The Branch
The First railway to Bromley was the LCDR to Bromley South in 1858, services to London were provided and they were much improved on the previous coach services, however when the railway direct to Victoria was built in 1863 the railway became something of a mainline into Kent and LCDR reduced services to Bromley South eventually to very little. This made the Bromley Townspeople very angry and a meeting was held in 1863 to discuss the idea of building a railway to link with the SER mainline. There were some ambitious ideas of including a tunnel through Bromley town centre linking to the LCDR at Shortlands! Eventually in 1874 a simple branch was given permission, and the BDR (Bromley Direct Railway) was formed. The railway was built and opened on 1st January 1878, after about a year the BDR became part of the SER due to an argument with contractors. The railway was electrified and refurbished in 1923- 26 by the Southern Railway. Originally the railway had through services to London ,The quickest ever service to the centre being the non-stop Bromley North- Cannon Street which took just 21 minutes. Since then the service has been gradually degraded to what it is today- two trains per hour shuttle (recently 3 tph) to Grove Park (known as the 'popper') in each direction and no service Sunday. In the peaks the two carriage class 466 which is used is overcrowded but is less than half full off peak. In some rare occasions a four car 465 is used or as I once witnessed, two 466 units coupled together! Odd, as they were built to be used as two car trains (and coupled to a 465 on the mainline) and were more economic that way. Although the service pattern has got worse, the branches future has got better as it was uncertain and threatened with closure from the 70's even as far as 2000, when Connex southeastern tried close the line by running unreliable services (frequently replacement bus) and thus repelling the passengers. However, passenger numbers are now rising so I don't think the 'Popper' will be stopping anytime soon.
The Future
Two schemes (very much in the pipeline at the moment) plan to utilise the branch's infrastructure to a great extent than the present 'Popper.'
One is the
Bakerloo Line
It is suggested that instead of using the hayes line as the southern end of the extended bakerloo, the branch should be used instead because the branch would gain a direct Central London service wheras the Hayes line already has one.
The proposed route would either have to run across the SER mainline or under a costly tunnel.
One is the
Bakerloo Line
It is suggested that instead of using the hayes line as the southern end of the extended bakerloo, the branch should be used instead because the branch would gain a direct Central London service wheras the Hayes line already has one.
The proposed route would either have to run across the SER mainline or under a costly tunnel.
Docklands Light Railway
The Bromley Extension of the DLR has had some publicity of late, with Boris Johnson promoting it breifly in his 2020 vision for London. The line would run south from Lewisham most probably in a tunnell all the way to Grove Park. Then onto the branch, taking over the infrastructure. Canary Wharf is quoted as being 25 minutes away and the scheme has been estimated to cost £800m. Bromley is at present poorly connected to the Docklands and this extension would dramatically improve the borough's links to this international financial centre. The branch's present users who work in The City would be better off with a higher frequency (the Lewisham-Bank route ranges from every 4 minutes to every 10 minutes and a every 12 minute Lewisham- Stratford service operates in the morning peak.)
The scheme is threatened by Lewisham Council's plans for the land immediately south of Lewisham DLR Station.
You can sign a petition calling for the extension of the DLR to Bromley on the link http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/eextend-dlr-line-to-bromley
The Bromley Extension of the DLR has had some publicity of late, with Boris Johnson promoting it breifly in his 2020 vision for London. The line would run south from Lewisham most probably in a tunnell all the way to Grove Park. Then onto the branch, taking over the infrastructure. Canary Wharf is quoted as being 25 minutes away and the scheme has been estimated to cost £800m. Bromley is at present poorly connected to the Docklands and this extension would dramatically improve the borough's links to this international financial centre. The branch's present users who work in The City would be better off with a higher frequency (the Lewisham-Bank route ranges from every 4 minutes to every 10 minutes and a every 12 minute Lewisham- Stratford service operates in the morning peak.)
The scheme is threatened by Lewisham Council's plans for the land immediately south of Lewisham DLR Station.
You can sign a petition calling for the extension of the DLR to Bromley on the link http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/eextend-dlr-line-to-bromley
A New Station at Burnt Ash?
Whether DLR, Bakerloo or Tramlink a new stop in the Burnt Ash area between Sundridge Park and Grove Park has been proposed as part of a scheme which takes over the branch.
A Video of the Bromley North Grove park run made by a friend of mine, Jeremy
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