| Crystal Palace Pneumatic / Atmospheric Railway | |
|---|---|
Engraving of the Crystal Palace line (1864) |
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| Dates of operation | 1864–c.1865 |
| Predecessor | None |
| Successor | Waterloo and Whitehall Railway |
| Track gauge | Broad gauge |
| Length | 600 yards |
The Crystal Palace pneumatic railway (also known as the Crystal Palace atmospheric railway) was an experimental atmospheric railway constructed near Crystal Palace Park in South London c.1864.
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The railway was designed by Thomas Webster Rammell, who had previously built an atmospheric railway for the London Pneumatic Despatch Company to convey letters along vacuum-driven tunnels in large wagons. A similar principle was applied to this railway, by which a carriage, which had been fitted with a large collar of bristles, would be sucked along an airtight tunnel that measured 10 feet (3.0 m) by 9 feet (2.7 m).[1]
The power was provided by a large fan, some 22 feet (6.7 m) in diameter, that was probably powered by a steam engine.[2][3] On return journeys, the fan was reversed to create a vacuum to suck the carriage backwards, whilst the carriage itself needed to use its own brakes to come to a stop.[4]
The tunnel ran for 600 yards (550 m) between the Sydenham and Penge entrances to the park, and had to negotiate a difficult bend along the line. Tickets cost sixpence each.[5] Trains ran between 1pm and 6pm and the journey-time as a whole took a mere 50 seconds.[6]
It is unclear what became of the line, as records do not state when it ceased to operate, although it has been suggested that Rammell had originally constructed the small line as a test for a larger atmospheric railway that was to run between Waterloo and Whitehall.[7]
It has been rumoured that the site of the railway is haunted, which was a popular urban legend of the 1930s partially connected with stories surrounding Crystal Palace railway station.
In 1978, a woman claimed to have found the tunnel and to have seen within it an old railway carriage filled with skeletons in Victorian outfits.[8] The tunnel was not found, and some believed that the tunnel may have been destroyed by construction work for the Festival of Empire celebrations in 1911.[5]