87-833: The Ouse Valley Viaduct (or the Balcombe Viaduct ) carries the Brighton Main Line over the River Ouse in Sussex . It is located to the north of Haywards Heath and the south of Balcombe . Known for its ornate design, the structure has been described as "probably the most elegant viaduct in Britain." Construction of the Ouse Valley Viaduct commenced by the London & Brighton Railway company
174-482: A rake of Mark 4f coaches and a Class 414 (2-HAP) driver motor brake unit. The journey was timetabled to take 30 minutes and seven trainsets were required to operate the service. In the first seven months of the service, the number of passengers travelling by rail to Gatwick Airport went up by 38% and revenue on the route increased by 52%. Responsibility for running the Gatwick Express was transferred to
261-542: A total of five tunnels and three viaducts, was necessary. Construction of the new line commenced in July 1838; work to build the ornate viaduct began during the following year. It was designed by the principal engineer for the line, John Urpeth Rastrick and the original contractor appointed for its construction was Benjamin Baylis. The accepted contract tender was £38,500 (equivalent to £4.42 million in 2023). The viaduct
348-426: A two-track bypass of this section of line. The new line, which included two new tunnels and extensive cuttings, was authorised by parliament on 20 July 1894. A second act, permitting minor changes to the route, was given royal assent on 20 July 1896. The Quarry Line, as the bypass became known, opened to freight services on 5 November 1899 and to passenger trains on 1 April the following year. Five stations opened on
435-406: A weight-saving measure. This approach is credited with giving the structure a slender appearance. The foundation of each pier is provided with two courses of inclined footings, which have a total depth of just over 3 feet 3 inches (1 m). The viaduct is mostly composed of traditional red bricks topped with smooth limestone . The contrast between the two materials effectively highlights
522-676: Is 70 mph (110 km/h) on the fast lines and 60 mph (97 km/h) on the slow lines. Signalling is controlled from Three Bridges rail operating centre . The Brighton Main Line between Windmill Bridge Junction and Balcombe Tunnel Junction is 21 mi 26 ch (34.3 km) long and has twelve stations in total. Gatwick Airport station is managed by Gatwick Express, but the other stations are managed by Southern. Gatwick Airport has seven operational platforms, East Croydon and Purley have six, South Croydon and Three Bridges have five, Purley Oaks , Redhill and Horley have four, and
609-725: Is 70 mph (110 km/h) on the fast lines and 60 mph (97 km/h) on the slow lines. Signalling is controlled from Three Bridges rail operating centre . The London Bridge to Windmill Bridge Junction section of the Brighton Main Line is 9 mi 61 ch (15.7 km) in length and has nine stations in total. London Bridge station is managed by Network Rail and has 15 platforms. All other stations ( New Cross Gate , Brockley , Honor Oak Park , Forest Hill , Sydenham , Penge West , Anerley and Selhurst ) are managed by London Overground. Both New Cross Gate and Norwood Junction have five operational platforms, but
696-569: Is 90 mph (140 km/h). There are four tunnels on this section of the line: Balcombe tunnel is 1,141 yd (1,043 m) long; Haywards Heath Tunnel is 249 yd (228 m) long; Clayton Tunnel , at the summit of the line, is 1 mi 499 yd (2.066 km) long; Patcham Tunnel is 1 mi 492 yd (2.059 km) long. There are two viaducts on this part of the Brighton Main Line: The 22 ch (1,500 ft; 440 m) Ouse Valley Viaduct crosses
783-442: Is 96 feet (29 m) high and is carried on 37 semi-circular arches, each of 30 feet (9.1 m), surmounted by balustrades , spanning a total length of 1,480 feet (450 m). Each pier contains a jack arch with a semi-circular soffit , which had the benefit of reducing the number of bricks required. On 12 July 1841, the viaduct was officially opened to train services, although the finishing details were not fully completed until
870-618: Is 96 feet (29.3 m) above the river. There have been various claims that many of the estimated 11 million bricks used in the construction, were produced as far away as the Netherlands. No primary sources are cited with these claims and they are at odds with the contemporary newspaper reporting and the London & Brighton Railway Company's own meeting minute books held at The National Archives (RAIL 386/1 and RAIL 386/6 ). 16 Jan 1839 Excerpt from TNA RAIL 386/1 Meetings of Proprietors of
957-436: Is a railway line in southern England linking London to Brighton . It starts at two termini in the capital, London Victoria and London Bridge , and the branches from each meet at East Croydon , from where the route continues southwards via Gatwick Airport to the coast. The line serves the suburbs of South London , as well as the towns of Redhill , Horley , Crawley , Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill . The distance from
