(train rumbles)
That Thameslink train has just left Nunhead heading south,
next stop, Crofton Park.
I'm at a point, St. Asaph Road, just near Nunhead.
This junction, there's this bridge.
The bridge goes over the current Thameslink tracks,
but there's an old spur off here,
and you can see, and we'll go to the Google 3D view maps,
early already, where there's a second archway on this bridge
because the second set of tracks came off at this point
and headed south towards Crystal Palace,
Crystal Palace High-Level Station.
(birds chirping)
You may think that the sprawling network
of railways in suburban South London
is already quite extensive,
but there used to be another line in here
mixing it up amongst them.
This is the Crystal Palace in South London Junction Railway
that opened in 1865 to serve the Crystal Palace Exhibition
that had moved here from Hyde Park.
Initially, just the new Crystal Palace High-Level Station
was on the branch, but intermediate stations
soon followed.
The Crystal Palace Exhibition itself
was then later destroyed by fire in 1936.
And when it did, passenger usage on the line
started to decline.
Damage to the line in the 1940s during World War II
took its toll in terms of cost.
And after continuing passenger decline,
the line eventually closed in 1954.
But with two tunnels still intact on the line,
there's loads left that you can see today.
You can follow the alignment of the old railway perfectly
by starting at Bessingham Walk where there's new housing
with this long pathway down the middle
that is exactly where the tracks used to be.
The best bit here, though, is that where the line
used to cross over at Brockley Way,
part of the old bridge abutment
is still in place on one side,
whilst you can clearly see
the raised embankment on the other.
(bus roars past)
There's a raised embankment too
further down the line on Kelvington Road,
That's the next very walkable part of the old line
which is very green and very lovely.
So I'm walking through Brenchley Gardens,
the road is there, One Tree Hill, actually,
famous little viewpoint in London just up there,
but I'm walking along the path
of the old alignment here.
And that will bring me out to Honor Oak Station.
Honor Oak Station was just off of Forest Hill Road
and grabbed the name Honor Oak several years
before a competitive railway also built a station
in the area on their line,
meaning that they had to call their's something else
and went with Honor Oak Park,
the name you'll be familiar with
as it's the one that survives today.
So that location there, there was a bridge across the road
which carried the railway.
And the site of Honor Oak station was here.
It's now just an extremely modern-build housing estate,
no remains whatsoever.
There's a geocache, though, nearby that suggests
that the old station master's house was nearby
on the adjacent road, but I've never been able to find it.
So we'll go to the next stop, which is Lordship Lane.
And, at that point, things get exciting
as we discover some old tunnels.
The Horniman Museum is the next place to go
where the line has very much been turned
into a nature trail, which you can walk along.
So we're at Forest Hill, the Horniman Museum,
which is just there.
It's called Forest Hill 'cause it's on a hill
and there is a magnificent view of the city from the top
if you go into the museum,
but by the side of the museum is the Horniman nature trail.
And, as you can see here, this is the foot path,
the alignment of the railway.
It's marked on the map as well,
at the end of which we get to the main road again.
And that's where Lordship Lane Station was,
nothing there at all,
but then it gets exciting as we head into the woods.
Sydenham Hill Woods, to be precise.
And you might've been expecting here a view
from the bridge that are in these woods
that used to go over the railway.
It's where impressionist painter, Camille Pissarro,
once painted a famous view of Lordship Lane Station.
However, the bridge is currently closed for maintenance,
so you can't get onto it anymore.
But don't worry, there is a brilliant thing to see here.
In fact, it's the first of four of them.
What is it, Geoff?
It's a tunnel.
This is the northern portal of Crescent Wood Tunnel,
one of two tunnels that was constructed
to allow the railway to be built through here.
Both tunnels are nowadays fenced off with no access inside,
but it's nice to be able to get up close to the entrances.
In a future video in this series,
we'll see how the tunnels on the Parkland Walk Railway
have been turned over to be bat sanctuaries.
That's not the case here
despite what the graffiti might suggest.
In fact, we saw a different type of wildlife altogether.
So this is Upper Sydenham Station, which is next.
And, yes, the original building
that was the ticket office is still here.
There's lots more to see along with some original steps
and even parts of the platform
down at the track level down below.
To get there, you walk down the path
and that takes you down to this side of the tunnel portal.
So we've come to the other side.
Upper Sydenham Station is that building up above us.
This is the tunnel, we're at the northern portal
of the Crescent Wood Tunnel.
This is now the southern portal of the Crescent Wood Tunnel.
There are two tunnels on this stretch.
We're about to get to the Paxton Tunnel,
which is the one you get to immediately coming in
or out of Crystal Palace High-Level Station.
I kind of prefer this one
'cause you can get to both sides of these,
and you can peer in and see what's inside as well.
(birds chirping)
Now, follow the path and walk south from here
and you'll get to High Level Drive.
Hang on - High Level - is that a nod to the name
of the Crystal Palace Station, perhaps?
You're heading for the northern portal of the Paxton Tunnel,
but before you get there, you pass ... this!
Yes, this innocuous concrete structure
is actually a vent on the Bromley to Victoria line,
which parted beneath your feet at this point
in its own separate tunnel.
(gate screeching)
But we're after our tunnel.
And to see it, you get to this playground area here
with a fence, which you have to peer through.
Ah, and there it is.
It's the northern portal of the Paxton Tunnel,
on the other side of which, is Crystal Palace.
I quite often drop to Google Maps 3D view
to show you an overhead view to show the footprint
of where an old station was.
I don't need to do this here
because you can very clearly see in real life
from this over bridge above,
down in this cutting, in this area,
this whole huge area that's now been built in
is the footprint of the original
Crystal Palace High-Level Station.
If you walk down to the bottom,
you get to this long wall.
It's an absolute original
and it's amazing that you can get right up close to it.
At the end of the road,
very much in the shadow of Crystal Palace transmitter
is the portal to the Paxton Tunnel.
This is where trains would have immediately entered
upon departing the station.
And then just before we go,
a final thought from me on abandoned railways.
That is the end of this episode of London's Lost Railways.
Yes, I'm back in the woods because it's more scenic here.
There is a playlist, subscribe, all that good stuff,
if you're enjoying the series so far.
A lot of people have said to me in the comments,
Geoff, are you going to do some more abandoned railways
outside of London?
I'm not, and here's why.
Because there's already a channel that does it.
Paul and Rebecca Whitewick here are making videos
as they visit every abandoned line and station
in the whole country.
And you should check out their channel
if that's what you like.
In fact, here they are to introduce themselves.
- Okay, thank you, so that is us,
Paul and Rebecca Whitewick.
You can subscribe to our channel.
Big thanks to Geoff and Vicky for having us along today.
And, obviously, giving us a little bit promo there.
That's exactly what we do.
We cover old, lost railways, abandoned railways,
old canals, old roads and old routes,
mainly railways, though, so-- - All over the country.
- Indeed, all over the country.
- [Geoff] Go over to their channel now
to watch their video of the day
of the Crystal Palace High-Level Railway
and press subscribe whilst you're there too.
And don't forget to watch the whole playlist here
on my channel for every episode of London's Lost Railways.
There's still a couple more to come.