Forest Hill railway station
Forest Hill railway station serves Forest Hill in the London Borough of Lewisham, south London. The station adjoins a road which serves as part of the A205 South Circular Road.
The station is managed by London Overground, with Overground and Southern trains serving the station. Thameslink services also pass through the station. It is down the line from, between and, in Travelcard Zone 3. There are four tracks through the station, although only the slow lines have platforms.
There are two entrances, the main one being on platform 1 at the bottom of the South Circular Road, and a side entrance on platform 2 on Perry Vale. The ticket office is placed in the main entrance, although there are ticket machines outside both entrances.
History
The station was opened by the original London & Croydon Railway on 5 June 1839, as Dartmouth Arms.The line was also used by the London and Brighton Railway from 1841 and the South Eastern Railway from 1842. In 1844, the station was chosen by the L&CR as the northern terminus for Phase 1 of an experimental atmospheric railway to West Croydon. A pumping station was also constructed at the station. The L&CR and the L&BR merged to form the London Brighton and South Coast Railway in July 1846; the following year "atmospheric" working was abandoned. In 1845 the station became Forest Hill for Lordship Lane.
map of lines around the Brighton Main Line between South Croydon and Selhurst/Forest Hill, as well as surrounding lines
The LB&SCR moved the Down platform during the early 1850s when the line was quadrupled, and extended the island platform around 1864.
The LB&SCR station buildings were badly damaged by bombing during World War II but were patched up and survived until British Rail demolished them in 1972 and built a much smaller CLASP system-built prefabricated station building that remains in use to this day. The short narrow island platform serving the fast lines was demolished in the early 1960s.
Services
Forest Hill is served by 12 trains in each direction off peak, with additional Southern services at peak hours. Southern operates 4 to 8 car trains throughout the day, with 10 carriage trains at peak hours.Off-peak frequencies are:
| Platform | Frequency | Destination | Service Pattern | Operator | Line |
| 1 | 4 | Highbury & Islington | All stations via | London Overground | East London |
| 1 | 4 | All stations via | London Overground | East London | |
| 1 | 4 | London Bridge | All stations | Southern | Metro |
| 2 | 4 | All stations | London Overground | East London | |
| 2 | 4 | West Croydon | All stations | London Overground | East London |
| 2 | 2 | London Victoria | All stations via | Southern | Metro |
| 2 | 2 | All stations via East Croydon | Southern | Metro | |
| 2 | 2 | West Croydon | Sydenham then fast to | Southern | Metro |
| 2 | 2 | All stations via East Croydon | Southern | Metro |