Elmers End station

Coordinates: 51°23′52.0″N 0°2′59.6″W / 51.397778°N 0.049889°W / 51.397778; -0.049889
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Elmers End
Woodside and South Croydon Railway closes
31 May 1997Addiscombe Line closes
29 May 2000Tramlink services began
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°23′52.0″N 0°2′59.6″W / 51.397778°N 0.049889°W / 51.397778; -0.049889
 London transport portal

Elmers End is a railway station and tram terminus in Elmers End, south London, England. It is in the London Borough of Bromley and on the railway it is 11 miles 7 chains (17.8 km) down the line from London Charing Cross.

The railway through Elmers End was opened by the

branch, opened on 29 May 1882 to Hayes at this station.[5] The portion of the line to Addiscombe, which was originally named Croydon (Addiscombe Road), was closed in 1997 when Tramlink
took over much of the trackbed from Elmers End.

The

Hayes line service on the suburban commuter railway line between Hayes and London Charing Cross through Elmers End is still in use. The station is on Elmers End Road (A214), at the south-east corner of South Norwood Country Park
.

One former platform is now the terminus for Tramlink services to central Croydon.

Work is underway to open a second tram platform and double the tram line to Arena to increase capacity. As of March 2019, vegetation has been cleared to make way for the new line. The platform was due to open in December 2020, but has been delayed.[6][citation needed]

History

Woodside and South Croydon Railway
(W&SCR) branches off the Hayes Line.

Early years (1857-1922)

The Mid Kent line was built by the Mid-Kent and North Kent Junction Railway (MK&NKJR) and was opened on 1 January 1857 as far as Beckenham Junction. From opening the line was worked by the South Eastern Railway (SER). Seven years later the MK&NKJR built an extension from a new junction station at New Beckenham to Croydon (Addiscombe Road) with an intermediate station at Elmers End, which again was operated by the SER from opening. The station was occupied in what was then a rural area with scattered farm houses and hamlets. The station building was located on the down side whilst a goods yard was provided on the up side.

By 1914 Elmers End had almost become part of Beckenham on the east side of the railway. On the opposite side a sewage works, the Croydon Council refuse destructor, Beckenham Council's refuse destructor and electric power station as well as two brick works and Crystal Palace District Cemetery were all located. Sidings served the Croydon and Beckenham Council sites.[7]

The station was rebuilt in 1881/2 in anticipation of the opening of the Hayes branch. Bay platforms were provided on the up and down side and a new 43 lever signal box was provided immediately south of the station. New coal sidings, in anticipation of further suburban growth, were also provided on the up side.[8]

The Elmers End – Hayes section was built by the West Wickham & Hayes Railway, and left the existing line just south of the station on a tight 13 chain curve. It was sold to the South Eastern Railway in 1881 and opened on 29 May 1882. Initially 13 services each way were operated between Elmers End and Hayes with central London passengers having to change trains.[a]

In 1898 the South Eastern Railway and its bitter rivals the

South Eastern & Chatham Railway
and Elmers End became an SECR station.

Southern Railway (1923-1947)

Following the

Southern Railway
station on 1 January 1923.

The Mid-Kent line was electrified with the (750 V DC third rail) system and electric services commenced on 28 February 1926. Early electric services were worked by early Southern Railway 3-car Electric Multiple Unit trains often built from old SECR carriages. In connection with the electrification the track bed between Elmers End and Clock House area was raised in an effort to reduce flooding. Electrification led to further house building between Clock House and Elmers End stations.[9]

During World War 2 the station was hit three times by bombs during 1941. Some track alterations took place in 1947 which included the link between the Up Bay and Hayes line being removed, platform lengthening and direct access from the Hayes branch to the down bay.[10]

British Railways (1948-1994)

After World War II and following nationalisation on 1 January 1948, the station fell under the auspices of Southern Region of British Railways. Three-aspect colour light signals were installed at the station in 1956.

The goods yard was closed on 6 May 1963.

