Crystal Palace (High Level) | |
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General information | |
Location | Crystal Palace, Dulwich England |
Coordinates | 51°25′17″N0°04′43″W / 51.4214°N 0.0785°W 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).
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, [1] 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. [2] 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. [3] 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. [4]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(April 2018) |
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. [5]
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 pneumatic railway on the north side of the grounds of Crystal Palace Park. [5]
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. [5]
Crystal Palace is an area in south London, England, named after the Crystal Palace Exhibition building, which stood in the area from 1854 until it was destroyed by fire in 1936. Approximately 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Charing Cross, it includes one of the highest points in London, at 367 feet (112 m), offering views over the capital. The area has no defined boundaries and straddles five London boroughs and three postal districts, although there is a Crystal Palace electoral ward and Crystal Palace Park in the London Borough of Bromley. It forms a part of the greater area known as Upper Norwood, and is contiguous with the areas of Anerley, Dulwich Wood, Gipsy Hill, Penge, South Norwood and Sydenham.
Crystal Palace railway station is a Network Rail and London Overground station 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.
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The London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England 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. The railway was always in a difficult financial situation and went bankrupt in 1867, but was able to continue to operate. Many of the difficulties were caused by the severe competition and duplication of services with the South Eastern Railway (SER). However, in 1898 the LCDR agreed with the SER to share the operation of the two railways, work them as a single system and pool receipts: but it was not a full amalgamation. The SER and LCDR remained separate companies with separate shareholders until both becoming constituents of the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923.
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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.
Leatherhead railway station is in Leatherhead, Surrey, England. It is managed by Southern, with services provided by them and South Western Railway. It is 18 miles 2 chains (29 km) from London Waterloo.
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.
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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) in September 1865 and took its name from Lordship Lane, the thoroughfare on which it stood. It was situated a short distance from a rival London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) station named Forest Hill, which survives.
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.
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