The station opened on 1 March 1863, on the London, Chatham and Dover Railway original double-track low-level route from Victoria via Stewarts Lane, which was opened between Victoria and Herne Hill, on 25 August 1862. The same railway company constructed a triple-track high-level route between Battersea Pier Junction and Brixton, part of which opened between Factory Junction, and Brixton on 1 May 1866 together with three additional platforms at Wandsworth Road. Therefore, from May 1866 until April 1916, this station had five platforms. On 1 May 1867, the London, Chatham and Dover Railway leased the original two tracks to the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, for use by its new South London Line service. On 3 April 1916, the three 1866 platforms were closed, as the South Eastern & Chatham railway withdrew its service, leaving only the original two 1863 platforms, which were still served by the LBSCR. These platforms closed on 19 May 1926. The LBSCR platforms reopened on 20 September 1926. The former South Eastern & Chatham platforms which closed in 1916 were demolished in the late 1920s. Therefore, the current two platforms served by London Overground are the original platforms of 1863. A footbridge was installed by Network SouthEast in November 1988 having previously been used at Mitcham.
Until 8 December 2012, Wandsworth Road was served by a twice-hourly Southern service between and. This was replaced by London Overground's service between Clapham Junction and Highbury & Islington. Following the withdrawal of CrossCountry's services from to via in December 2008 the Department for Transport required a weekly parliamentary train to run on lines no longer used by other services, hence Southern operated a morning weekday service from Kensington Olympia to Clapham High Street with a corresponding service in the afternoon. This was withdrawn in December 2012. Since then the service was instead been cut back to Wandsworth Road from Kensington Olympia, and then withdrawn completely in June 2013, following the ratification of the service withdrawal request by the Department for Transport and Office of Rail and Road.
Connections
routes 77, 87 and 452 and night route N87 serve the station.