The Woodside & South Croydon Railway
A Brief History Croydon's 'Back Garden Railway'connected Woodside & Selsdon. The line finally closed on Friday 13th May 1983 after 98 years of precarious existence. Threats of closure were nothing new to this line - at a board meeting of the Joint Management Committee in 1895 the company solicitor was instructed to consider and report on the powers and advisability of closing the line. When local passenger services were withdrawn in 1915 as a wartime economy the annual loss was running at over £2000.

(Note that the handbill illustrated issued for the opening of Selsdon Road Station does not even mention the Woodside service.)

Logically this should have marked the end of the line as far as passengers were concerned, but for reasons which still remain obscure the Southern Railway recommenced passenger services in 1935 with rebuilt stations and a half-hourly service between Sanderstead and Charing Cross or Cannon Street.
Construction of the line was entrusted to Joseph Firbank at an estimated cost of £68,934/5/10. He and his chief engineers Banister and Brady had been involved with the Lewes & East Grinstead Railway as well as the Croydon & Oxted line. The original completion date was set for 1st November 1882 but had to be extended by a year due to non-availability of land. The first track to be laid was the junction at Woodside which was completed with a three hundred length of track in February 1883.
The construction of the extra tunnel and continuous bad weather combined to delay the planed opening date until late 1884. The Board of Trade inspection was carried on the 21st October 1884 by Major General Hutchinson who was not over impressed by what he saw and would not sanction opening until many changes had been made. These were mainly to the signalling system and the track layout at Woodside He also required all station platforms to have slopes at each end rather than steps. Faced with the B.O.T.'s list of objections the opening date was put back to 1st December 1884. However the Board were still not happy with the facilities provided at Woodside for passengers changing trains, so the station was rebuilt to include a road level booking office and passenger shelter on the down platform resulting in a further delay of eight months.
The line finally opened on 10th August 1885 without ceremony or enthusiasm from the local inhabitants. The local brewer Nalder & Collier showed sufficient confidence in the future of the line to apply for planning permission to build two hotels, one at Coombe Lane and the other at Selsdon Road, but the local magistrates refused to grant a licence on the grounds that there were no houses near by!
The S.E.R. provided the locomotives and the stock for the initial service of ten trains a day in each direction, using Cudworth 2-4-0s with an assortment of four and six wheeled coaches and vans as required. The S.E.R. continued to operate the service until 31st December 1886 when the L.B.S.C.R. took over using a Terrier from West Croydon shed and a close coupled set of four wheeled coaches. Locos known to have been used on this service are No.70 Poplar (see photograph), No.71 Wapping and No.72 Fenchurch.
The L.B.S.C.R. continued the operation of the service until they had run the same number of passenger miles as the S.E.R. The two companies alternated the operation year by year. By 1903 the Brighton terrier was being supplied by Stoates Nest (Coulsdon) shed and was required to perform shunting duties between passenger trips. The South Eastern locos were provided by Purley shed, opened in 1889. These engines ran light over the branch to reach the Hayes branch, a trip that required reversing three times, at East Croydon, Selsdon Road and Elmers End.

During the early years of the century the railway saw increasing competition from tramways and omnibuses, so in common with many other lines the Joint Committee decided that Railmotors might be the answer to this loss of passenger traffic. Two new halts were constructed for this new venture, one between Selsdon Road and Coombe Lane and the other between Coombe Lane and Woodside, being named Spencer Road Halt and Bingham Road Halt respectivly. The two halts were identical in appearance being constructed from old sleepers at a cost of £205/11/7d the pair. The only features of the one hundred foot platforms were the wooden name boards and a row of wooden post for the hanging of oil lamps during the winter months. The halt at Bingham Road, originally to be called Addiscombe Park, was convinient for the tram terminus in Lower Addiscombe Road and thus attracted a fair amount of traffic, unlike Spencer Road which was approached only by a footpath which crossed the line between Spencer Road and Birdhurst Rise.




 		LBSCR Train at Selsdon Road 1887
The S.E.C.R. (as it was now known) inaugurated the improved service of sixteen trains a day on 1st September 1906, using a Kitson Railmotor supplied by Bricklayers Arms shed. The railmotor worked down to Addiscombe with the 06.17 from New Cross and the ran empty to the bay platform at Woodside to form the 07.16 to Selsdon Road. The Kitson railmotors were painted in S.E.C.R. Lake and had highly polished domes. The ride was very rough and the compartment next to the engine got uncomfortably hot. Fifty six passengers could be accomodated on the wooden seats which were arranged back to back with a centre gangway.
When the L.B.S.C.R. were operating the service a motor fitted terrier and a 'balloon' coach was used, until 1913 when both of the Brighton railmotors were transfered to the branch running from Stoats Nest shed. Railmotor No.1 did not last very long in its new role and had to be sent to Brighton for repair. No. 2 managed to hold out until the S.E.C.R. took over again in July 1914. The L.B.S.C.R. railmotors were built by Beyer Peacock and seated 48 third class passengers in two equal saloons connected by a sliding door. Both were sold to the Trinidad Government in 1919. Bell Punch tickets were issued on the railmotors for passengers joining at the halts. Luggage and Cycles were not encouraged but dogs were allowed, but at fifty percent above the maximum adult fare. (see illustration)




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