Kenley railway station

Kenley railway station serves Kenley in the London Borough of Croydon in south London. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Southern, and it is in Travelcard Zone 6, on the Caterham Line. The station is served by trains from Caterham to Purley, East Croydon, London Bridge and London Victoria.

On the London-bound platform (Platform 1) is a manned ticket office (staffed all day) and a self-service passenger-operated Ticket Machine. A second self-service Ticket Machine is available just outside the Caterham-bound platform (Platform 2) which is suitably located to purchase tickets for the car park which is also located on this side.

Caterham Branch History
The Caterham Railway's Act received the Royal Assent on 16 June 1854, but this was followed by a dispute between the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and the South Eastern Railway about whose control the line should be under. The line connected with the LB&SCR, but was felt by the South Eastern to be an unwarranted intrusion of the Brighton company into its territory. Later in 1854 the LB&SCR and SER came to an agreement that neither company would fund any railways built in this region. This however only made it more difficult for the Caterham Railway to raise capital. In 1855 the LB&SCR and SER came to another agreement over the joint working of traffic between the branch and London, and the Caterham Railway opened on 5 August 1856. A court battle then commenced between the LB&SCR and SER and between the Caterham Railway and the contractor who built the line, and the Caterham Railway was forced into bankruptcy in 1859. At this point the South Eastern Railway were fortunately able to come to an agreement with the LB&SCR whereby the SER would purchase and work the Caterham Railway. The SER already possessed running rights over the LB&SCR from Purley into London. Electrification on the 660V DC third rail system was completed by the Southern Railway on 25 March 1928. Today a frequent service between Victoria, London Bridge and Caterham is operated by Southern.

Station History
Kenley Station was originally opened to passengers along with the line on 5 August 1856 as Coulsdon Station by the Caterham Railway.

Soon after in November 1856 the station was renamed as Kenley Station.

On Platform 2 stands a gabled Grade II listed building station house in the "Old English style of Domestic Architecture" (architect: Richard Whittall) and is similar to the original building at Caterham. This was the original station building which housed a small waiting room for passengers and the original ticket office. In 1899 when the Caterham line was made double-track, a new brick Ticket Office was built on the opposite Platform at road level. The original station house was disused and boarded up for a long time, but fortunately was protected by its listed status. The house was then sold to a private owner in 2007 after an impressive refurbishment of the interior.

The original SER timber-built waiting shelter on Platform 2 was demolished in more recent times due to disrepair and has been replaced with a small modern waiting shelter with lighting.

Some recent maintenance work was carried out in 2012 on the ticket office roof and guttering to prevent internal leaks.

Current Train service
The typical off-peak train service per hour is:
 * 4 tph to Caterham
 * 4 tph to Purley
 * 4 tph to East Croydon
 * 2 tph to London Victoria via Norbury
 * 2 tph to London Bridge via Forest Hill

*tph = trains per hour

During the morning peak-time, London-bound services have shorter journey times with London Bridge services running fast from Norwood Junction to London Bridge, and Victoria services running fast from East Croydon to Clapham Junction.

Services are normally run using Class 455 EMUs, Class 456 EMUs and Class 377 Electrostars (usually during off-peak and the evening peak.)