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#17327717679981044-645: Is around 50 mi (80 km) and the line is electrified using the 750 V DC third-rail system. The London Victoria to Windmill Bridge Junction section of the Brighton Main Line is 10 mi 2 ch (16.1 km) in length and has nine stations in total. Victoria and Clapham Junction stations are managed by Network Rail and have 19 and 17 operational platforms respectively. The other stations ( Battersea Park , Wandsworth Common , Balham , Streatham Common , Norbury , Thornton Heath and Selhurst ) are managed by Southern and have four operational platforms each. Train services that use this section of
1131-546: Is completed, and almost all the centres are struck, but the parapet which is to be very handsome, and of stone from Caen in Normandy is yet in a very backward state and cannot be finished for some weeks" . Rastrick created a moving scaffold for the masons to continue the work with a single line in use. A report in the Brighton Gazette on 12 August noted that both lines were then in operation. The Brighton Main Line
1218-640: The East London Line to Dalston Junction . The Thameslink franchise, which included services from Brighton to Bedford, was awarded to Govia in 1997. It was initially due to end in 2004, but delays in the Thameslink 2000 project resulted in the company being awarded a two-year extension to 2006. The new franchise, also incorporating services on the Great Northern Route , was awarded to FirstGroup , which began operating trains under
1305-586: The First Capital Connect brand on 1 April 2006. The company introduced 12-car trains to the Brighton Main Line in December 2011. The South Central franchise was terminated two years early in 2014, allowing Southern- and Gatwick Express-branded services to be combined with those run by First Capital Connect, to create the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise . Awarded to Govia,
1392-736: The InterCity sector of British Rail in April of the following year. A service from Reading to Gatwick via Guildford and Redhill, later branded the North Downs Line , was introduced in May 1980. A third new route launched by Network SouthEast was the Bedford –Brighton Thameslink service via the Snow Hill tunnel under central London, which began on 16 May 1988. Two major stations on
1479-452: The London and Greenwich Railway (L&GR) around 1.75 mi (2.82 km) east of London Bridge station and the L&;CR would have running powers into the terminus. Passenger trains began running on the L&GR between Deptford and its temporary London terminus at Spa Road on 8 February 1835. London Bridge station, the first permanent terminus in the capital, opened on 14 December
1566-576: The River Ouse on 37 brick arches and the shorter Vale Viaduct is 3.5 ch (230 ft; 70 m) long. The first part of the Brighton Main Line to be constructed was the section between London Bridge and Croydon. It was proposed in 1834 by the London and Croydon Railway (L&CR) company. Much of the route, surveyed by Joseph Gibbs , followed the course of the Croydon Canal , the southern terminus of which would be used for Croydon station (now West Croydon ). The line would diverge from
1653-531: The River Thames , opening Victoria station on 1 October that year. Although LB&SCR trains could access Victoria station via Crystal Palace, John Rastrick advised that a shorter route to the West End of London would be "most desirable". The company therefore decided to build a "cut-off" line between Croydon and Balham via Streatham Common. The proposal was authorised by parliament on 3 July 1860 and
1740-552: The Shadow Strategic Rail Authority decided to re-tender the franchise in 2000. In October that year, the competition was won by Govia , which took over the running of trains in August 2001, having bought out the final two years of Connex's contract for £30M. Govia's ten-year franchise formally began in May 2003, when it introduced the "Southern" brand name. The agreement required the company to retire
1827-533: The Southern Railway network. It remained under Southern's ownership until January 1948, when the nationalisation of the Big Four railway companies formed the publicly owned railway operator British Railways . The first major restoration work occurred during the 1890s, and was focused on repairs to the brickwork. Engineers of the late Victorian era were concerned that the original lime mortar used in
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#17327717679981914-552: The West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway in 1848. The Brighton Main Line was completed in December 1862, when the LB&;SCR opened the direct route between Croydon and Victoria via Thornton Heath . The Brighton Main Line is electrified using the 750 V DC third-rail system and the majority of the route has four tracks. There are seven tunnels, including two on the Quarry Line, which allows express services to bypass
