Last Updated 02/07/2007
R.o.B Introduction
Introduction:
To the Railways and Tramways of Croydon
The market town of Croydon is approximately 10 miles south of London and today forms part of the London Boroughs. The town is located at the northern tip of the North Downs range of hills at the head of the River Wandle which was to play a prime roll in early industrialisation of the area. The town is known to have been a settlement since Saxon times the Saxons having given the settlement its name possibly meaning 'Crooked Valley' or 'Saffron Valley' and may well have been a Roman posting station on the London to Portslade road before that. The area passed in to the hands of the Archbishops of Canterbury by the middle-ages and the sight of royalty and influential people of the time was common up to the 19th century the town being an influential trade and market place, a tradition that continues today. By the 19th century it had become the biggest town between London and the south coast mostly due to the railways and local industry which had sprung up in the Wandle Valley seeing the development of the world's first public railway to be built independently of a canal system known as the Surrey Iron Railway (SIR) in 1803, prior to which time tramways, as the SIR was, were built to connect two canals together where it was not possible to build a navigable water route, these tramways open to anyone paying the relevant toll (one difference between a railway and a tramway). The SIR was opened from the River Thames at Wandsworth to Croydon as an alternative to a canal which would have had an adverse effect on the River Wandle. At Croydon the SIR was met by a tramway branch from a canal basin which was located where West Croydon station now stands, the Croydon Canal having opened in 1809 the 9 1/2 mile long canal connecting Croydon to the Grand Surrey Canal and the River Thames at Deptford. When the London & Croydon Railway (L&CR) wanted to build its railway from a junction with the London & Greenwich Railway at Corbetts Lane the railway company bought the canal, filled it in and used its route for their railway, the line opening in 1839. At Reeves Corner in the town the Surrey Iron Railway terminated to be joined by the canal tramway branch and also the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway of 1805, which had been started with the intention of reaching the south coast but in the event only served local quarries. From 1906 the South Metropolitan Electric Tramways and Lighting Co Ltd was to serve Tamworth Road following the canal tramway branch as far as the top of the road where it had its terminus, trams for Sutton and Mitcham departing from there for many years. The Company also providing tram services to Penge and Crystal Palace, the latter originally sited in Hyde Park from 1851 but rebuilt at Sydenham hill in 1854. The palace and grounds held many exhibitions and events which brought large crowds to the area most of whom came by tram or train. It remained there until 1936 when it was destroyed by a fire. Two large towers were also moved to the site and provided water pressure for huge fountains that had been designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. One of the towers was taken down during the war with the other being blown up by engineers! In 1911 a narrow gauge railway operated in the grounds during the Festival of Empire exhibition. It carried visitors to several colonial and dominion displays along a continuous circular route. It was constructed to 3 feet 6 inch gauge and used 2 power rail pick up where one rail was live and the other the return. 18x4 wheel cars were used, 9 power cars and 9 trailers, all of which had toast rack seating. Croydon's tramways only had 2 shelters, one at Crystal palace and the other at Mitcham common, Blue House.
Map of the Surrey Iron Railway
As mentioned above the L&CR was the first railway company to reach Croydon but close behind was the London & Brighton Railway which intended its services to run to the south coast, passing through Croydon on route. As the L&CR station on London Road at the end of the High Street was not on the proposed route a new station named East Croydon was opened to the east of the town in the middle of open fields, people from the town wanting to join the railway having to cross a windswept area, most passengers probably going from West Croydon Station to get to the city. In an effort to better serve the town the LBSCR opened a short spur in to Katherine Street and Croydon Central station a two platform affair that was not well used seeing its closure in 1890 and use as a goods yard up to 1911, the site of the station now the Town Hall and the approach a garden. The town, as with many that now form part of Greater London, has long been associated with the city, the arrival of the railways stimulating the relationship between the two much to the chagrin of some influential people in the 1830's who worried that trade would drop as people found it easier to get to London with the arrival of the L&CR. The speed with which goods from the area could be transported soon became apparent with new opportunities opened up for goods from the south and the growth in the towns residents many of whom found it beneficial to live away from the city and to travel in to work the population reaching 134,000 by 1901. This growth in population saw Croydon attract its own tramway systems that initially used horse power under the Croydon Tramways Company and the Croydon & Norwood Tramways Company for traction and later electric traction though the tramways also saw the operation of experimental tram locomotives, one known as the Connelly Oil Motor introduced in 1893 on the Addiscombe tramway the other using a compressed Gas Motor and used on the Croydon to Thornton Heath tramway of the Croydon Tramways Company. With electrification two tramway operators were to emerge in the form of the afore mentioned South Metropolitan tramways to Sutton, Mitcham, Penge and South Norwood, the Croydon Corporation Tramways serving Thornton Heath, South Norwood and Purley, the relationship between the two often strained and resulting on occasion in South Met trams banned from using Corporation tramlines, though the tramlines from Sutton and Mitcham were not connected to the Corporation system for many years, anyway. The town was also home to other experiments with traction power with the introduction of an Atmospheric Propulsion system along the L&CR route in the 1840's which included the construction of the world's first railway flyover. Not actually an experiment the town was also served by the LBSCR overhead AC electric wires favoured by that company before the SR decided on total 3rd rail electrification in its area, the overhead system used from 1921 to 1925.
