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Notes: The London & Greenwich Railway obtained an Act of Parliament on 17th May 1833 to build a line between London Bridge and Greenwich. For much of its length the line would run on a four mile long viaduct.
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The London & Greenwich Railway opened on 8 February 1836 between Spa Road and Deptford. Spa Road was a temporary terminus during the completion of London Bridge Station with the line being extended into the new terminus on December 14, 1836. The line was further extended southwards to its final destination at Greenwich on 12 April 1840. The railway was |
was planned with extensions in mind and the line into London Bridge was used by other companies as a route into London, these included the London & Croydon in 1839 and the London & Brighton in 1841 and the South Eastern Railway in 1842.
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With so many trains using the line it was clear that the existing viaduct could not handle the increasing volume of traffic. The London & Greenwich Act of 1840 authorised the addition of two extra tracks which involved widening the viaduct. To help cover the cost of the cost increased tolls which forced the Croydon and South Eastern companies to consider building a rival terminus at Bricklayers Arms to avoid the Greenwich viaduct. To counter this, the Greenwich company agreed to lease their line to the South Eastern under an Act of 1845.
The viaduct was eventually widened in stages from two tracks to 11 tracks between London Bridge and Spa Road and 12 tracks south |
of Spa Road. The first widening to four tracks was completed in 1842 with the final widening coming at the turn of the century.
The original station at Spa Road was a very basic structure adjoining what is now Rouel Road. It consisted of two short narrow wooden platforms connected to a timber booking office at street level by a flimsy stairway. The station was, in fact, the first London terminus albeit for less than a year. With the opening of London Bridge, the station only saw very light passenger traffic and was closed in about December 1838. It was refurbished and reopened on 30th October 1842 with further rebuilding taking place in 1845 when the station was reduced to a single island platform.
| On 1st September 1872 the station was resited 200 yards to the east with its entrance under the arches in Priter Way. The station had two island platforms but failed to attract passengers from trams and busses. The station was renamed Spa Road & Bermondsey in October 1877. Spa Road was closed as a war time economy measure due to staff shortages on 15th March 1915 and it never reopened. The station was however used by railwaymen until 21st September 1925 and access through the old booking office is still maintained for railway maintenance |
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and emergency egress; the station was used to evacuate survivors after a train crash on 8th Jan 1999.
Source: London's Railways by Edwin Course - published by Batsford 1962
Forgotten Stations of Greater London by J.E.Connor and B.L.Halford - published by Connor and Butler ISBN 0974699 17 1
Tickets from Brian Halford - Other web sites: Abandoned Tube Stations |
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