2001-606: The Brighton Main Line and the majority of the Southern Region of British Railways, became part of the new "London & South Eastern" sector of British Rail. Four years later, on 10 June 1886, the sector was rebranded to become Network SouthEast . In the early 1980s, a major resignalling project was undertaken that involved the closure of the majority of the signal boxes on the line and the transfer of control to Victoria and Three Bridges signalling centres. London Bridge panel box, which had opened in 1975, retained control of
2088-435: The Brighton Main Line are: With the exception of the line between Victoria and Battersea Park, this part of the Brighton Main Line has four parallel tracks. The fast lines for longer-distance express services are on the western side of the formation and the slow lines are to the east. In general fast services stop at Victoria and Clapham Junction and do not make scheduled calls at the other stations. The maximum permitted speed
2175-508: The Brighton Main Line in the 1870s and 1880s. Brockley opened on 6 March 1871 to serve a new area of residential development. Norbury was built on a speculative basis, with one third of the cost being contributed by developers, and opened on 1 January 1878. Similarly, the cost of Honor Oak Park station, which opened on 1 April 1886, was also part-paid by developers. On 1 August that year Wivelsfield opened and trains began calling at Coulsdon South on 1 October 1889. The final station to be built on
2262-439: The Brighton Main Line to be built was the section from London Bridge to Croydon, which was opened by the London and Croydon Railway (L&CR) in 1839. Two years later, a separate company, the London and Brighton Railway (L&BR), extended the line to the south coast. In 1846, the L&CR and the L&BR merged to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), which began to run trains to London Victoria via
2349-504: The Brighton Main Line were rebuilt in the early 1990s. A new circular station building at Redhill station, designed by the architecture firm, Troutham & Macasum, was completed towards the end of 1990. East Croydon station, designed by Alan Brookes Associates, opened on 19 August 1992. The Gatwick Express franchise was one of the first parts of the UK rail network to be transferred to a private operator, when National Express began running
2436-475: The Brighton Main Line. Caen stone Caen stone ( French : Pierre de Caen ) is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen . The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ago. The stone is homogeneous, and therefore suitable for carving. The stone
2523-543: The Brighton Main Line. Haywards Heath has four platforms and Preston Park has three. The other four stations ( Balcombe , Wivelsfield , Burgess Hill and Hassocks ) have two operational platforms each. Train services that use this section of the Brighton Main Line are: Between Balcombe Tunnel Junction and Brighton, the Brighton Main Line generally has two tracks, signalled for bi-directional working. There are short three- and four-track sections at Preston Park and Haywards Heath stations respectively. The maximum line speed
2610-645: The LBR 1838 – 1844 “These Contracts are all let and the Contractors are actively engaged in casting up Brick Earth, preparing materials, and getting them to the ground to commence the work immediately as the weather permits” 6 June 1839 TNA RAIL 386/6 Meetings of Directors 1840 – 1843 “Contract No 10 the Ouse Viaduct is in a very progressive state – the Contractor (Baylis) has already got 10 Foundations for
2697-495: The London termini to Brighton is around 50 mi (80 km) and the fastest end-to-end journey time is about an hour. A variety of passenger services runs on the line, including limited-stop airport expresses, semi-fast regional and outer-suburban trains, and shorter-distance commuter services. These are operated by Govia Thameslink Railway ( Gatwick Express , Southern and Thameslink ) , Transport for London ( London Overground ) and Great Western Railway . The first part of
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2784-507: The Piers of the Arches laid, & his arrangements display a considerable degree of experience & confidence as to its completion at a period sufficiently early with regard to its stability & preparations are afoot for making Six Millions of Bricks this summer” The core construction was complete at the beginning of December 1840, the Brighton Gazette reporting 12 Dec 1840 " On Thursday
2871-484: The Quarry Line, which provides a bypass route to avoid the junctions at Redhill. There are changes in track mileage on both the fast and slow lines to the south of Redhill. The maximum speed on this section of the Brighton Main Line is 90 mph (140 km/h). The Brighton Main Line passes in tunnel beneath the North Downs . The slow lines run through the 1 mi 71 yd (1.674 km) Merstham Tunnel and
