The Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway was authorised to build a line from

Peckham Rye railway station Peckham Rye is a railway station in Peckham town centre, South London. It opened on 1 December 1865 for LC&DR trains and on 13 August 1866 for LB&SCR trains. It was designed by Charles Henry Driver (1832–1900), the architect of Abbey Mill ...

to a terminus at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

in 1862, in order to serve the attraction of the Crystal Palace.

History

The station was opened by the

London, Chatham and Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London and no ...

on 1 August 1884. It was temporarily closed from 1 January 1917 until 1 March 1919, and again between 22 May 1944 and 4 March 1946. Permanent closure occurred on 20 September 1954. Upper Sydenham station was the penultimate station on the route before Crystal Palace, sitting in the wooded area at the top of Sydenham Hill, overlooking Dulwich and Sydenham. The station and the line was poorly used despite new houses being built in the area as passengers preferred to use other stations near-by (

Sydenham Hill Sydenham Hill forms part of a longer ridge and is an affluent locality in southeast London. It is also the name of a road which runs along the northeastern part of the ridge, demarcating the London Boroughs of Southwark, Bromley, and Lewisham ...

, Crystal Palace (Lower Level) and

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

) which were on more direct routes. The line was one of the first of the former South Eastern and Chatham Railway to be

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

by Southern Railway, under "South Eastern Electrification - Stage 1" in July 1925. The destruction of the Crystal Palace in 1936 saw patronage reduced. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the branch line suffered damage from enemy action. After the war the cost of repairing the war damage with declining receipts led to the decision to close the line to close on 20 September 1954, the first permanent closure of a Southern Electric line. The dismantling of the station took place in 1957.

Current

Today all that remains of Upper Sydenham Station is the booking office and station house, which is now a private residence on Wells Park Road, the railway tunnel which is now blocked off but intact and a few muddy hints of where the line and platform once ran. It is thought that the station platforms were buried when the area was landscaped. The station's location sits in Hillcrest Woods, providing a popular local footpath.

References

External links

www.disused-stations.org.uk
{{Disused railway stations of London Disused railway stations in the London Borough of Lewisham Former London, Chatham and Dover Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1884 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1917 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1919 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1944 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1946 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1954

History

Current

References

Further reading

External links