Chislehurst Junction

Last updated March 19, 2019

Chislehurst Junction is an important railway junction near Chislehurst in the London Borough of Bromley, England. It is the point where the South Eastern Main Line and the Chatham Main Line pass over each other, with diversion chords between each line. These are arranged such that a London-bound train on one line can transfer to the other, and likewise for services heading away from the capital.

Chislehurst is a suburban district in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It borders the London Boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich, and lies east of Bromley and south west of Sidcup. It is 10.5 miles (16.9 km) south east of Charing Cross.

London Borough of Bromley London borough in United Kingdom

The London Borough of Bromley is the most south-eastern of the 32 London boroughs that, along with the City of London, make up Greater London. The borough is named after Bromley, its principal town. The local authority is Bromley London Borough Council.

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

History

Before nationalisation

The railways previously passed over each other without a junction, until the merger of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) and the South Eastern Railway (SER) on 1 January 1899 meant it made operational sense to build connections between the previously disparate networks.^[1] The first connection, the "down" Bickley Loop, opened on 8 September 1902 with a length of ¾ miles (1 km).^[1] The reverse connection opened six days later.^[1] These connecting loops allowed trains to/from London Victoria to operate on the former SER line.^[1] The west and east ends of the loops became known as Bickley Junction and Orpington Junction respectively, named after the next stations on the line at the time.^[1] The corresponding connection (the Chislehurst Loops), allowing transfer of Charing Cross trains to/from the Chatham line was, opened on 19 June 1904.^[1]

The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) 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.

Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street, the main line station is a terminus of the Brighton main line to Gatwick Airport and Brighton and the Chatham main line to Ramsgate and Dover via Chatham. From the main lines, trains can connect to the Catford Loop Line, Dartford Loop Line, and the Oxted line to East Grinstead and Uckfield. Southern operates most commuter and regional services to south London, Sussex and parts of east Surrey, while Southeastern operates trains to south east London and Kent. Gatwick Express trains run direct to Gatwick. The Underground station is on the Circle and District lines between Sloane Square and St. James's Park, and the Victoria line between Pimlico and Green Park. The area around the station is an important interchange for other forms of transport: a local bus station is in the forecourt and Victoria Coach Station is nearby.

Charing Cross railway station is a central London railway terminus between the Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South Eastern main line to Dover via Ashford. All trains are operated by Southeastern, which provides the majority of commuter and regional services to south-east London and Kent. It is connected to Charing Cross Underground station and is near to Embankment Underground station and Embankment Pier.

From 1925 the Southern Railway — which had been formed in 1923 assuming the junction's previous owners — began to electrify the routes through the junction.^[1] The first to be installed with a third rail was the Bickley Loop, on 12 July 1925.^[1] This was followed by full electrification between Orpington Junction and Charing Cross on 28 February 1926. In connection with this wave of electrification, a three-storey red brick substation was installed, immediately to the north of the Chatham line and west of the Charing Cross line.^[1]

A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost fully segregated from the outside environment. Third rail systems are always supplied from direct current electricity.

Storey level part of a building that could be used by people

A storey or story is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people. The plurals are "storeys" and "stories", respectively.

A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station and consumer, electric power may flow through several substations at different voltage levels. A substation may include transformers to change voltage levels between high transmission voltages and lower distribution voltages, or at the interconnection of two different transmission voltages.

The next electrification did not take place until 1935, when on 6 January the Chislehurst Loops became live along with the section of the line between Bickley and Swanley.^[1] Electrification was further extended to Gillingham on 2 July 1939.^[1]

Bickley railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the town of Bickley in the London Borough of Bromley, south-east London. It is 11 miles 76 chains (19.2 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between Bromley South and St Mary Cray on the main line. Southeastern trains branch from the main line south of Bickley and run to Orpington via Petts Wood. Thameslink services run either via Petts Wood or St Mary Cray on the main line.