2958-610: The SER opened on 26 May 1842. In 1839, anticipating that disputes might arise over the use of the line north of Redhill, parliament instructed the L&BR to sell the Coulsdon–Redhill section to the SER. A price of £340,000 was agreed and the transfer of ownership took place in July 1845. On 27 July 1846, parliamentary authority was granted to merge the L&CR and L&BR to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR). A branch line from Sydenham to Crystal Palace
3045-486: The balustrades and parapets. Starting in March 1996, the viaduct underwent a £6.5 million renovation overseen by the national rail infrastructure company Railtrack and partially funded by grants from West Sussex County Council , Railway Heritage Trust and English Heritage . Harder-wearing limestone was imported from Bordeaux to ensure the closest match with the existing Caen stone in the balustrades and pavilions. Some of
3132-407: The beginning of 1839. It was designed by the principal engineer for the line, John Urpeth Rastrick . The architect of the London to Brighton railway, David Mocatta is often associated with the ornate stonework but an 1843 contemporary report on the construction of the viaduct makes no mention of him and neither does a drawing of one of the pavilions in a collection of Rastrick's drawings. The viaduct
3219-410: The deck and upper elements of the structure, although the limestone has been subjected to considerable weathering and staining since its original installation. The brickwork and the limestone elements have been replaced over time to maintain the structure's integrity, extend its operational life, and restore its appearance to better resemble its original state. At its highest point, the Ouse Valley Viaduct
3306-408: The defunct Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway in order to use part of its abandoned trackbed for the new railway. The first construction contracts were let in 1838 and the first track was laid at Hassocks on 4 February the following year. The engineer was John Urpeth Rastrick and the stations were designed by David Mocatta . In total, around 6000 navvies are thought to have worked to build
3393-434: The engineers Robert Stephenson and Nicholas Cundy preferred longer, but cheaper routes via Dorking and Shoreham-by-Sea . The London and Brighton Railway (L&BR) company, formed to promote Rennie's more direct route, received parliamentary approval for its scheme on 15 July 1837. The line was to leave the L&CR about a mile from its southern terminus, to head southwards towards Brighton. The L&BR purchased
3480-473: The entire line was completed on 1 January 1933, when the section between Three Bridges and Brighton was commissioned. A major resignalling project on the southern part of the Brighton Main Line was undertaken in 1932. Colour light signalling was commissioned between Coulsdon North and Balcombe Tunnel Junction on 4 June 1932. Six signal boxes were closed and control of this section of line was transferred to Three Bridges. In October 1932, colour light signalling
3567-437: The excavation of the cutting at New Cross, meant that an additional £216,000 was required. The route originally surveyed by Gibbs was also modified to ease curves and to reduce the maximum gradient from 1 in 80 to 1 in 100. The official opening ceremony for the L&CR took place on 1 June 1839, although passenger trains for the general public did not start until four days later. Since the area between New Cross and Croydon
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3654-450: The fast lines pass through the longer, 1 mi 353 yd (1.932 km) Quarry Tunnel. There is one additional tunnel on the Quarry Line, Redhill Tunnel , which is 649 yd (593 m) long. The section of the Brighton Main Line from Balcombe Tunnel Junction to Brighton is 19 mi 21 ch (31.0 km) long. All seven stations on this section are managed by Southern. Brighton has eight platforms, of which six are connected to
3741-530: The final slam-door trains, achieved in 2005, and to invest £853M in new rolling stock. The Gatwick Express and Southern franchises were merged in May 2008, to allow capacity increases and better use of train paths on the Brighton Main Line. The new arrangement allowed Gatwick Express services to be extended to Brighton, initially during peak periods, but required the replacement of the ten Class 460s with seventeen Class 442 units. The third South Central franchise, awarded again to Govia, began in 2009 and required
3828-502: The first all-electric Pullman trains in the world. Initially, three return trips ran each day, but the service was increased to four in 1963. The Class 403 sets were withdrawn on 30 April 1972. The Beehive , the original terminal building at Gatwick Airport , opened in mid-1936. It was served by Tinsley Green station, which had opened in September the previous year and which was renamed Gatwick Airport on 1 June 1936. The station
