Greenwich Park Branch Line

Greenwich Park Branch Line
Overview
Type Commuter rail, Suburban rail
System National Rail
Status Operational
Locale Greater London
Operation
Owner Network Rail
Operator(s) Southeastern
Technical
Track gauge Standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in)

The Greenwich Park branch was a railway line in southern London, built by London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) from Nunhead to Greenwich Park.

LCDR line

Greenwich Park Branch Line
Legend
to London Victoria
Nunhead
LCDR Crystal Palace line to Crystal Palace High Level
Catford Loop Line to Chatham Main Line
Brockley Lane
Lewisham Road
to Lewisham
Blackheath Hill
Greenwich Park

It ran from a junction at Nunhead, in a generally north-east direction, to a terminus on the Greenwich High Road, close to the north-west corner of Greenwich Park. The line was approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) in length. The original plan was for the line to terminate at the Woolwich Dockyard. There is a short tunnel which carried the railway under the A2 at Blackheath Hill. The entrance to the Brockley Lane station in still visible at Brockley Cross.

There were four stations:

All the stations were closed on 1 January 1917, during WWI, and the line beyond Lewisham Road was abandoned on 1 January 1926 by Southern Railway.

Nunhead to Lewisham link

Bexleyheath Line
Legend
London Charing Cross
River Thames
Waterloo East
London Cannon Street
River Thames
London Bridge
To Deptford (Greenwich Line)
New Cross
St Johns
London Victoria
River Thames
Denmark Hill
Peckham Rye
Nunhead
Lewisham
To Ladywell (Hayes Line)
To Hither Green (South Eastern Main Line)
and (Dartford Loop Line)
Blackheath
To Charlton (North Kent Line)
Kidbrooke Tunnel
Kidbrooke
Eltham (Well Hall)
A2
Eltham
Eltham Park
Falconwood
Welling
Bexleyheath
Barnehurst
To Erith (North Kent Line)
Slade Green
To Crayford (Dartford Loop Line)
Dartford
To Gillingham (North Kent Line)

Southern Railway having absorbed the previously separate LCDR and South Eastern Railway (SER) sought to link its two networks to enable cross London freight. The section of the "Greenwich Park branch" as far as Lewisham Road station was reopened on 7 July 1929, connecting to the SER lines at Lewisham. The line was electrified in September 1935 [1], allowing passenger trains from Dartford to access Victoria from 30 September 1935 (see Bexleyheath Line).

References