On Way
Map of the Railways of Croydon
Croydon seems to have attracted a lot of joint working not only on its tramways but also its railways in 1855 the Wimbledon and Croydon Railway was opened between the towns in its title serving the industrial Wandle Valley and running along part of the SIR which the company had purchased to make way for its own line. This railway was owned jointly by the London Brighton & South Coast Railway, which was partly formed from the London & Croydon and the London & Brighton Railway companies, the joint owners of the W&CR being the L&SWR though due to disagreements between the two companies the majority owners were the LBSCR. The line from Wimbledon joined the Croydon to Epsom line opened in 1847 just south of West Croydon before running parallel to that line before terminating at West Croydon station. The other joint line worked by the LBSCR and this time with the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (Later the South Eastern Railway, SER) was the line from Woodside to Selsdon built as the Woodside and South Croydon Railway and opening in 1885 forming a connection with the SER Mid Kent Line Extension that ran from New Beckenham to Addiscombe opening in 1863 located on the eastern tip of Croydon. Despite the introduction of the railway and later the tramway this part of the town was slow to develop seeing the closure of the tramway beyond Addiscombe on its route to South Norwood via Woodside. With the Grouping of the Railway companies in 1923 all of the railways through Croydon came under the Southern Railway. The Southern Railway re-built West Croydon Station in 1928 with shops spanning the railway bridge on London Road/North end. The trams in Station Road passing the new eastern entrance of the re-built the original DOWN side entrance of the station closed with the opening of the new entrance and was used as a waiting room for the Green line country buses operated by the LPTB in the 1930's.
The Horse Tramways of Croydon
The two tramway operators remained independent of one another until the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board (known as London Transport or LT) in 1933, when all road public transport came under the control of that organisation. LT did not waste anytime before it announced a modernisation plan for London's Transport systems that would see the closure of all tramways and the introduction of trolleybuses, Croydon being no exception its tramways soon started to be closed and by the beginning of 1950 the only tramway remaining in Croydon was that from Purley to Norbury which closed on 13th April 1951. By 1983 the W&SCR was also closed though Croydon remained served by its branch from Addiscombe ant the line to Wimbledon as well as trains from West Croydon and East Croydon stations. With a plentiful supply of bus routes the town was well connected but by the mid 1980's traffic congestion was a huge problem as it is with many large urban centres today. With LT and BR looking at different solutions to traffic congestion a report on transport in the London Boroughs was set under way resulting in several suggestions to reduce the congestion issue. One suggestion was for the introduction of either Light Railways, such as the Docklands Light Railway, extensions to London's Underground network Croydon having been the intended terminus of the Victoria line which had been built in the 1960's though due to financial issues it terminated at Brixton instead, guided busways or a modern Tramway.
The electric Tramways of Croydon
Some of the proposed routes in the report which covered all of London but pin pointed specific places were former tramway trunk routes other suggestions included the conversion of Heavy Rail (Main line Route) or the use of closed railways, others included whole or sections of new alignment. A previous report had been written in the 1970's looking at alternative public transport systems both reports including systems for Croydon. After a consultancy period in the early 1990's it was found there was enough public support for a modern Tramway (the difference between a Tramway and a Light Railway is looked at in the R.o.B Introduction to Tramways, the Croydon Tramway Act of 1994 Part IV section 49 clearly states that 'For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that Tramlink shall be deemed to be a tramway for the purposes of Part I of the Railways Act 1993' ). The tramway, the last to be opened under the Tramways Act of 1870, opened in May 2000 around 6 months after the original proposed opening. In the town centre the tramway runs on street following the Croydon Canal Branch of the SIR up Tamworth Road along which South Met trams also once ran as well as sections around West Croydon where Croydon Corporation trams around Station Road and also part of the Addiscombe branch to pass East Croydon station as well as new alignment on reserved track. Outside the town centre the tramway again runs over part of the SIR following most of the former WCR route which was closed in 1997 for the construction of the tramway, as well as part of the former Mid Kent extension between Elmer's End and Woodside the line to Addiscombe again closed in 1997 for the construction of the tramway the trams also following the former W&SCR alignment to Coombe Road. Upon completion it soon became a success and today averages between 55,000 and 65,000 passenger journeys a day with some journeys trams filled to capacity. This is not the end for Croydon's Railways and Tramway as proposals are underway for an extension of the Tramlink system to Crystal Palace expected to be completed by 2013. On the railway front London Overground is to also extend its services from Dalston Junction along the East London Line to Croydon by 2012 seeing Croydon connected directly to the north of the river and Richmond on the Waterloo to Windsor line forming an orbital route around the city.