3915-407: The following year. Despite the structure's fine design, materials, and architectural features, the viaduct has had an expensive and problematic history. The first major restoration work occurred during the 1890s, during which sections of the original brickwork were entirely replaced in the belief that this would increase the structure's strength. However, the viaduct suffered considerable decay during
4002-439: The following year. The L&CR was authorised by act of parliament on 12 June 1835 and a second act, permitting the company to build its own terminus at London Bridge, was given royal assent on 14 July 1836. The line between the capital and Croydon was built by the engineer, William Cubitt , and construction began in 1838. The cost of the line was originally estimated to be around £400,000, but difficulties encountered during
4089-409: The intermediate stations have two platforms each, which serve the slow lines only. Train services that use this section of the Brighton Main Line are: The Brighton Main Line between London Bridge and Windmill Bridge Junction has four parallel tracks. The fast lines for longer-distance express services are in the centre of the formation and the slow lines are to the outside. The maximum permitted speed
4176-645: The junctions at Redhill station. The most serious accident on the Brighton Main Line occurred in October 1947, when two trains collided in fog near South Croydon station , killing 32 people. The listed structures on the route include the Ouse Valley Viaduct , the north portal of Clayton Tunnel and all three termini. The Brighton Main Line is a railway line in southern England. It links the capital to Brighton and passes through Greater London , Surrey and West Sussex . It serves Gatwick Airport and
4263-553: The last arch of the Ouse Viaduct on the London to Brighton Railway was keyed by Mr Maude, the resident engineer of the centre district of the railway, in the presence of the parties engaged on the work, together with a considerable number of visitors from Brighton and Lewes". The original contract of works dated 21 Jan 1839 (East Sussex Records Office ACC 8894/3/1) specified the stone work to have come from UK quarries but this changed to Caen stone from Normandy in France. This material
4350-489: The line as far south as Coulsdon North was completed in April 1925, but in August the following year, the company decided that all future electrification projects would use the DC third-rail system and that the existing overhead wire system would be replaced. The conversion of the existing electrified sections was completed in September 1929 and third-rail electrification reached Three Bridges in July 1932. The electrification of
4437-400: The line in the 19th century was Purley Oaks, which opened on 5 November 1899. Work to quadruple the Brighton Main Line continued in the first decade of the 20th century. Two additional tracks were brought into use between Streatham Common and Windmill Bridge Junction (north of Croydon) in July 1903. The line between Redhill and Three Bridges was quadrupled in 1907 and from Three Bridges to
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#17327717679984524-529: The line north of Norwood Junction. Remodelling of Windmill Bridge Junction was undertaken, with the creation of an additional flyover to eliminate conflicting movements between trains on the slow lines. The arrangement of the tracks at East Croydon was changed to route all fast services through platforms 1, 2 and 3 on the west side of the station. Gatwick Express services were launched by Network SouthEast on 14 May 1984 using 90 mph (140 km/h) capable Class 73 locomotives in push-pull mode, each hauling
4611-469: The line: five Sharp, Roberts and Co. and two J. and G. Rennie 2-2-2 engines were used to haul trains and two 0-4-2 locomotives were used as banking engines for the steep climb to New Cross from the junction with the L&GR. In the early 1830s, several different routes for a railway between London and Brighton were proposed. John Rennie the Younger favoured a line via Merstham and Horley, while
4698-486: The majority of the twentieth century. By May 1983, the viaduct had been recognised as a Grade II* listed structure . Between March 1996 and September 1999, the viaduct was subject to an extensive restoration by national rail infrastructure owner Railtrack ; this work was part-funded by the Railway Heritage Trust , English Heritage and West Sussex County Council . In July 1837, an Act of Parliament
