Norwood Junction railway station

Norwood Junction railway station is in South Norwood in the London Borough of Croydon in south London, in Travelcard Zone 4.

The station is managed by London Overground and trains are operated by London Overground (since 23 May 2010) and Southern.

History
The station at Norwood has occupied two sites with three different names.

‘’Jolly-sailor’’ and ‘’Norwood’’ stations


In 1839 the London and Croydon Railway opened Jolly-sailor station — "Jolly-sailor near Beulah Spa" on fares lists and timetables — at the north end of the High Street, adjacent to the Portland Road level crossing. From 1841 the lines through Norwood were used by the London and Brighton Railway and from 1842 the South Eastern Railway, but neither of these companies used the station.

In 1844 the London and Croydon Railway was given parliamentary authority to test an experimental atmospheric railway system on the railway. A pumping station was built on Portland Road to create a vacuum in a continuous pipe located centrally between the rails. A piston extended downwards from the trains into a slit in the pipe, with trains blown towards the pumping station by atmospheric pressure. The pumping station was in a Gothic style, with a very tall ornate tower that served both as a chimney and as an exhaust vent for air pumped from the propulsion tube.

As part of the works for the atmospheric system, the world's first railway flyover was constructed beyond the south end of the station to carry the atmospheric line over the conventional London & Brighton Railway steam line. At the same time the level crossing at Portland Road was replaced by a low bridge across the road.

In July 1846 the London and Croydon Railway merged with the London and Brighton Railway to form the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, and the station was renamed Norwood in the same year - it became Norwood Junction by 1856. The company abandoned atmospheric propulsion in 1847 but the flyover remained in use as part of what is sometimes known as Windmill Bridge Junction.

Norwood Junction station
Following construction of new lines to Crystal Palace the station closed on 1 June 1859 and was replaced by the current station on the south side of the A215 road. The original station building was used as a private house until the 1960s, when it was demolished.

Norwood Junction rail accident
The Norwood Junction railway crash occurred on 1 May 1891, when the cast-iron bridge over Portland Road fractured under an express train from Brighton to London.

Connection to Sherlock Holmes
It is from this station that the villain Jonas Oldacre takes his train to London Bridge in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.

Facilities
There are seven platforms but only five are in use. Ticket barriers control access to all platforms.

Platforms 1 & 2
Platform 1 is the first platform when entering the station via the main entrance. This is the only platform accessible without having to negotiate the subway via stairs. Its main use is for trains northwards to, and London Victoria; most of these trains are slow, stopping at all stations. They mainly come from West Croydon, Caterham and Sutton.

Platform 2 serves the same single track as Platform 1 but passengers are not able to join or alight as the doors open only on the Platform 1 side. Thus platform 2 is effectively redundant.

Platform 3
Platform 3 is for faster services to. It is the only northwards platform served by Southern trains from Tonbridge. Most services come from Horsham, Tattenham Corner and Reigate, with the occasional service from Brighton and Uckfield. When the Thameslink Programme is complete, First Capital Connect trains to Bedford will use this platform.

Platforms 4, 5 & 6
Platforms 4, 5 and 6 are for southbound trains, to West Croydon or East Croydon. Platform 4 is for fast trains from London Bridge to Uckfield, East Grinstead, Gatwick Airport, Tonbridge, Tattenham Corner and Horsham; Platform 5 for suburban stopping services, mainly high-frequency trains from Highbury & Islington to West Croydon and from London Bridge to Caterham; Platform 6 is usually used only when platform alterations are required. Trains to Coulsdon Town from London Victoria via Crystal Palace usually use Platform 5 but sometimes use Platform 6.

Platform 7
Platform 7 is disused and the line is covered by vegetation. However, with the planned two-year blockade of Thameslink trains through Central London while London Bridge station is under reconstruction Network Rail is reinstating and electrifying this line though whether as a 'dead-end or as the present loop is not known. This will see some additional services via Crystal Palace which would otherwise need to go on to Beckenham Junction terminate here instead. This will obviate unnecessary occupation of the 1 3/4 miles of single bi-directional line east of Birkbeck Junction and also save a carriage set. To achieve the change the present lead to the down spur at Bromley Junction is being removed to the up line and a facing crossover put into place west of it. To provide the necessary pathing northbound the trains would use the same spur line which will become reversible to the resited point on the up line at Bromley Junction. Safety problems for the user-operated level crossing into the track maintenance depot on the former steam shed site have apparently been resolved. These arose from the restricted sighting line under Goat House bridge towards the station against up direction trains.

Typical service
Typical off-peak service is as follows, in trains per hour:

Up (northbound)

 * 10 to :
 * 4 non-stop;
 * 2 calling at New Cross Gate only;
 * 2 all stations via New Cross Gate;
 * 2 all stations via Crystal Palace, East Dulwich and Peckham Rye
 * 4 to Dalston Junction via Canada Water
 * 2 to London Victoria via Crystal Palace and Clapham Junction

Down (southbound)

 * 6 to West Croydon
 * 2 to Sutton via West Croydon
 * 2 to Caterham via East Croydon
 * 2 to Tattenham Corner via East Croydon
 * 1 to Horsham via East Croydon
 * 1 to Tonbridge via East Croydon

Thameslink Programme
The Thameslink Programme (formerly known as Thameslink 2000), is a £3.5 billion major project to expand the Thameslink network from 51 to 172 stations extending northwards to Bedford, Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn and southwards to Guildford, Eastbourne, Horsham, Hove to Littlehampton, East Grinstead, Ashford and Dartford. The project includes the lengthening of platforms, station remodelling, new railway infrastructure (e.g. viaducts) and additional rolling stock. When implemented, First Capital Connect services will call at Norwood Junctionn.

Marshalling yard
The LB&SCR constructed a large marshalling yard to the south of the station during the 1870s, extended in the early 1880s. At their height the yards on both sides of the line each had over 30 sidings. Because of the narrow nature of the site they were laid in clusters of six to eight, one beyond another, with the lead-in to each forming an individual headshunt. With dwindling freight traffic the marshalling yard fell into disuse by the 1980s and the tracks were relaid to accommodate an enlarged Selhurst Depot.

Motive power depot
The Southern Railway opened a five-road motive power depot with a 65 ft (19.8 metre) turntable in 1935, to serve the local marshalling yard. It replaced a shed at West Croydon. This depot was closed in 1964 and demolished in 1966.

Transport connections
Norwood Junction is well served by bus routes, with three bus stops including two bus stands close by. On the Portland Road side are two bus stops for routes 197 (Croydon-Peckham) and 312 (South Croydon–Norwood Junction). The High Street 'Clocktower' bus stop serves routes 75 (Croydon–Lewisham), 157 (Morden–Crystal Palace) and 410 (Wallington–Crystal Palace). The Grosvenor Road bus stop serves routes 130 (New Addington–Norwood Junction) and 196 (Norwood Junction–Elephant and Castle).

Route 75 was formerly a 24-hour route but that facility was withdrawn in favour of a higher frequency of buses on a Sunday by Selkent when it took the service over from Stagecoach London. Metrobus won the contract from April 2009 and works the route from its Croydon garage. The stop on Night Bus route N68 is half a mile away on White Horse Lane. Other service operators are Arriva London, Abellio and Metrobus.