Wandsworth Road Station (WWR)

Address: Brayburne Avenue, Wandsworth, London SW4 6AD
Opened: 1st March 1863
Station Code: WWR
Fare Zone: 2

London Overground Line(s) Served:

East London Line

Service Pattern(s):

4 trains per hour to Dalston Junction
4 trains per hour to Clapham Junction

Interchange(s)

None

Station History

Although the London, Chatham and Dover Railway had laid their new line from Victoria to Herne Hill through the area, opening on 25th August 1862, a station was not opened at Wandsworth Road until 1st March 1863.

Just three years later, on 1st May 1866, the station was expanded with a further three platforms due to the LC&DR opening another new route through the area, running from Factory Junction to Brixton.

Following the construction of the South London Line by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, the LC&DR leased the original two tracks and their associated platforms to the LB&SCR on 1st May 1867 for use with these services.

From 1899, the London, Chatham & Dover was amalgamated with other companies to form the South Eastern and Chatham Railway, with services being run by the new entity.

The LB&SCR had received Royal Assent for the electrification of its entire network in 1903, with the South London Line being the first recipient of overhead wires and the system was installed at Wandsworth Road.

South Eastern and Chatham Railway services lasted until 3rd April 1916 when the SE&CR withdrew from the station and the three platforms dating from 1866 were closed, finally being demolished in the late 1920s.

With the passing of The Railways Act 1921, the LB&SCR and SE&CR were amalgamated with other railways to form the Southern Railway on 1st January 1923.

Under the new company, electrification works were carried out on the former SE&CR lines, going live in 1925. This was followed on 9th August 1926 with the announcement that the overhead electrification of the South London Line would be converted to third rail. The conversion works were carried out and the first train ran on 30th September 1929.

Nationalisation of the railways as a result of the Transport Act 1947 saw Southern Railway services become British Railways Southern Region on 1st January 1948.

Nothing of any note occurred at the station in the following decades until, as a result of sectorisation, the former Southern Region services were assumed by the London & Southeast business sector in 1982, becoming Network Southeast in 1986.

Under Network Southeast, the first major works at the station since the 1920s were undertaken when the subway between the platforms was filled in and a footbridge, previously used at Mitcham, was installed in November 1988.

Privatisation of the Railways following the Railways Act 1993 saw the station and its lines franchised to Connex, who operated them under their South Central subsidiary. A further management change occurred on 26th August 2001, when the new franchisee of the line Govia bought out the remaining two years of the Connex agreement to assume services early.

The final chapter in the station’s history thus far came on the 8th December 2012 when the final Southern service on the South London Line ran. The following day, services were commenced by London Overground between Dalston Junction and Clapham Junction via Surrey Quays.