4785-651: The new double-track line opened on 1 December 1862 with intermediate stations at Thornton Heath and Streatham Common. A further act of parliament was passed on 18 July 1864 authorising a link between the Victoria and London Bridge arms of the Brighton Main Line that allowed trains to travel between Norwood Junction and Thornton Heath without a reversal. Selhurst station, on the Victoria arm, opened on 1 May 1865 and South Croydon opened that September. A third track had been laid between New Cross and Croydon in August 1844 for atmospheric trains . This method of train propulsion
4872-524: The new franchise took the form of a management contract , reducing the risks to the operator arising from the introduction of new services as part of the Thameslink programme. During the lifetime of the franchise, the Bermondsey dive-under was constructed, reducing the conflict between Southern trains departing from London Bridge and northbound Thameslink services heading towards London Blackfriars, and an extensive refurbishment of London Bridge station
4959-473: The number of signal boxes on the line was reduced and new boxes were commissioned at Balham, Norwood Junction, Gloucester Road Junction and Purley. The South Terminal at Gatwick Airport was opened on 9 June 1958. The new terminal was directly linked to a new railway station on the Brighton Main Line, which had opened on 27 May that year. The former airport station, located close to the redundant Beehive terminal, had closed on 18 May 1958. On 4 January 1982,
5046-537: The operator to increase capacity on its routes by 10% by December 2013. In 2014, 700 more services were running on the South Central network on weekdays than at privatisation in 1996. In May 2010, London Overground began running stopping services on the Norwood Junction–New Cross Gate section of the Brighton Main Line, allowing trains that had previously terminated at London Bridge to run via
5133-419: The original pavilions and rebuild them using reconstituted stonework, English Heritage refused permissions; accordingly, there was no substantial restoration performed to the viaduct during this period, a decision which British Rail publicly attributed to the sizeable estimated cost of such works. The fabric of the structure continued to deteriorate over the next decade, with sections of stonework falling away from
5220-568: The other side of the viaduct. The project, which took more than three years, was completed in September 1999. From 2023, repairs were being undertaken by Network Rail with various companies. As at September 2024 it was unclear when they would finish. The bridge on the cover art of Lovejoy's EP , Wake Up & It's Over was based on the Ouse Valley Duct. Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line
5307-431: The parapets and pavilions, although made from Caen stone (a high-quality limestone), have been subjected to heavy weathering . By 1956, the damage to the viaduct was extensive but the cost of refurbishment work was deemed too high by British Rail. The degradation was partially a consequence of the structure's long lifespan: when originally constructed in the 1840s, its intended design life was only 120 years. By May 1983,
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#17327717679985394-458: The piers had to be reconstructed because of failures in the Victorian brickwork. The new bricks were handmade in a variety of sizes to suit the existing brickwork and set in sand, cement, and lime mortar; stainless steel anchoring was used to firmly fix the new stone to the old stonework. Throughout the work, one of the lines always remained open while restoration activity was being carried out on
5481-568: The railway. The line, which required five tunnels and a viaduct over the Ouse valley, cost £2.63M (around £57,000 per mile). Completion was delayed due to bad weather during the winter of 1840-41 and the first section, from Croydon to Haywards Heath, did not open until 12 July 1841. The initial timetable included four trains each way on weekdays between the capital and Haywards Heath, with intermediate calls at Red Hill, Horley and Three Bridges (calls were made at other stations on request). The journey time
5568-468: The remaining stations ( Coulsdon South , Merstham , Earlswood and Salfords ) have two platforms each. Train services that use this section of the Brighton Main Line are: Between Windmill Bridge Junction and South Croydon there are five parallel tracks, but for the remainder of this section there are four parallel tracks. Between Stoats Nest Junction and the south of Redhill station, the fast and slow lines diverge. The fast tracks are generally known as
5655-403: The southern limit of four-tracking at Balcombe Tunnel Junction in 1911. The first parts of the Brighton Main Line to be electrified, were the approaches to London Bridge and Victoria stations. The chosen system used overhead wires, energised to 6,700 V AC, and multiple units equipped with pantographs for current collection. The new infrastructure allowed electric trains to start running between
