Sydenham railway station (London)

Sydenham (London) is a railway station in Sydenham in the London Borough of Lewisham, South London. Originally opened in 1839, the station is located on the former Croydon Canal, which is now a branch of the Brighton Main Line, often known as the Sydenham Corridor. Sydenham falls within Travelcard Zone 3 and is served by London Overground and Southern. The station is 6 miles 32 chains (10.30 km) down the line from London Bridge.

Sydenham (London)
Sydenham (London) Location of Sydenham (London) in Greater London
Location	Sydenham
Local authority	London Borough of Lewisham
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	SYD
DfT category	D
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes[1]
Fare zone	3
National Rail annual entry and exit
2015–16	4.066 million[2]
2016–17	4.282 million[2]
2017–18	4.148 million[2]
2018–19	4.265 million[2]
2019–20	4.080 million[2]
Key dates
5 June 1839	Opened by the London and Croydon Railway
1844	Croydon platform re-sited
1982	London platform re-sited
23 May 2010	East London Line started[3]
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51.4254°N 0.0544°W
London transport portal

History

A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines around the Brighton Main Line between South Croydon and Selhurst / Forest Hill, as well as surrounding lines

The Croydon Canal opened in 1809 linking the Grand Surrey Canal to Croydon, however the waterway was never successful, and in 1836, it was the first canal to be abandoned by an Act of Parliament. The alignment was purchased by the London and Croydon Railway, who drained the canal and re-opened as a railway on the 5 June 1839. In 1844, L&CR was given authority to test the first atmospheric railway equipment between Dartmouth Arms (now Forest Hill) and West Croydon.[4] In 1846, the railway became part of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and in the following year, the system was abandoned. The station was originally built south of Sydenham Road (A212) however, due to the construction of the branch to Crystal Palace in 1852, platform 2 was resited to its current position.[5] Platform 1 and its station building remained south of the road bridge, until 1982 when British Rail decided to construct a replacement platform 90 meters north, parallel to Peak Hill Gardens due to the retaining wall beginning to collapse.[6]

The Big Four grouping led to Southern Railway (SR) management until nationalistation in 1948. Between 1948 and 1982 Sydenham was part of the Southern Region and following sectorisation, until privatisation, Sydenham became part of the Network SouthEast sector. Upon privatisation in May 1996, the station management passed to Connex South Central. Connex was stripped of the franchise due to poor financial management and in 2001, Govia South Central (Southern) took over the franchise and management of the station. Southern remained the sole train provider until 2010, when London Overground took over management of the station and began running trains as part of the East London Line extension.

Sydenham was the first station to serve the area, however, there are, or have been, five other stations in the Sydenham:

• Lower Sydenham on the Hayes Line
• Upper Sydenham on the now closed Crystal Palace (High Level) line
• Sydenham Hill, Penge East on the Victoria to Orpington line.

Station layout

Like all intermediate stations between New Cross Gate and Norwood Junction, Sydenham has two platforms, facing two (up and down slow) of the four tracks with the two fast tracks run between the two slow lines. There are three entrances - the ticket office on platform 2 from Sydenham Station Approach, entrance on platform 1 from Peak Hill Gardens and a gate on platform 2 which is not unlocked regularly. A locally owned small cafe named On The Hoof which also has locations at other stations on the line, is in the main station building.

Services

East London Line
London Overground
Highbury & Islington Canonbury Dalston Junction Haggerston Kingsland Viaduct Hoxton Shoreditch High Street Whitechapel Shadwell ( Shadwell) Wapping Thames Tunnel under River Thames Rotherhithe Canada Water Surrey Quays Queens Road Peckham New Cross Peckham Rye New Cross Gate Denmark Hill Brockley Clapham High Street ( Clapham North) Honor Oak Park Wandsworth Road Forest Hill Clapham Junction Sydenham Crystal Palace Penge West Anerley Norwood Junction West Croydon

Services at Sydenham are operated by Southern and London Overground.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

Southern[7][8]

• 4 tph to London Bridge
• 2 tph to London Victoria via Crystal Palace
• 2 tph to Coulsdon Town via Purley

Southern services at Sydenham are operated using Class 377 and Class 455 EMUs.

London Overground[9]

• 8 tph to Highbury & Islington via Surrey Quays
• 4 tph to West Croydon
• 4 tph to Crystal Palace

London Overground services at Sydenham are operated using Class 378 EMUs.

Connections

London Buses routes 122, 176, 197, 202 and 450 serve the station. While routes 75 and 194 run close by.

References

1. "London Overground system map" (PDF). Transport for London. May 2018.
2. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
3. "News: Sydenham Rail Users Meeting". Sydenham Town. 17 September 2009. Archived from the original on 7 October 2009.
4. Turner, John Howard (1978). The London Brighton and South Coast Railway 1 Origins and Formation. Batsford. p. 250. ISBN 0-7134-0275-X.
5. Turner, John Howard (1978). The London Brighton and South Coast Railway 2 Establishment and Growth. Batsford. pp. 41–45. ISBN 0-7134-1198-8.
6. "Sydenham Station one of best preserved on line". Sydenham Society. 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
7. "Timetable 31: Tattenham Corner and Coulsdon to London" (PDF). Southern, December 2019.
8. "Timetable 40: London Bridge to London Victoria via Crystal Palace" (PDF). Southern, December 2019.
9. "Highbury & Islington to New Cross, Clapham, Crystal Palace and West Croydon Timetable" (PDF). London Overground, May 2020.

External links

• National Rail: Sydenham (SYD)
• National Rail: Sydenham station plan
• Southern: Sydenham page
• Southern: Live departures, Sydenham
• Maps and aerial photos