Origins map showing Crystal Palace (High Level) station (here called
Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood) In 1860 the LCDR had a route from to
Victoria via the existing Crystal Palace station (later known as "Low Level"), but this was owned and operated by the rival
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR). To capture traffic from the LBSCR the LCDR promoted the CPSLJR to construct a branch from on the
South London Line via
Nunhead to a new terminal station above the Crystal Palace park. The line, and the terminus only, opened on 1 August 1865. It was on the southern boundary of the
Hamlet of Dulwich division of the ancient Civil Parish of Camberwell St. Giles.
Features The station was designed by
Edward Middleton Barry. as a lavish red brick and buff
terra cotta building. It was excavated into the ridge below Crystal Palace Parade, approached from the north through the Paxton Tunnel, requiring major engineering works. There were subway exits leading under Crystal Palace Parade into
Crystal Palace Park, linking the station directly with the palace. The subway was a vaulted and tiled chamber resembling a Byzantine crypt; it was designed and built by cathedral craftsmen from Italy. The building was a fine example of High Victorian architecture with high brick side- and end-walls and a glass and iron trainshed roof. It had square towers at each corner, each topped with four short spires, and passenger concourses above the tracks at each end with booking offices, refreshment rooms and waiting rooms. One half of the station was intended for first class passengers, who were given segregated access via the subway into the central transept of the palace. The trainshed was divided lengthways into two cavernous spaces separated by a brick-arch arcade, each side having two tracks with wooden platforms. The inner track on each side had two platform faces to support mass arrivals. At the exit from the tunnel the two running lines fanned out into four platform tracks, with eight sidings and a long headshunt on the right and two more sidings on the left. In addition to the usual coal depot, the sidings provided stabling for spare engines and coaching stock to handle the expected surges of traffic during big events. The platform roads entered the north end of the trainshed via separate portals. At the south end, instead of a typical arrangement of buffers and engine release roads the four platform tracks passed through a second set of apertures to a turntable, allowing for fast turning of engines to run round their coaches.
Decline and closure 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. But 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 with the branch on 20 September 1954, although it was not demolished until 1961.
Surviving structures 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. The brickwork fits exactly although the ground level is raised. The subway and its adjacent courtyard survived the 1936 fire and was used as an
air raid shelter during World War II. It is now
Grade II* listed. Although the subway is sealed off, it hosts occasional events and is sometimes opened to allow organised visits by the Friends of Crystal Palace Subway. Southwark Model Railway Club have built a scale model of the station. == The "train entombed in the tunnel" myth ==