The station building was destroyed by fire on 16 December 1973

On 28 May 1975 all signalling came under the control of the London Bridge Signalling Centre and the 1882 signal box was closed. The down bay was taken out of passenger use and became an engineer's siding. Upon sectorisation in 1982, three passenger sectors were created: InterCity, operating principal express services; and London & South East (renamed Network SouthEast in 1986) who operated commuter services in the London area.[11]

Services to Sanderstead ceased in May 1983 with closure of the Woodside and South Croydon Joint Railway.

The privatisation era (1994-Present Day)

Following privatisation of British Rail on 1 April 1994 the infrastructure at Elmers End station became the responsibility of Railtrack whilst a business unit operated the train services. On 13 October 1996 operation of the passenger services passed to Connex South Eastern who were originally due to run the franchise until 2011.

In 1997 the line to Addiscombe closed – up to this point it was generally worked by a 2-car EMU connecting to and from Hayes services. The section to Woodside and part of the former route to Selsdon re-opened in 2000 as part of the Croydon Tramlink network.

Following a number of accidents and financial issues Railtrack plc was sold to Network Rail on 3 October 2002 who became responsible for the infrastructure.[12][13]

On 27 June 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority decided to strip Connex of the franchise citing poor financial management and run the franchise itself.[14][15] Connex South Eastern continued to operate the franchise until 8 November 2003 with the services transferring to the Strategic Rail Authority's South Eastern Trains subsidiary the following day.

On 30 November 2005 the

Southeastern
on 1 April 2006.

Services

Tramlink Variobahn tram

National Rail

National Rail services at Elmers End are operated by Southeastern using Class 376, 465, 466 and 707 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[16]

On Sundays, the station is served by a half-hourly service between Hayes and London Charing Cross via Lewisham.

London Trams

Tram services at Elmers End are operated by Tramlink. The tram stop is served by trams every 10 minutes to Wimbledon via Croydon. This is reduced to a tram every 15 minutes on Saturday evenings and Sundays.[17][18]

Services are operated using Bombardier CR4000 and Stadler Variobahn Trams.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Southeastern
Preceding station   Tramlink   Following station
Arena (Croydon)
towards Wimbledon
   Tramlink
Wimbledon to Elmers End
 		  Terminus
Disused railways
Clock House   Network SouthEast
   Woodside
 
Woodside and South Croydon Railway
  


Connections

289
serve the station from the adjacent Elmers End Interchange.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The current Hayes service (2016) which serves the station uses the 1857 line to New Beckenham, the 1864 line to Elmers End and the 1882 line to Hayes.

References

  1. Southeastern. May 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2010.[dead link
    ]
  2. ^ "Tram Stop Usage 2009-10 (FOI)" (XLS). Tramlink annual passenger performance 2009-2010. Transport for London. 18 August 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  3. ^ "Tramlink numbers 2010-2011" (PDF). Tramlink annual passenger performance 2010-2011. Transport for London. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  4. ^
    Office of Rail Regulation
    . Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
  5. ^ "The Railways of Beckenham", Andrew Hajducki, 2011[page needed]
  6. ^ "Croydon council".
  7. ^ Jackson, Alan A (1999). London's Local Railways (2nd ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport Publishing. p. 44.
  8. ^ Jackson, Alan A (1999). London's Local Railways (2nd ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport Publishing. p. 56.
  9. ^ Jackson, Alan A (1999). London's Local Railways (2nd ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport Publishing. p. 47.
  10. ISBN 1-873793-20-0
    .
  11. Wikidata Q112224535
    .
  12. ^ Network Rail closer to Railtrack takeover BBC News, 1 April 2016
  13. ^ "Accounting for Producer Needs: The case of Britain's rail infrastructure" (PDF). Centre for Management and Organisational History. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  14. ^ "Train firm loses franchise". BBC News. 27 June 2003. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  15. ^ Basher Bowker pulls the plug on Connex The Telegraph 29 June 2003
  16. ^ Table 203 National Rail timetable, December 2022
  17. ^ "Tram Timetables". Transport for London. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  18. ^ "London Trams Map" (PDF). Transport for London. Retrieved 18 January 2022.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elmers End station.
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