5742-540: The station offices at Victoria on 12 June 1944. Further bomb damage occurred at Forest Hill on 23 June 1944. Under the Transport Act 1947 , the Brighton Main Line became part of the Southern Region of British Railways . During the 1950s, work continued to modernise the signalling system, which included the installation of colour lights between Selhurst and East Croydon in March 1954. In the same decade,
5829-626: The town in 1933, replacing the previous facility which had been built in 1884. Further upgrades to enable larger volumes of mail to be handled at the station were undertaken in 1935 and 1938. Rail transport of Post Office mail ceased following the opening of the Willesden postal rail hub in 1996. A Pullman dining service between London and Brighton, nicknamed the Brighton Belle , was launched on 29 June 1934. It used five-car 75 mph (121 km/h) capable Class 403 (5-BEL) units,
5916-469: The towns of Redhill , Horley , Crawley , Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill , as well as the South London suburbs. The line starts at two central London termini : the western branch runs from London Victoria while the eastern branch originates at London Bridge . The two branches join at Windmill Bridge Junction, to the north of East Croydon station. The distance from London Victoria to Brighton
6003-608: The trains on 28 April 1996. The company introduced Class 460 units to their services in 1999, although the final locomotive-hauled trains were not withdrawn until 2005. Connex was awarded a seven-year franchise in 1996 to operate passenger trains on the Brighton Main Line as Connex South Central . The company introduced a Gatwick Airport– Rugby service, which ran via the West London Line , and also deployed Class 319 units to Victoria–Brighton express services. Following concerns over Connex's management and performance,
6090-558: The two termini via the South London Line on 1 December 1909. On 12 May 1911, the electrification was extended from Battersea Park to Crystal Palace via Balham and to Norwood Junction and Selhurst on 3 March 1912. During the First World War, the Brighton Main Line was the target of two Zeppelin attacks. The line at the south end of East Croydon station was damaged on 13 October 1915 and Streatham Common station
6177-473: The viaduct had been officially recognised as a Grade II* listed structure . By the 1980s, the eight pavilions present on the viaduct were in such a poor condition that some of their roofs had fallen in and the installation of internal props was required to halt their further collapse. As a consequence of its heritage status, all envisioned alterations to the viaduct need to be reviewed and agreed upon by English Heritage . When British Rail proposed to dismantle
6264-489: The viaduct's construction was inadequate and the decision was made to replace it with cement mortar. However, the replacement facing brickwork and substandard mortar eventually caused its own failures prompting more expensive repairs later on. This was likely due to the repair work having borne a greater share of the structure's load than intended, resulting in an accelerated failure rate. Poorly bonded header bricks are another probable culprit for its ineffectiveness. Additionally,
6351-416: Was abandoned by the LB&SCR in 1847, but the extra track was retained to provide additional capacity for northbound locomotive-hauled trains. A fourth track, used for southbound services, was added to this section of line by 1854. Between Stoats Nest and Redhill, the Brighton Main Line was owned by the SER. Congestion at the junctions at the south end of Redhill station prompted the LB&SCR to propose
6438-458: Was built to Bricklayers Arms and opened on 1 May that year. The South Eastern Railway (SER) company was formed to promote a railway from London to Dover . Under the terms of the act of parliament passed on 21 June 1836, the company was empowered to build a line that left the L&CR at Penge, but the following year, parliament permitted the company to instead form a connection to the L&BR at Redhill. The Redhill to Tonbridge section of
6525-421: Was closed two years later. A station was opened at Stoats Nest (later Coulsdon North) in the spring of 1842 to cater for racegoers at Epsom . Work to widen the shared section of the L&GR viaduct was completed on 10 May that year. The new L&CR London Bridge station, designed by Henry Roberts , opened in 1844. Since the new terminus was not designed to handle freight, a spur line primarily for goods trains
6612-402: Was commissioned between Balcombe Tunnel Junction and Brighton. Haywards Heath station was rebuilt with two island platforms, each with two platform faces able to accommodate 12-car trains. Platforms 3 to 6 at Brighton were also lengthened as part of the same project. Redhill station was substantially rebuilt in 1932 as part of the electrification programme. A new sorting office was opened in
