West Croydon Station (WCY)

Address: London Road, Croydon, London, CR0 2TA
Opened: 5th June 1839
Station Code: WCY
Fare Zone: 5

London Overground Line(s) Served:

East London Line

Service Pattern(s):

4 trains per hour to Highbury & Islington

Interchange(s)

National Rail: Southern

Station History

Although there has been a station on the West Croydon site for over 180 years, it was opened for a different mode of transport.

Opening in 1809, the site was originally constructed as the terminal basin for the Croydon Canal, although it did have a rail connection to the Surrey Iron Railway. However, by 1835 the canal was on the verge of bankruptcy and was included in a proposal to build a new railway line linking Croydon and London.

In 1836 the canal was finally closed and the basin, along with the alignment, was drained and filled in. This allowed the London & Croydon Railway to commence construction of its line with completion achieved, and a station then named ‘Croydon’ constructed on the site of the canal basin opening on 5th June 1839.

A fire in the station’s lamp room led to the building becoming severely damaged on 23 September 1846. This led to the entire structure being demolished and rebuilt. This rebuild was followed in 1851 by renaming to West Croydon to avoid confusion with the nearby Croydon Station, opened on their line by the London & Brighton Railway on 12 July 1841.

Services through the station were enhanced on 22nd October 1855 with the opening of the Wimbledon and Croydon Railway‘s line along part of the former Surrey Iron Railway trackbed.

As a result of its poor financial performance the London & Croydon Railway was amalgamated with several others to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway on 27th February 1846.

With the Railways Act 1921 passing, the London, Brighton and South Coast was absorbed into the new Southern Railway on 1st January 1923.

The 1930s saw a major redevelopment of the station with the original buildings being closed and a new ticket office constructed as part of a parade of shops on nearby London Road. The original buildings in Station Road were retained and later converted to retail use.

Following the cessation of World War II, the UK Railways were Nationalised, with the Southern Railway becoming the Southern Region of British Railways on 1st January 1948.

Very little of note occurred in the following decades until 1982, when the Southern Region of British Railways was sectorised and became the London & South Eastern sector, and later renamed to Network Southeast on 10 June 1986.

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.

Services from the station declined when the Wimbledon to West Croydon line was closed on 31st May 1997 to allow conversion for use by the Croydon Tramlink. Although the track was lifted, Platform 2 remained in situ.

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.

Under Govia, a major station remodelling was undertaken to facilitate the arrival of an extended East London Line. These works saw platform 2 removed and built over to allow the extension of platform 3.

The final management change thus far happened on 27th April 2010 when London Overground assumed operation of the new East London Line, although services did not commence until the 23rd May.

Passenger access was improved by the new company when a new entrance (located next to the original one) was opened on Station Road, allowing better access from the adjacent bus station and tram stops.