Crystal Palace Line

Crystal Palace Line

Legend Brighton Main LineVictoria Lines Balham Junction Streatham EMU depot Streatham Hill Leigham Court Tunnel Leigham Spur Sutton Loop Line Norwood Spur West Norwood Gipsy Hill Crystal Palace tunnel Crystal Palace Outer South London Line to London Bridge or Highbury & Islington Brighton Main Line ◄ to Surrey, ► to London Bridge or Highbury & Islington Tramlink to West Croydon Birkbeck Chatham Main Line Hayes Line ◄ to Hayes, ► to Cannon Street or Charing Cross Beckenham Junction Chatham Main Line

The Crystal Palace Line is a railway line in London which runs from Balham Junction to Beckenham Junction. The engineer's reference for this line is BBJ.^[1]

Route

The line runs from Balham Junction on the Brighton Main Line route into London Victoria to Beckenham Junction, via Streatham Hill and Crystal Palace. The line has a junction with the Sutton Loop Line at Norwood, and again meets the Brighton Main Line, this time the line into London Bridge, just beyond Crystal Palace. The line runs alongside the London Tramlink between Birkbeck and Beckenham, and has junctions with the Mid-Kent Line and the Chatham Main Line at Beckenham.

History

A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines in South London, with the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway and Beckenham extension wending its way across the middle.

The first part of the line, between New Wandsworth and Crystal Palace (Low Level), opened 1 December 1856 as the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway. In 1857 the route was extended to Norwood. On 3 May 1858 the company opened an extension from Bromley Junction (near Norwood Junction) to Shortlands railway station (then called Bromley) via Beckenham Junction station. The following year the original line from Pimlico to Norwood Junction was sold to the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, and the section from Bromley Junction to Shortlands to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, but the WEL&CPR continued to provide its own passenger services. The two halves were reunited in 1921 as part of the Southern Railway following enactment of the Grouping Act.

Services

Southern provide most services on the line, with trains from London Victoria running all the way through to Beckenham Junction where they terminate. Southern services operating the Outer South London Line also use the line from Crystal Palace to Balham Junction. A limited number of First Capital Connect Thameslink services serve West Norwood and Gipsy Hill.

The line between Beckenham Junction and Birkbeck is partly converted for Tramlink, with trams running from Beckenham to Croydon and Wimbledon.

References

Further reading

• London's Local Railways by A A Jackson, David & Charles, 1978

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