Penge West railway station

Infobox London station
name = Penge West


caption = The white building on the left is the original 1839 station building and level-crossing gatekeeper's cottage, now a private house. The main structure was built for the 1863 re-opening. This picture was taken before restoration work.
manager =Southern
zone = 4
locale = Penge
borough = London Borough of Bromley
years = 1839
1841
1863
events = opened
closed
re-opened
platforms = 2
railexits0405 = 0.247
railexits0506 = 0.271
railexits0607 = 0.195
railcode = PNW

Penge West railway station is in the London Borough of Bromley in south London. It is in Travelcard Zone 4, and the station and all trains are operated by Southern.

Penge East station is a short walk away and has services to London Victoria. Crystal Palace station is also within walking distance and has more frequent trains to London Bridge.

Penge West will form part of the new southbound route of the London Overground (currently the East London Line) that is due to open in 2010.

History

Penge West station was originally opened in 1839, probably more for logistical reasons than anything else: the railway crossed the nearby High Street by a level crossing, and the station would have provided a place for trains to wait while the crossing gates were opened for them. The population of Penge was only around 270 at this time, not enough to make the station commercially viable. It was closed in 1841, and the level crossing was converted to a bridge soon afterwards. The entrance to the station was actually on Penge High Street, and not its current position. Evidence of the original entrances can still be seen in the brickwork on either side of the bridge as the track passes over the road.

By the early 1860s, Penge's population had risen to over 5,000 - more than eighteen times its level just twenty years earlier. There was also a demand for improved transport to the Crystal Palace nearby, so the station was reopened in 1863. The new station building, built for the reopening, remained in use until April 2005 [cite web|title=Southern Railway: Penge West station information|url=http://www.southernrailway.com/stations.php?crs=PNW] [cite web|title=Bromley Borough Liberal Democrats: Penge West station|url=http://bromleylibdems.org.uk/news/000192.html?PHPSESSID=801ceb21] when it was burnt down by arsonists. After a period of limited station facilities, reconstruction work commenced in the Summer of 2006 and was completed in December 2006. The station ticket office is now open weekdays during the morning peak rush hour until 11am. It seems a lot of care and effort has been taken to make the reconstructed ticket office look much like the original Victorian ticket office from when the station building was first opened.

A large building on the down platform served as a ticket office and goods office and included the Station Master's office. A wide road from the corner of Oakfield Road and Penge High Street provided access to these buildings and sidings which served a coal yard and timber yard on the site of the old brickfield. The sidings were removed, the buildings demolished and the access road closed when the land was sold for the construction of a Homebase store. Since then access to the down platform has been via a footbridge from the up platform. Previously the only passenger access between the two platforms was via Penge High Street.

Services

The typical off-peak service is two trains an hour northbound to London Bridge and two trains an hour southbound to Sutton. Caterham trains stop at pek times only. In the early morning and late evening some northbound services are extended to and depart from Charing Cross railway station. When travelling southbound these trains provide a direct service to East Croydon also some trains to Sutton are extended to Guildford & Dorking..

Arrangement after East London Railway extension opens

References

External links

* [http://www.london-footprints.co.uk/wkpengeroute.htm A Penge Walk] starting at Penge West station