Crystal Palace Line

Crystal Palace Line
Overview
Type	Suburban rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Greater London
Termini	Balham Beckenham Junction
Stations	7
Operation
Opened	1856-1858
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Southern Thameslink (non-stop)
Rolling stock	Class 377 "Electrostar" Class 455 Class 319 Class 387
Technical
Number of tracks	1-2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	750 DC Third Rail
Operating speed	60 mph (97 km/h) maximum

The Crystal Palace Line is a railway line in London which runs from Balham Junction to Beckenham Junction. The engineer's reference for this line is BBJ.

The line runs from Balham Junction on the Brighton Main Line route into London Victoria to Beckenham Junction, via Streatham Hill and Crystal Palace. The line has a junction with the Portsmouth Line at Norwood, and again meets the Brighton Main Line, this time the line into London Bridge, just beyond Crystal Palace. The line runs alongside the London Tramlink between Birkbeck and Beckenham, and has junctions with the Mid-Kent Line and the Chatham Main Line where it terminates at Beckenham junction.

The first part of the line, between New Wandsworth and Crystal Palace (Low Level), opened 1 December 1856 as the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway. In 1857 the route was extended to Norwood. On 3 May 1858 the company opened an extension from Bromley Junction (near Norwood Junction) to Shortlands railway station (then called Bromley) via Beckenham Junction station. The following year the original line from Pimlico to Norwood Junction was sold to the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, and the section from Bromley Junction to Shortlands to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, but the WEL&CPR continued to provide its own passenger services. The two halves were reunited in 1921 as part of the Southern Railway following enactment of the Grouping Act.

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