Sydenham railway station (London)


Sydenham is a railway station in Sydenham in the London Borough of Lewisham, South London. Originally opened in 1839, the station is located on the former Croydon Canal, which is now a branch of the Brighton Main Line, often known as the Sydenham Corridor. Sydenham falls within Travelcard Zone 3 and is served by London Overground and Southern. The station is down the line from.

History

The Croydon Canal opened in 1809 linking the Grand Surrey Canal to Croydon, however the waterway was never successful, and in 1836, it was the first canal to be abandoned by an Act of Parliament. The alignment was purchased by the London and Croydon Railway, who drained the canal and re-opened as a railway on the 5 June 1839. In 1844, L&CR was given authority to test the first atmospheric railway equipment between Dartmouth Arms and West Croydon. In 1846, the railway became part of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and in the following year, the system was abandoned. The station was originally built south of Sydenham Road however, due to the construction of the branch to Crystal Palace in 1852, platform 2 was resited to its current position. Platform 1 and its station building remained south of the road bridge, until 1982 when British Rail decided to construct a replacement platform 90 meters north, parallel to Peak Hill Gardens due to the retaining wall beginning to collapse.
The Big Four grouping led to Southern Railway management until nationalistation in 1948. Between 1948 and 1982 Sydenham was part of the Southern Region and following sectorisation, until privatisation, Sydenham became part of the Network SouthEast sector. Upon privatisation in May 1996, the station management passed to Connex South Central. Connex was stripped of the franchise due to poor financial management and in 2001, Govia South Central took over the franchise and management of the station. Southern remained the sole train provider until 2010, when London Overground took over management of the station and began running trains as part of the East London Line extension.
Sydenham was the first station to serve the area, however, there are, or have been, five other stations in the Sydenham:
Like all intermediate stations between New Cross Gate and Norwood Junction, Sydenham has two platforms, facing two of the four tracks with the two fast tracks run between the two slow lines. There are three entrances - the ticket office on platform 2 from Sydenham Station Approach, entrance on platform 1 from Peak Hill Gardens and a gate on platform 2 which is not unlocked regularly. A locally owned small cafe named On The Hoof which also has locations at other stations on the line, is in the main station building.

Services

Sydenham is served by 8 trains in each direction off peak, with additional Southern services at peak hours. London Overground operates 5 car trains while Southern operates 4-10 car trains throughout the day.
Off Peak frequencies are:
PlatformFrequency
DestinationService PatternOperatorLine
14Highbury & IslingtonAll stations via
London OvergroundEast London
14All stations via
London OvergroundEast London
14London BridgeAll stationsSouthernMetro
24Next stationLondon OvergroundEast London
24West CroydonAll stationsLondon OvergroundEast London
22London Victoria
All stations via SouthernMetro
22 All stations via East CroydonSouthernMetro
22West Croydon
Fast to SouthernMetro
22
All stations via East CroydonSouthernMetro

Connections

routes 122, 176, 197, 202 and 450 serve the station. While routes 75 and 194 run close by.

Lines