Swanley railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the town of Swanley, Kent. It is 17 miles 31 chains (28.0 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between St Mary Cray and Farningham Road on the main line. The Maidstone Line branches from the main line south of Swanley and the next station on that route is Eynsford.

In the meantime, a new station had been opened at Petts Wood, ⅓ mile (0.5 km) south of Orpington Junction, on 9 July 1928.^[1] This eventually led to the renaming from Orpington Junction to Petts Wood Junction on 8 July 1936, in keeping with the practice of naming a junction after its closest station.^[1]

Petts Wood railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line, serving Petts Wood in the London Borough of Bromley, south-east London. It is 12 miles 53 chains (20.4 km) down the line from London Charing Cross and is situated between Chislehurst and Orpington stations. It is in Travelcard zone 5.

The last development of the junction under the administration of the Southern Railway came in 1941, when bomb damage to a wooden signal box required its replacement with an austere flat-roofed brick construction.^[1] The robust design of the new edifice was in reaction to the continued air raid threat.^[1]

After nationalisation

Following the nationalisation of railways in Britain in 1948, major modification of the network took place.^[2] Chislehurst Junction benefited in the form of the 1959 Kent Coast Electrification programme, which saw the Victoria-Chatham line quadrupled between Bickley and Swanley.^[2] Semaphore signals were replaced throughout with colour light signals, which brought about the need for a "power box" at Chislehurst Junction, situated between the two mainline routes, on the west side of the South Eastern Main Line.^[2] This assumed the functions of the mechanical signal boxes at Bickley, Chislehurst and Petts Wood junctions on 31 May 1959.^[2]

As part of the same project, work was undertaken to modify the junctions in order to increase the speed limit.^[2] The Bickley Loops were realigned to allow trains to pass through at 50 mph (80 km/h), instead of 30 mph (48 km/h) previously.^[2] This realignment also required the reconstruction of the bridge which took the South Eastern Main Line over the Down Bickley Loop.^[2]

The next modification to the signalling arrangement came in 1976, when the multi-panel London Bridge signal box became operational.^[2] This allowed the reversible operation of the Down Chislehurst Loop.^[2] The 1959-"power box" remained the primary control point for these lines in this area until 12 June 1983.^[2] This date saw the expansion of Victoria Signalling Centre's scope of control as far as the boundary of Rochester signal box.^[2] Chislehurst Junction signal box retained control over the South Eastern Main Line until 1993, when it was taken over as part of the gradual implementation of Ashford Signalling Centre.^[2] Meanwhile, in 1992/1993, the "Up" and "Down" Bickley Loops were doubled to accommodate Eurostar operations, which began in earnest on 14 November 1994.^[2] The new Down Slow Bickley Loop shares the same alignment as the Up Chislehurst where they pass under the South Eastern Main Line.^[2] This created a new junction named Hawkwood Junction.^[2]

Boundaries

Railway lines, being physical lines, are often conveniently used for administrative boundaries. The railway lines of Chislehurst Junction are used as the boundaries of three electoral wards, and three postcode districts in the BR postcode area, they are, Bickley, BR1 to the west, Chislehurst, BR7 to the north and Petts Wood, BR5 to the southeast; this also makes it the boundary between the two parliament constituencies, of Bromley and Chislehurst to the north and Orpington to the south.

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References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 David Glasspool. "Chislehurst Junction (page 1)". Kent Rail. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 David Glasspool. "Chislehurst Junction (page 2)". Kent Rail. Retrieved 2007-07-07.

Coordinates: 51°23′56″N0°03′51″E / 51.399°N 0.0643°E / 51.399; 0.0643

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[KentRail-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 David Glasspool. "Chislehurst Junction (page 1)". Kent Rail. Retrieved 2007-07-07.

[KentRail2-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 David Glasspool. "Chislehurst Junction (page 2)". Kent Rail. Retrieved 2007-07-07.