracks at each end with booking offices, refreshment rooms and waiting rooms. One half of the station was intended for first class passengers, who were given segregated access into the central transept of the palace.
The trainshed was divided lengthways into two cavernous spaces separated by a brick-arch arcade, each side having two tracks with wooden platforms. The inner track on each side had two platform faces to support mass arrivals.
At the exit from the tunnel the two running lines fanned out into four platform tracks, with eight sidings and a long headshunt on the right and two more sidings on the left. In addition to the usual coal depot, the sidings provided stabling for spare engines and coaching stock to handle the expected surges of traffic during big events. The platform roads entered the north end of the trainshed via separate portals. At the south end, instead of a typical arrangement of buffers and engine release roads the four platform tracks passed through a second set of apertures to a turntable, allowing for fast turning of engines to run round their coaches.
The line was one of the first of the former South Eastern and Chatham Railway to be electrified by Southern Railway, under "South Eastern Electrification – Stage 1" in July 1925. [4] But after the Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire in 1936, traffic on the branch declined. During World War II the line was temporarily closed after bomb damage. Although temporary repairs were made and the line subsequently reopened the decline in traffic and a requirement for heavy reconstruction work led to the decision to close the station with the branch on 20 September 1954, although it was not demolished until 1961.
Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
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Upper Sydenham Line and station closed | British Railways Southern Region Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway | Terminus |
Although the site of the station was developed for housing in the 1970s, the retaining walls below Crystal Palace Parade and the ornamental portal of Paxton Tunnel to the north are still readily visible. [note 2] The brickwork fits exactly although the ground level is raised. The subway and an adjacent courtyard survived the 1936 fire and was used as an air raid shelter during World War II. It is now a Grade II* listed building. [5] Although the subway is sealed off, it is sometimes opened to allow organised visits by "Friends of Crystal Palace Subway".
Southwark Model Railway Club have built a scale model of the station. [6]
There is a rumour that, in one of the sealed tunnels in the area, an engine or carriage remains hidden collecting dust. Another version of the story, popular among local schoolchildren, claims that the High-Level station was closed because a commuter train was trapped by a tunnel collapse, entombing the passengers, who remain there to this day. [7]
These stories are an example of the persistence of local urban legend. The story of the entombed train was apparently current in the 1930s. Back then it referred to the abandoned 1860s Crystal Palace pneumatic railway on the north side of the grounds of Crystal Palace Park. [7]
Most traces of this had almost certainly been destroyed by the building works for the 1911 Festival of Empire, but there was an unsuccessful archaeological dig for the train sponsored by the BBC's Nationwide current-affairs programme in the 1970s. [7]
Crystal Palace is an area in South London, named after the Crystal Palace Exhibition building which stood in the area from 1854, until it was destroyed by a fire in 1936. About 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Charing Cross, it includes one of the highest points in London, at 367 feet (112 m), offering views over the capital.
The South London line is a railway line in inner south London, England. The initial steam passenger service on the route was established by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) on 1 May 1867 when the central London terminal stations of Victoria and London Bridge were connected to the inner south London suburbs of Battersea, Clapham, Brixton, Camberwell and Peckham. A pioneer of overhead electric traction, most of the line was built on high level viaducts and was marketed as the South London Elevated Electric Railway in the early part of the 20th century. The electric service was popular, with four trains per hour and 12 million passengers in 1920. Between Wandsworth Road and Peckham Rye the route ran parallel to another set of tracks. Prior to 1923, both lines from Wandsworth Road to East Brixton were owned by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) and the lines from East Brixton to Peckham Rye were owned by the LBSCR. The southern Atlantic lines were operated by the LBSCR and the northern Chatham lines were operated by the LCDR.
Crystal Palace is an interchange station between the Windrush line of the London Overground and National Rail services operated by Southern, situated in the London Borough of Bromley in south London. It is located in the Anerley area between the town centres of Crystal Palace and Penge, 8 miles 56 chains (14.0 km) from London Victoria. It is one of two stations built to serve the site of the 1851 exhibition building, the Crystal Palace, when it was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill after 1851.
Wandsworth Road is a station on the Windrush line of the London Overground, located between Battersea and Clapham in South London. It is 1 mile 75 chains (3.1 km) from London Victoria.
