Penge West railway station

Penge West
Penge West Location of Penge West in Greater London
Location	Penge
Local authority	London Borough of Bromley
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Network Rail
Station code(s)	PNW
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	2 (facing 4 tracks)
Accessible	Yes (Northbound only)
Fare zone	4
OSI	Penge East
National Rail annual entry and exit
2019–20	0.653 million
2020–21	0.218 million
2021–22	0.483 million
2022–23	0.609 million
2023–24	0.648 million
Key dates
1839	Station Opened
1841	Closed
1 July 1863	Re-opened
Other information
External links	Departures Facilities
Coordinates	51.4174°N 0.0648°W / 51.4174; -0.0648
London transport portal

Penge West railway station is located in Penge, a district of the London Borough of Bromley in south London. The station is operated by London Overground, with Overground and Southern trains serving the station. Thameslink and some Southern services pass through the station. It is 7 miles 15 chains (7.19 miles, 11.57 km) down the line from London Bridge, in Travelcard Zone 4.

Penge East station is a short walk away and has services to London Victoria, Bromley South and Orpington. Crystal Palace station is also within walking distance and has regular trains to London Bridge.

Penge West station forms part of the new southbound route of the London Overground East London line that opened on 23 May 2010.

Penge West station provides convenient access to The Dinosaur Park via the south gate of the Crystal Palace Park.

History

A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines around the Brighton Main Line between South Croydon and Selhurst / Forest Hill, as well as surrounding lines

The original Penge station was opened by the London and Croydon Railway in 1839, probably more for logistical reasons than anything else: the railway crossed the nearby High Street by a level crossing, and the station would have provided a place for trains to wait while the crossing gates were opened for them. The population of Penge was only around 270 at this time, not enough to make the station commercially viable. It was closed in 1841, and the level crossing was converted to a bridge soon afterwards. The entrance to the station was actually on Penge High Street, and not its current position. Evidence of the original entrances can still be seen in the brickwork on either side of the bridge as the track passes over the road.

By the early 1860s, Penge's population had risen to over 5,000 - more than eighteen times its level just twenty years earlier. There was also a demand for improved transport to the Crystal Palace nearby, so the station was reopened by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway on 1 July 1863. This was the same day that the London, Chatham and Dover Railway opened its own Penge Lane station on its line to London Victoria. Following the 1923 Grouping of railway companies, the two stations were renamed Penge West, and Penge East by the Southern Railway on 9 July 1923.

A large building on the down platform served as a ticket office and goods office and included the waiting room and Station Master's office. A wide road from the corner of Oakfield Road and Penge High Street provided access to these buildings and sidings which served a coal yard and timber yard on the site of the old brickfield. The sidings were removed, the buildings demolished and the access road closed when the land was sold for the construction of a Homebase store. Since then access to the down platform has been via a footbridge from the up platform. Previously the only passenger access between the two platforms was via Penge High Street.

The 1863 station building serving the Up platform remained in use until April 2005 when it was damaged in a fire set by arsonists. After a period of limited station facilities, reconstruction work commenced in the summer of 2006 and was completed in December that year.

Services

East London Line
London Overground
Highbury & Islington Canonbury Dalston Junction Haggerston Kingsland Viaduct Hoxton Shoreditch High Street Whitechapel Shadwell ( Shadwell) Wapping Thames Tunnel under River Thames Rotherhithe Canada Water Surrey Quays Queens Road Peckham New Cross Peckham Rye New Cross Gate Denmark Hill Brockley Clapham High Street ( Clapham North) Honor Oak Park Wandsworth Road Forest Hill Clapham Junction Sydenham Crystal Palace Penge West Anerley Norwood Junction West Croydon

Off-peak, all services at Penge West are operated by London Overground using Class 378 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

• 4 tph to Highbury & Islington via Surrey Quays
• 4 tph to West Croydon

The station is also served by a limited Southern service of one train per day to London Bridge and two trains per day to East Croydon, one of which continues to Tattenham Corner and Caterham. All day off-peak services to London Bridge were axed in September 2022. These services are operated using Class 377 EMUs.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Sydenham		Southern Brighton Main Line Stopping Services Limited Service		Anerley
Preceding station	London Overground			Following station
Sydenham towards Highbury & Islington		Windrush line East London line		Anerley towards West Croydon

Connections

London Buses routes 176, 197 and 227 stop near the station, while the Bromley-bound 354 stops directly outside the station entrance on Anerley Park.

The station is also a short 9 minuite walk from Penge East station for Southeastern services.

External links

• Train times and station information for Penge West railway station from National Rail
• A Penge Walk starting at Penge West station