The RCTS ‘London River Rail Tour’

The notes of Leslie R Freeman transport us back to 29 March 1958 for rare passenger journeys along the Deptford Wharf, Bricklayers Arms and Angerstein Wharf branches. All photographs and the diary notes appear courtesy of Transport Treasury.

The diary notes of Leslie R Freeman take us back to 29 March 1958 for rare passenger journeys along the Deptford Wharf, Bricklayers Arms and Angerstein Wharf branches.

This intriguing Railway Correspondence & Travel Society (London Branch) tour had start and end points less than a mile apart but on either side of the River Thames. It took in three branches – two of which had probably never seen a passenger train – and covered around 24 miles, starting off, promptly, from London Bridge station at 2.03pm and terminating at Liverpool Street just 3 hours 21 minutes later. The motive power for most of the trip was Gillingham-allocated ex-South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SE&CR) Wainwright ‘H’ class 0-4-4T No 31518 of July 1909, which pushed or propelled the train over all three branches, the stock being a former SE&CR two-coach push-pull set, but with one additional non-corridor suburban coach, making an unusual three-coach formation.

A goodly company of RCTS members had filled the coaches by the time we commenced the tour, indeed a subsequent report in the Railway Observer (RO) noted that the tour was ‘filled to capacity’, with the first leg running the 2¾ miles as far as New Cross Gate. This was the location of the first of no less than eight ‘reversals’. As with many of the tours of this era, an itinerary was published. The cover text summarised the route as London Bridge-Deptford Wharf-Bricklayers Arms-New Cross-Angerstein Wharf-St John’s -Surrey Docks-Liverpool Street, and then a map and historical overview filled two pages, much of the backdrop provided by the latter being quoted within the narrative here. On that note, we gain a deeper perspective on the starting point.

‘This tour starts from London’s first station at London Bridge which has developed from the simple two-road terminal of 1836, to the present complicated establishment with its 22 platforms divided between two terminals and a through station. We traverse Bermondsey on the route of the old London & Greenwich Railway, whose viaduct has been progressively widened so that south of Spa Road it now carries 12 running roads. At Corbetts Lane Junction, site of what was probably the first signal box, we diverge on to the line of the London & Croydon Railway of 1839.’ The latter concern was one of the components that made up the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) from 1846.

Known for its LB&SCR engine shed – see Steam Days August 2017 – the once busy running sheds just north of New Cross Gate station were noted on the day of the rail tour as ‘demolished’. After a five-minute stop at the station, No 31518 propelled the train to Deptford Wharf via the spur on the down side and the unique lift bridge over the Surrey Canal. The accompanying Railway Clearing House junction diagram shows all routes taken by the tour up to 3.45pm, as well as part of the concluding leg to the Eastern Region via the East London Joint line gained at New Cross after 5pm.

Returning the text available on the day of the tour, ‘Reversal at New Cross Gate precedes our inspection of the Deptford branch of

1849, which has never had a passenger service. Before its construction, goods were transferred to the Surrey Canal at Coldblow,

but the branch superseded this link for river bound traffic. The canal is crossed twice, first by a lift bridge and secondly, by a fixed bridge, approached by a 1 in 70 bank. This was originally a wooden trestle viaduct, but when in 1855, the Commercial Dock was connected to the branch, prospects of increased traffic precipitated the doubling of most of the line, and the replacement of the viaduct by a bank. However, traffic from the docks never came to much and the connection is now severed. At present nearly all the traffic, with coal and timber predominating, is landed at the ‘wharf,’ although there are still trains to the Government Stores, reached by the Grove Street Tramway.’

We spent about 20 minutes at the wharf, the RO reporting that ‘the passengers had an opportunity to display their agility in leaving the coaches – although one of the better known RCTS officers was observed making a more sedate descent by special ladder!’ On hand was R J Billinton designed ‘E6’ class 0-6-2T No 32415 waiting with a goods train. Leslie Freeman presumed that it would follow the rail tour back to New Cross Gate, which indeed it did. The allowance of 20 minutes for the Deptford Wharf to New Cross Gate journey was overly generous, so on our return (despite a nine-minute wait for signals after leaving the wharf ) the train arrived back at the main line fully seven minutes early! This time it used the up side spur, noting as we ran under the main line, some now derelict railwaymen’s houses situated underneath the arches. Engines seen during this afternoon trip were ‘E4’ 0-6-2Ts Nos 32471, 32472 and 32474, with two more of the ‘E6s’, Nos 32410 and 32417, recorded around New Cross Gate.

Once again, the itinerary provides the backdrop for the next section of route to be traversed – New Cross Gate to Bricklayers Arms, the branch having had no regular passenger service since 1851. ‘Construction was the result of a South Eastern and Croydon plan to evade payment of the onerous toll exacted by the Greenwich, but after its opening in 1844, the toll was sufficiently reduced to bring about the withdrawal of passenger services in 1846. After re-opening for North Kent passengers from 1849 to 1851, facilities have been concentrated on freight traffic. In 1849, the LB&SCR opened their

Willow Walk depot on the down side, but in 1932 this was amalgamated with the SER establishment.’

