Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway

Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway
Legend Catford Loop Line to Victoria Nunhead Greenwich Park branch closed 1917–1929 (freight) closed 1917–1935 (passengers) Catford Loop Line to Chatham Main Line Honor Oak Lordship Lane Crescent Wood tunnel Upper Sydenham Chatham Main Line (LCDR) Paxton tunnel Crystal Palace High Level Crystal Palace Low Level Crystal Palace Line (LBSCR)

The Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway was built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway from Nunhead 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.

History

A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines around the Brighton Main Line in South London, showing surrounding lines, including the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway.

The branch line had a chequered history, linked to the Crystal Palace's own precarious financial position, with two periods of closure. Wartime economies led to the line closing from 1917 to 1919. After this first closure, trains from Holborn Viaduct railway station in the City were not reinstated. However, the branch was electrified, as part of a Southern Railway scheme, on 12 July 1925. After electrification all trains operated to Blackfriars and Holborn Viaduct.

Following the destruction of the Crystal Palace by fire in 1936, the line lost most of its original function of carrying visitors to events in the Palace. Manpower shortages led to a second closure from 1944 to 1946. When services were reintroduced they were very lightly used, and the line finally closed on 20 September 1954. The track was lifted in 1956.

Lordship Lane station has found ongoing fame as the subject of one of Camille Pissarro's finest small-scale pictures.

Although much of the route of the railway has now been lost to residential development, it can be traced in places. Architectural features remain such as the ornamental portal of the Paxton Tunnel just north of the terminus. Part of the route adjacent to the Horniman Museum and Gardens is now a 'Railway Nature Trail', maintained for the museum by the Trust for Urban Ecology. The section between Cox's Walk footbridge and northern entrance to the Crescent Wood tunnel is managed by the London Wildlife Trust as the Sydenham Hill Wood nature reserve.

In the early 1990s, a local amenity group, Friends of the Great North Wood, produced a walking leaflet entitled From the Nun's Head to the Screaming Alice describing a route that closely follows the line. ('Screaming Alice' was Cockney rhyming slang for Crystal Palace.) The walk continues from the site of Crystal Palace High Level past the Crystal Palace Museum to the remaining Crystal Palace railway station (formerly Crystal Palace Low Level).

Stations

The line served the following stations:

• Nunhead
• Honor Oak (closed)
• Lordship Lane (closed)
• Upper Sydenham (closed)
• Crystal Palace High Level (closed)

Crystal Palace High Level was in competition with Crystal Palace Low Level station for passenger traffic to the Crystal Palace.

External links

• Pissarro's Lordship Lane station on Courtauld Institute/Art& Architecture site

Further reading

• Crystal Palace (High Level) and Catford Loop by V Mitchell & K Smith, Middleton Press, 1991
• The Railway through Sydenham Hill Wood, From the Nun's Head to the Screaming Alice by Mathew Frith, The Friends of the Great North Wood and London Wildlife Trust leaflet, 1995.
• London's Local Railways by A A Jackson, David & Charles, 1978
• The Crystal Palace (High Level) Branch by W Smith, British Railway Journal 28, 1989

Railway lines in London
Main Lines	Primary High Speed 1 East Coast Main Line Great Eastern Main Line Great Western Main Line Midland Main Line West Coast Main Line Secondary Chatham Main Line Chiltern Main Line Crossrail (under construction) South Eastern Main Line South Western Main Line West Anglia Main Line Thameslink London, Tilbury and Southend Line
Branch	Regional Aylesbury Line Bexleyheath Line Caterham Line Dartford Loop Line Epsom Downs Branch Hampton Court Branch Line Hertford Loop Line Lea Valley Lines North Kent Line Oxted Line Shepperton Branch Line Sutton and Mole Valley Lines Tattenham Corner Line Watford DC Line Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Line Intra-London Acton–Northolt Line Bromley North Line Catford Loop Line Chessington Branch Line Chingford Branch Line Crystal Palace Line Dudding Hill Line East London Line Gospel Oak to Barking Line Greenford Branch Line Greenwich Line Hayes Line Hounslow Loop Line Kingston Loop Line North London Line Northern City Line Nunhead to Lewisham Link Romford to Upminster Line South London Line West London Line
Disused	Addiscombe Line City Widened Lines Croxley Green Line Crystal Palace High Level Branch Line Greenwich Park Branch Line North London Line (City Branch) Palace Gates Line Staines & West Drayton Line Uxbridge (Vine Street) Branch Line Watford to Rickmansworth Line West Croydon to Wimbledon Line Woodside & Sanderstead Line
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