The London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England. It was created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London, and northern and eastern Kent, to form a significant part of the Greater London commuter network. The company existed until 31 December 1922, when its assets were merged with those of other companies to form the Southern Railway as a result of the grouping determined by the Railways Act 1921.
Nunhead railway station is in the Nunhead area of the London Borough of Southwark. It is 5 miles 77 chains (9.6 km) measured from London Victoria. The station is managed by Thameslink. It is in Travelcard Zone 2.
The Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway was authorised to build a line from Peckham Rye railway station to a terminus at Crystal Palace in 1862, in order to serve the attraction of the Crystal Palace.
Grosvenor Road station was a railway station in London located at the north end of Grosvenor Bridge on the approach tracks to Victoria station. Victoria station was originally operated as two separate parts served by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR) and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and Grosvenor Road station was also operated in this way. The LC&DR station operated between 1867 and 1911 and the LB&SCR station operated between 1870 and 1907. The station building of the LC&DR station remains on the eastern side of the tracks adjacent to Grosvenor Road (A3212) although no platforms remain at the elevated track level.
Tunbridge Wells West is a railway station located in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. It is one of two railway stations in Tunbridge Wells constructed by rival companies. The other, Tunbridge Wells Central was opened in 1845 by the South Eastern Railway (SER). Tunbridge Wells West was closed to mainline passenger services in 1985. A new station on part of the site has been opened as a heritage railway line opened in 1996. It stands next to the original engine shed which has been restored to use. The line is called the Spa Valley Railway.
The Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway (CPSLJR) was built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) from Brixton to Crystal Palace High Level to serve the Crystal Palace after the building was moved to the area that became known as Crystal Palace from its original site in Hyde Park.
The A2216 is an A road in south London, England suburbia. It runs from the A215 in Denmark Hill to the A212 in Sydenham. Part of the road is an ancient thoroughfare, Lordship Lane. In Dulwich, the road runs via the A205 South Circular Road.
Camberwell is a closed railway station in Camberwell, South London, England. It opened in 1862 but was closed to passengers in 1916 and closed to all traffic in 1964. The possibility of the station's re-opening has been raised in recent years.
Borough Road was a mainline railway station in Southwark, south London, located on Borough Road, close to the location Borough Underground station.
Greenwich Park was a railway station opened in 1888 by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) in Greenwich, south-east London. The station was originally called Greenwich and the LCDR intended it to rival a nearby station also named Greenwich which was owned by the South Eastern Railway (SER) and which had opened over 50 years earlier. The LCDR's station was the terminus of a branch line from Nunhead.
Honor Oak railway station was a station opened in December 1865 in Honor Oak, London by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway on the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway. The line was built to carry passengers to The Crystal Palace after its move from Hyde Park. The station featured two wooden platforms, and apart from two brief closures during World War I and World War II, it remained open until 1954 when the entire branch line was closed. The station was demolished around 1956–7 and afterwards the site has been redeveloped with housing.
Lordship Lane was a railway station in East Dulwich, in what was the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell in south London, on the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway. It was opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) on 1 September 1865 and took its name from Lordship Lane, the thoroughfare on which it stood.
Sydenham Hill Wood is a ten-hectare wood on the northern slopes of the Norwood Ridge in the London Borough of Southwark. It is designated as a Local Nature Reserve and Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. With the adjacent Dulwich Wood, Sydenham Hill Wood is the largest extant tract of the ancient Great North Wood. The two woods are formed from coppices known as Lapsewood, Old Ambrook Hill Wood and Peckarmans Wood after the relocation of The Crystal Palace in 1854 and the creation of the high level line in 1865.
The Portsmouth line is a secondary main line originally built by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the London and South Western Railway between 1847 and 1868. It leaves the South London Line at Peckham Rye, with connections to the Victoria branch of the Brighton Main Line at Streatham, and continues via Sutton, Epsom and Dorking to join the Mid-Sussex Line at Horsham.
The Holborn Viaduct–Herne Hill line is a railway line between Holborn Viaduct in the City of London and Herne Hill in the London Borough of Lambeth. After the closure of Holborn Viaduct station the line ends at the south portal of Snow Hill tunnel merging into Snow Hill lines. From there the Widened Lines to St Pancras and Kentish Town are reached. Today the section north of Blackfriars is part of the Thameslink core. Originally being a branch line of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) towards the City of London, the line is sometimes called LCDR City Branch.