St Johns railway station

Not to be confused with St. John's railway station on the Isle of Man.

St Johns

St Johns Location of St Johns in Greater London
Location	St Johns
Local authority	Lewisham
Managed by	Southeastern
Station code	SAJ
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	2
National Rail annual entry and exit
2004–05	0.255 million
2005–06	0.261 million
2006–07	0.479 million
2007–08	0.601 million
2008–09	0.585 million
2009–10	0.584 million
1 June 1873	Opened
Lists of stations	DLR · Underground · National Rail · Tramlink
External links	Departures • Layout
	Facilities • Buses

St Johns railway station is in the London Borough of Lewisham, in southeast London.

History

The station was opened in 1849 by the South Eastern Railway. In 1923 operation was taken over by the Southern Railway.

The line was electrified in the mid 1920s and electric services started operation in February 1926.

In 1948 operation of the station passed to British Railways

On 4 December 1957, two trains collided just southeast of the station on the main line (which bypasses Lewisham station), bringing down the Lewisham-Nunhead railway bridge and killing 90 people. Further disaster was averted as a train about to cross the bridge was halted by its driver.

In the mid 1970s the station was rebuilt when the down and up fast line island platform was closed and demolished. This provided space to build a new connecting line from the Lewisham-Nunhead line to the down and up fast lines.

Layout

There is no direct road access to the station, which is reached by a footbridge from St Johns Vale. There is a single island platform with two platform faces, on the slow lines - the fast lines diverge to avoid Lewisham just south of the station (although a flyover allows trains on the fast lines from Charing Cross, Waterloo East and London Bridge to serve Lewisham).

Before the flydown line was built there were platforms on the Fast Lines and a couple of sidings.

To the south end of the station the Greenwich Park branch crossed the station before closure in 1917 and the connection of this to the Lewisham line in 1929. The remains of an embankment can be seen on the eastern side of the line. There was a signal box at the south end of the station which closed and was demolished when the area was resignalled in the mid 1970s. The 'flydown' line was built at this time and commissioned into operation on 3 April 1976.

In the early 1990s the original bridge carrying St Johns Vale was demolished and replaced by a new bridge. This allowed the platforms to be extended towards New Cross to allow longer trains to call.

It is proposed to double the "flydown" line under the Thameslink Programme.

Services

A typical off-peak service from May 2010 is

• 6 tph (trains per hour) to London Cannon Street via London Bridge
• 2 tph to London Cannon Street Loop service via Sidcup, and return to London via Woolwich Arsenal and Greenwich
• 2 tph to Hayes (Kent) via Lewisham
• 2 tph to Orpington via Chislehurst

From December 2010 it is planned there will be two trains per hour to Barnehurst via Bexleyheath and additional two trains per hour to London Cannon Street.

In popular culture

The second episode of the 1979 LWT comedy series End of Part One includes the main characters watching a film called "The Life of Christopher Columbus". In the film, Columbus goes to a tube station and asks for a train to America, but is told he can only go as far as Catford. Part of a modified tube map is shown which shows the fictitious tube stations Lewisham, Ladywell, Edge of the World and Catford on the East London Section of the Metropolitan Line south from New Cross tube station. There is an actual part of the mainline Mid-Kent Railway that interchanges with New Cross tube station, and the stations are, southwards in order: St. John's, Lewisham, Ladywell and Catford Bridge (Catford on a different line interchanges with the latter).

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
New Cross		Southeastern London to Orpington, Hayes Line and Dartford Loop Line		Lewisham

External links

• Accident at Lewisham on 4th December 1957 (Summary)
• Report On The Collision That Occurred On 4th December, 1957 Near Lewisham In The Southern Region British Railways (2.2 Mb)

Railways around Lewisham and Hither Green
Legend South Eastern Main Line Docklands Light Railway St Johns To Nunhead Greenwich Park Branch Line Elverson Road Lewisham North Kent & Bexleyheath Lines Ladywell Hayes Line Hither Green Lee Dartford Loop Line South Eastern Main Line