Brixton railway station

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Template other Brixton railway station is a commuter railway station in Brixton, South London, UK. It is on the Chatham Main Line, down the line from Template:Stn. Trains are operated by Southeastern. The typical service is one train every 15 minutes in both directions, from Victoria to Orpington via Bromley South.

It is about north of Brixton Underground station, high above ground level on a railway bridge that can be seen from the tube station. Access is from Atlantic Road via staircases. It is also a busy junction, with the Catford Loop via Template:Rws and Template:Rws leaving the Chatham Main Line immediately west of the station, though there are currently only platforms on the Chatham Main Line. The South London line crosses above the east end of the platforms, without stopping nearby.

History

File:Brixton Station (Main line) 1910233.jpg

Brixton main line station in 1960

Brixton was opened as Brixton and South Stockwell on 25 August 1862 by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) to serve the affluent Victorian suburbs of South London. The initial service ran between Victoria and Herne Hill. Service was extended to a temporary terminus at Elephant and Castle on 6 October 1862 via a reversing move at Herne Hill. From 1 May 1863 services ran directly from Brixton to Camberwell via a curve at Loughborough Junction. Services were extended from Elephant and Castle to Blackfriars on 1 June 1894.

Services ran from Moorgate to London Victoria via Snow Hill (Holborn Viaduct), Camberwell New Road and Brixton and South Stockwell to Grosvenor Road, following the opening of the link northeastwards to Template:Rws via Template:Rws in 1864. The station was also connected to the LC&DR's branch to Template:Rws via Template:Rws soon afterwards, with this section (via Template:Rws) becoming part of the modern-day Catford Loop Line.

The station is currently served only by trains on the main line towards Herne Hill. The Denmark Hill line platforms were closed in April 1916 as a wartime economy measure and have been demolished except for a short section of the up platform. However, the line itself remains in regular and frequent use by both freight and passenger services.

Services

All services at Brixton are operated by Southeastern using Template:Brc and Template:Brc EMUs.

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

• 4 tph to Template:Stn
• 4 tph to Orpington via Bromley South

On weekends, the service is reduced to two trains per hour in each direction.

Preceding station	National Rail National Rail			Following station
London Victoria		Southeastern Template:Smalldiv		Herne Hill
	Historical railways
Clapham High Street Template:Smalldiv		<div style="height:8px; background-color:#; color:inherit; border:none; margin:0 -5px -2px;">		Loughborough Junction Template:Smalldiv
		<div style="height:8px; background-color:#; color:inherit; border:none; margin:0 -5px -2px;">		Denmark Hill Template:Smalldiv

Future Proposals

File:Brixton rail lines.png

Map of rail & tube lines passing through Brixton, showing the location of Brixton station and the London Overground through route

File:Brixton Railway Bridge, Brixton Road SW9 - geograph.org.uk - 1244247.jpg

One of the high rail bridges above Brixton

The London Overground network passes above the station without stopping. This segment of the South London Line became part of the network as the second phase of the East London line extension project. Completed in December 2012, the extension connected the South London Line to the East and West London Lines, from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction.

The line also passes through Loughborough Junction. Adding both stations to the route was excluded from the plan due to the prohibitive cost of building on the high viaducts at each location. The proposals drew criticism for not including new interchange stations at these locations. Until 1976 trains stopped at nearby Template:Rws. It has been proposed that this disused station could be reopened instead as the site is close to both Brixton and Loughborough Junction.

Artworks

A number of colourful murals have been painted on the outside of the station. Inside the station, three bronze sculptures stand on the platforms. This work, Platforms Piece by Kevin Atherton, was erected in 1986 and the statues are life casts of three people - two black, one white - who regularly travelled from Brixton. The statues, believed to be the first sculptures of black British people in a public place in the UK, were given Grade II listed status in November 2016.

Gallery

• Southeastern branded signs
  Southeastern branded signs
• Woman waiting at Brixton
  Woman waiting at Brixton
• Her male counterpart
  Her male counterpart
• The Mural
  The Mural
• North entrance, cáfe closed
  North entrance, cáfe closed
• Networkers work the local trains.
  Networkers work the local trains.
• Disused platform linking to the Catford Loop Line, with third statue
  Disused platform linking to the Catford Loop Line, with third statue
• A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines through Brixton
  A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines through Brixton

Connections

Template:Metropolitan Extensions RDT London Buses routes 2, 3, 35, 37 (at Lambeth Town Hall); 45, 59, 109, 118, 133, 159, 196, 250, 322, 333, 345 (at Brixton Police Station), 355, 415, 432, 689, 690, P4, P5 and night routes N2, N3, N35, N109 and N133 serve the station.

See also

• Murder of Deborah Linsley – unsolved 1988 murder of a woman that occurred on a train travelling between Brixton and London Victoria

External links

• Train times and station information for Brixton railway station from National Rail