Crystal Palace (High Level) railway station

Crystal Palace (High Level) railway station was a station in what was the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell in south London. It was one of two stations built to serve the site of the 1851 exhibition building, called the Crystal Palace, when it was moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill after 1851.

This article is about the disused High Level station. For the open Low Level station, see Crystal Palace railway station.

Crystal Palace (High Level)
Location
PlaceCrystal Palace
AreaSouthwark
Coordinates51.4214°N 0.0785°W / 51.4214; -0.0785
Grid referenceTQ337709
Operations
Original companyCrystal Palace and South London Junction Railway
Pre-groupingLondon, Chatham and Dover Railway
South Eastern and Chatham Railway
Post-groupingSouthern Railway
British Railways
Platforms6
History
1 August 1865Opened as Crystal Palace (High Level)
1 November 1898Renamed Crystal Palace High Level and Upper Norwood
1 January 1917Temporarily closed
1 March 1919Reopened
9 July 1923Renamed Crystal Palace High Level
July 1925electrified
22 May 1944Temporarily closed
4 March 1946Reopened
20 September 1954Station closed to passengers
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain
A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

History
A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines in South London, including (right) part of the Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway and Crystal Palace (High Level) station (shown here as Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood)
Site of Crystal Palace (High Level) station, 1983

The Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway was promoted by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR); by 1860 the LCDR had a line running to Beckenham Junction via Loughborough Junction, some three miles to the north-west of the Crystal Palace site. In order to capture traffic from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, the LCDR constructed a branch line from the latter station, with a junction at Nunhead to run directly to the Crystal Palace site. The line opened on 1 August 1865. The station was designed by Edward Middleton Barry as a lavish red brick and buff terra cotta building. The station was excavated into the ridge below Crystal Palace Parade requiring major engineering works. The line was one of the first of the former South Eastern and Chatham Railway to be electrified by Southern Railway, under "South Eastern Electrification – Stage 1" in July 1925.[1]

Decline and closure

After the Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire in 1936, traffic on the branch declined. During World War II the line was temporarily closed after bomb damage. Although temporary repairs were made and the line subsequently reopened the decline in traffic and a requirement for heavy reconstruction work led to the decision to close the station and branch on 20 September 1954, although it was not demolished until 1961.

Although the site of the station was developed for housing in the 1970s, the retaining walls below Crystal Palace Parade and the ornamental portal of Paxton Tunnel to the north are still readily visible. This appears in the Ken Russell film of 1958 titled "Amelia and the Angel". The brickwork fits exactly although the ground level is raised. The subway and an adjacent courtyard survived the 1936 fire, and was used as an air raid shelter during World War II. It is now a Grade II* listed building.[2] Although the subway is now sealed off, it is sometimes opened to allow organised visits by "Friends of Crystal Palace Subway".

Southwark Model Railway Club have built a scale model of the station.[3]

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Upper Sydenham
Line and station closed		   British Railways
Southern Region
Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway		   Terminus

The "train entombed in the tunnel" myth

There is a rumour that, in one of the sealed tunnels in the area, an engine or carriage remains hidden collecting dust. Another version of the story, popular among local schoolchildren, claims that the High-Level station was closed because a commuter train was trapped by a tunnel collapse, entombing the passengers, who remain there to this day.[4]

These stories are an example of the persistence of local urban legend. The story of the entombed train was apparently current in the 1930s. Back then it referred to the abandoned 1860s pneumatic railway on the north side of the grounds of Crystal Palace Park. See Crystal Palace pneumatic railway for more information.[4]

Most traces of this had almost certainly been destroyed by the building works for the 1911 Festival of Empire, but there was an unsuccessful archaeological dig for the train sponsored by the BBC's Nationwide current-affairs programme in the 1970s.[4]

References
  1. "Electric Railways". 'Stendec Systems'. 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 1 February 2007.
  2. Historic England. "Subway, Vestibule, Terrace and Stairs to the Crystal Palace (1385457)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  3. Southwark Model Railway Club layout
  4. Crystal Palace High Level & Upper Norwood Station at Subterranea Britannica

Further reading
  • Crystal Palace (High Level) and Catford Loop by V Mitchell & K Smith, Middleton Press, 1991
  • The Railway through Sydenham Hill Wood, From the Nun's Head to the Screaming Alice by Mathew Frith, The Friends of the Great North Wood and London Wildlife Trust leaflet 1995
  • London's Local Railways by A A Jackson, David & Charles, 1978
  • The Crystal Palace (High Level) Branch by W Smith, British Railway Journal 28, 1989
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