A very entertaining morning spent at East Croydon on the Brighton Mainline where we see countless amounts of services from Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express.

The station was opened in 1841 by the London and Brighton Railway when the station was originally named Croydon. Less than a year later the station was jointly administered by the London & Brighton Railway and the South Eastern Railway. They both shared the Brighton Mainline all the way to Redhill. In 1846 both companies merged together to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. There was an element of confusion because in 1839 there was already a station built in Croydon operated by the London and Croydon Railway which meant that there was now 2 stations in the town called Croydon. The first one is now known as West Croydon and the latter now known as East Croydon. It was in 1846 that both station's were given their own independent names.

In 1862 the line to Victoria was completed which meant that the current station needed more platforms to keep up with demand, additional terminating platforms were built for the local suburban traffic. But because of this it meant that there was another station essentially built called New Croydon. Really didn't make a world of sense but it was treated as a completely seperate station independently operated by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway with its own ticketing system and offering cheaper fares than its competition. But this also caused some headaches because of the fact that the platforms were terminating one's it meant that the loco hauled trains had difficulty getting around their trains, because of this the LB&SCR gained parliamentary authorisation to built a new stretch of line roughly half a mile in length which took their trains to South Croydon Station. Or at least the location as to where the station would be built at.

In the 1880's the station went through a large redevelopment because of the growing population in the area and the amount of trains trying to get through the station. The tracks were remodelled and the station rebuilt with new lines having been created and various other lines getting extensions further into and out of the capital. In 1897 and 1898 both East Croydon and New Croydon were joined together to form a single station. Although there still were three island platforms available at the time. The station kept two seperate booking accounts until Southern Railway was formed.

In 1992 the station went through further remodelling and is essentially the station you see standing today. The station building that is. It was done by having a large steel and glass frame strechting over the tracks and platforms with four steel ladder masts anchoring the the suspension bridge overhead. New canopies covered the entrances and the interior was given new shops, cafes, open air seating and the entrance to the tram stop.

In 2013 a brand new footbridge was built by Network Rail with a budget reaching over £16 million with £10 million of that coming from Network Rail, the remaining £6 million would come from the local council. The bridge meant that it was easier for passengers to transfer between the platforms and the street level connections to the taxi rank and local bus services.

The following dates show the renaming the station:

1841 - station opened as Croydon
1846 - renamed as Croydon East
1862 - renamed as East Croydon
1909 - Renamed East Croydon Main
1924 - Merged with the East Croydon Local to form East Croydon
1992 - The new and current station building was opened
2000 - the tramlink stop was built.

Last year the station took on 23.6 million passengers making this one of the busiest non terminal stations in London and the UK.

My next and final station of the year is Clapham Junction.

You can now find me on Facebook through the group Tornado922, there you will find regular updates, videos and photos from all of my goings on throughout 2019.

You can also find me on Instagram through the name tornado922

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