Penge West railway station

Penge West railway station is in the London Borough of Bromley in south London. The station is operated by London Overground, with London Overground and Southern trains serving the station. First Capital Connect and some Southern services pass through the station. It is located in Travelcard Zone 4.

Penge East station is a short walk away and has services to London Victoria. Crystal Palace station is also within walking distance and has more frequent trains to.

Penge West forms part of the new southbound route of the London Overground East London Line that opened on 23 May 2010.

History
The original Penge station was opened by the London and Croydon Railway in 1839, probably more for logistical reasons than anything else: the railway crossed the nearby High Street by a level crossing, and the station would have provided a place for trains to wait while the crossing gates were opened for them. The population of Penge was only around 270 at this time, not enough to make the station commercially viable. It was closed in 1841, and the level crossing was converted to a bridge soon afterwards. The entrance to the station was actually on Penge High Street, and not its current position. Evidence of the original entrances can still be seen in the brickwork on either side of the bridge as the track passes over the road.

By the early 1860s, Penge's population had risen to over 5,000 - more than eighteen times its level just twenty years earlier. There was also a demand for improved transport to the Crystal Palace nearby, so the station was reopened by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway on 1 July 1863. This was the same day that the London Chatham and Dover Railway opened its own Penge Lane station on its line to London Victoria. The two stations were renamed Penge West, and Penge East by the Southern Railway on 9 July 1923.

A large building on the down platform served as a ticket office and goods office and included the waiting room and Station Master's office. A wide road from the corner of Oakfield Road and Penge High Street provided access to these buildings and sidings which served a coal yard and timber yard on the site of the old brickfield. The sidings were removed, the buildings demolished and the access road closed when the land was sold for the construction of a Homebase store. Since then access to the down platform has been via a footbridge from the up platform. Previously the only passenger access between the two platforms was via Penge High Street.

The 1863 station building remained in use until April 2005 when it was damaged in a fire set by arsonists. After a period of limited station facilities, reconstruction work commenced in the Summer of 2006 and was completed in December 2006. The station ticket office is now open weekdays during the morning peak rush hour until 11am, along with the waiting room.

London Overground
the off peak frequency is:


 * 4tph Northbound to Dalston Junction
 * 4tph Southbound to West Croydon

Southern
the off peak frequency is:


 * 2tph Northbound to
 * 2tph Southbound to Caterham

''Note trains from London Bridge to Sutton have been withdrawn. Caterham trains now call here and Anerley.''

The new timetable means that the number of trains serving this station has jumped from 2 per hour to 6, although only 2 of these go to London Bridge.

Transport links
London bus routes 176, 197, 227 and 354 all serve the station.