West Croydon station is a transport interchange for
National Rail and Tramlink services and London Buses. It is in the London
Borough of Croydon and Travelcard Zone 5. The East London line, part of
London Overground, was extended to the station on 23 May 2010.
Railway station:
The main entrance to West Croydon station is on London Road, a short
distance from the main shopping area. There are ticket barriers protecting
the platforms. Trains run to London Victoria, London Bridge, Highbury &
Islington, and Sutton and from there to west Surrey and West Sussex.
By December 2009 station remodelling work and track laying as part of the
southern extension of the East London Line, for which West Croydon is the
terminus, was completed. The space occupied by former bay platform 2, out of
use since the Wimbledon service was withdrawn in 1997 and replaced by
Tramlink in 2000, has been utilised to extend platform 3, the London-bound
platform. Bay platform 1 has been retained.
In April 2012, a new entrance was constructed in Station Road, allowing
direct access to the railway station from the adjacent bus and tram stops
Bus station and tram stop:
A short distance from the main entrance is Station Road, where West Croydon
bus station and tram stop are located. The tram stop is next to, but was for
a long time physically separate from the rail platforms, until the
construction of the new entrance. All Tramlink routes use West Croydon,
which is a single platform stop on the unidirectional loop around central
Croydon.
The bus station is a hub for London Buses, with a total of 19 routes either
terminating or passing through.
History:
From 1809 to 1836 the site of the station was the terminal basin of the
Croydon Canal. The canal was drained and became part of the route of the
London & Croydon Railway, opening on 5 June 1839. In 1845 the L&C
inaugurated the atmospheric system of propulsion; it worked for about a year
but was not successful. The station was originally named Croydon; in April
1851 it became West Croydon.
The canal basin was served by a short private branch from the terminus of
the Surrey Iron Railway (SIR) at Pitlake. From 1855 the station was the
terminus of the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line, which followed much of the
route of the SIR. This line closed on 31 May 1997, to be replaced by
Tramlink. Platform 2, the terminal bay for the Wimbledon line, was trackless
until 2008. Very little remains of this platform apart from a little section
at the western end, as most of it was filled in to extend platform 3 to
allow trains to stop closer to the stairs.
A sad event occurred here in 1912 when the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
(1875–1912), resident of Croydon, collapsed from overwork and pneumonia,
dying a few days later.
During the 1930s the station saw major alterations and reconstruction. A new
ticket office was built fronting on to London Road. The original station
buildings, ticket office and entrance in Station Road were closed and are
still standing, converted to a shop.