6699-461: Was completed. Govia was heavily criticised for the poor implementation of a new timetable in May 2018, which routed additional services from the Brighton Main Line via the Thameslink core. The company was also criticised for its role in the 2016–2019 United Kingdom railway strikes . In 2022, Govia was awarded a three-year extension to its management contract, which took effect on 1 April that year. There are 13 listed structures associated with
6786-405: Was designed as a elegant structure, being around 1,600 feet (500 m) in length and carrying a straight line over 37 identical arches. Each of these semi-circular arches had a span of 30 feet (9.1 m) and was supported upon tapered red-brick piers. Each pier was almost divided into two separate halves by 9.8-foot (3 m) vertical voids, capped by semi-circular rings at the top and base, as
6873-525: Was first used for building in the Gallo-Roman period with production from open cast quarries restarting in the 11th century. Shipped to England, Canterbury Cathedral , Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London were all partially built from Caen stone. Underground mining developed in the 19th century, but the stone trade declined in the 20th century eventually ceasing in the 1960s. Excavation restarted in
6960-468: Was hit by a bomb in September 1916. Salfords station was opened on 8 October 1915 initially for the use of workers at the nearby Monotype Corporation factory. It continued to operate as a private halt after the war and was not opened to the general public until 1932. Under the Railways Act 1921 , the Brighton Main Line became part of the Southern Railway in 1923. The overhead electrification of
7047-428: Was opened in two sections because completion was delayed by the need to complete major earthworks, in particular the tunnel at Haywards Heath. The viaduct was officially opened when the section between Norwood Junction and Haywards Heath was opened on 12 July 1841. By 1846, the viaduct had become part of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway . In 1923, as a result of the Railways Act 1921 , it became part of
7134-645: Was opened on 10 June 1854 by the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway (WELCPR). The company extended its line to Balham on 1 December 1856 and to Pimlico in March 1858. A west–south spur linking Crystal Palace and Norwood Junction stations was opened in 1857, allowing trains from Brighton to reach the Pimlico terminus. The LB&SCR purchased the WELCPR in 1859. In 1860, the Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway constructed Grosvenor Bridge across
7221-412: Was passed which gave the London & Brighton Railway company assent to construct its proposed railway line between London and the south coast. The route selected, which was surveyed by a team headed by Sir John Rennie , was fairly direct but had the downside of crossing over some relatively hilly terrain. As a consequence of a decision to limit gradients along the line to 1 in 264, the construction of
7308-531: Was relocated northwards to its current site at the South Terminal on 27 May 1958. During the Second World War, the Brighton Main Line was a target for enemy bombing. Bombs caused damage to the tracks at Norbury on 19 October 1940 and outside Victoria station on 21 December that year. Both London termini were damaged in a raid on 11 May 1941 and a V-1 flying bomb caused extensive damage to
7395-427: Was sparsely populated and largely undeveloped countryside, the majority of passenger journeys on the line were between the two termini. Nevertheless, when the line opened, intermediate stations were provided at New Cross (now New Cross Gate), Dartmouth Arms (now Forest Hill), Sydenham, Penge (now Penge West), Anerley Bridge (now Anerley) and Jolly Sailor (now Norwood Junction). Initially nine steam locomotives operated on
7482-524: Was two hours from London and a coach , taking a further two hours to reach Brighton, was provided for onward travel. The final section of the Brighton Main Line, between Haywards Heath and Brighton, opened on 21 September 1841. The initial service on the whole line was six trains per day in each direction, with most trains taking 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 hours to complete the journey and one non-stop service in each direction taking 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 hours. The station at Merstham opened on 1 December 1841, but
7569-512: Was used for the classically balustraded parapets, string courses, pier caps and the four small rectangular Italianate pavilions. There appear to have been delays in sourcing this and other materials as a minute in the Meetings of Directors 1838-1844 (RAIL 386/6) notes on 15 July 1841 that "The whole length of the Viaduct is 480 yards and the width between the parapets is 28 feet. The Brickwork
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