We stopped short of New Cross Gate and remained stationary for 17 minutes before No 31518 slowly propelled us along the Bricklayers Arms branch. Due to some unknown reason, we were unable to get right into the station, and soon after Mercer’s Crossing we halted beside a water crane. Having taken its fill, our locomotive started to pull us back again. In this direction we diverged at North Kent West Junction and ran under the many arches of the LB&SCR before joining the ex-London & Greenwich route (later South Eastern Railway/SE&CR) at Surrey Canal Junction, just 15 chains ahead of North Kent East Junction. We had a short stop for signals at the latter point but then diverged south and had a clear road through New Cross, Lewisham and Blackheath to Angerstein Junction. The trip from

Bricklayers Arms proved to be the longest single journey of the afternoon, around 6¼ miles between reversals.

R N Smith Collection The 1908 RCH map for Bricklayers Arms and New Cross clarifies the complicated railway picture and provides an indication of company ownership prior to the grouping when the former LB&SCR and SE&CR lines became part of the Southern Railway. Deptford Road was renamed Surrey Docks in 1911. The East London Joint lines to both New Cross stations were electrified as part of the Metropolitan fourth-rail system from 31 March 1913, but the link between Surrey Docks (Deptford Road on this map) and Old Kent Road was removed around the same time. The best part of 100 years later it has been re-instated as part of the London Overground network, which also adopted the operation of the New Cross lines from London Transport.

L R Freeman Passengers booked on the RCTS ‘London River Rail Tour’ gather under the trainshed on the former London, Brighton & South Coast Railway side of London Bridge station on 29 March 1958 – the fare was 9s 6d including an itinerary. With a combination more usually to be found working the Sheerness-on-Sea and Allhallows-on-Sea branches, Wainwright SE&CR ‘H’ class 0-4-4T No 31518 has run up from Gillingham shed with a strengthened two-car push-pull set to work the tour. The crew have evidently stopped off somewhere nearby to top up the bunker, given the ample supply of coal and the consequent lack of forward vision from the cab at this stage. Departure for New Cross Gate was at 2.03pm.

A E Bennett The major attraction of this tour was the chance to traverse lines not otherwise used by passenger trains, and that to Deptford Wharf, opened in 1849 and built by the LB&SCR, was the first of these. The branch could be accessed via cords on either side of the ‘Brighton’ main line, with the tour using the route on the east side for the outward trip, and returning via the yards and undulating route on the west side. Just over half a mile out of New Cross Gate, ‘H’ class No 31518 propelling motor set No 657 has descended the steep 1 in 70 gradient from the main line and heads towards the distinctive lifting bridge over the Surrey Canal, before continuing onwards under the SER main line visible on the horizon. The canal linked the River Thames to Peckham and pre-dated the railway by some years having opened progressively between 1807 and 1826. On the right, a barge on the canal is tied up adjacent to the timber yard at British Wharf.

A E Bennett The tail lamp has already been moved to the bunker of ‘H’ class No 31518 as passengers mill around the platform at the former LB&SCR station at New Cross Gate, the first of many reversals on this tour. The station was opened by the London & Croydon Railway on 1 June 1839 as New Cross but it was renamed by the newly-formed Southern Railway on 9 July 1923 to provide a distinction from the nearby former South Eastern Railway station to the east, also inherited at the grouping.

A E Bennett Distant cranes line the moorings at Deptford Wharf as the tour returns south. The branch climbed away from Deptford Wharf at 1 in 130 to a summit near Evelyn Road bridge, before descending to the lift bridge over the canal. Snaking off between the houses on the right is the Grove Street branch, which served the Admiralty Royal Victoria Victualling Yard. The branch was operated by British Railways and was noteworthy for being mostly a street tramway that ran along the middle of the road. Its fate was tied to that of the Admiralty facilities that closed in June 1961.

L R Freeman Deptford Wharf North signal box oversaw Grove Road level crossing, which extended across the expanse of sidings as they fanned out on to the wharves. Presumably any road traffic may have had a long wait for shunting activity to cease, but at least the railway provided a footbridge for pedestrians. With the stock of the rail tour visible beyond the footbridge, the signalman seems to be rather inundated with visitors. Weight restrictions precluded the use of steam engines on the quayside, with ropes and power-operated capstans employed to move the wagons the distance between the shipping and a point where they could reach an engine or join a train.

L R Freeman Railway activity at Deptford Wharf was much reduced at weekends but there still one round trip booked over the branch on Saturdays. This left New Cross Gate at 1.25pm and returned from the Wharf at 3.10pm. The rail tour was booked away at 2.45pm and LB&SCR Billinton ‘E6’ 0-6-2T No 32415 is captured marshalling a train in the sidings at Deptford Wharf before following the tour off the branch after its duties were concluded here.