Kent Past
The History of Kent
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History of London and Croydon Railway
The London and Croydon Railway (L&CR) operated between London and Croydon. It was
opened in 1839 and in July 1846, merged with other railways to form a part of the
London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR).
The London and Croydon Railway proposed
an 8.75-
The new railway was authorised by Act of Parliament
in July 1835 and the company purchased the Croydon Canal in 1836, for £40,250. However,
before it had finished building its line, the company entered into agreements with
two other railways to share its route into London. Parliament had decided only one
route should enter the capital from the south, and therefore, the South Eastern Railway
(SER) agreed to construct its line to Dover from Croydon. Likewise, the London and
Brighton Railway joined the L&CR at Norwood Junction.
The consultant engineer for
the new line was William Cubitt. The line proved to be expensive to build, ultimately
costing £615,000 rather than the estimated £180,000, due to large cuttings at New
Cross. The only severe gradient was 1:100 for 2.75 miles from New Cross to Forest
Hill. In addition to the viaduct, where it joined the L&GR, there were eighteen bridges,
and three level road crossings, each attended by a policeman.
The track was ultimately
laid to the standard Stephenson 4 ft 8.5in gauge; although during the construction,
the directors were undecided and ordered extra-
A new station was
built at London Bridge for the Croydon trains, on the north side of the original
L&GR one, although the track was shared as far as Corbetts Lane. There were six intermediate
stations at New Cross, Forest hill (then known as Dartmouth Arms), Sydenham, Penge,
Anerley Bridge, and Norwood (known as Jolly-
Because of the planned additional
traffic following the opening of the L&BR and the SER, the L&CR sought powers to
widen the viaduct from Corbett's Lane to London Bridge in 1840. However, Parliament
decided that the widening should rather be undertaken by the existing owners, the
L&GR. This work was completed by 1842. By this time, the L&CR had joined the newly
opened SER and L&BR to form a committee, and agreement was reached with the L&GR
to exchange their stations at London Bridge in 1843 in order to avoid train's crossing
over at Corbetts Junction.
By 1843, the L&CR and the SER were becoming concerned about
the tolls charged by the L&GR for the use of their newly widened line between Corbetts
Junction and London Bridge. As a result, they jointly constructed a new terminus
at Bricklayers Arms with a branch line from the L&CR line at New Cross, thereby avoiding
use of the L&GR line. From 1844, the SER transferred all of its services to this
new terminus, and the L&CR operated services from both termini. This arrangement
lasted until 1852
In 1844, the railway was given parliamentary authority to lay an
additional line of rails next to their existing track and test an experimental atmospheric
railway system. Pumping stations were built at Portland Road, Croydon and Dartmouth
Road; these created a vacuum in a pipe laid between the running rails. A free running
piston in this pipe was attached to the train through a slit sealed by a leather
valve. The piston, and hence the train, was propelled towards the pumping station
by atmospheric pressure. The pumping stations were built in a Gothic style, with
a very tall ornate tower which served both as a chimney and exhaust vent for air
pumped from the propulsion pipe.
As part of the construction works for the atmospheric-
The railway opened an early example of a roundhouse motive power depot at New Cross
on 1 June 1839, but this brick-
The railway provided first and second-
As a result of the poor financial performance,
leading to dissatisfaction with returns, the shareholders of both the L&BR and the
L&CR forced the merger of the two Railways, forming the London Brighton and South
Coast Railway, which was confirmed by Act of Parliament on 27 July 1846. At this
time, an Act of Parliament was passed granting the newly formed company authority
for an extension of the railway between New Cross and Deptford Dockyard
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