So You Don't Like South Bermondsey Station?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ค. 2024
- Nobody likes it, it doesn't care.
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I don’t like stations that aren't designed by my friend and colleague, Charles Holden.
Being miles from a Holden station, I am happy to spend time studying in a Holden library (while daydreaming about trains in Holden stations instead of studying).
I prefer the works of Leslie Green, myself.
Big Chucky Yerkes the GOAT 🐐
Hi Charles
Surely, Charles, you like those stations just fine, when they allow you to run your District Line trains into them, without having to pay to built the station building or track.
"You are the new entrance to my hidden station"
Steady on there, Jago... Steady there...
😛
Imagine how interesting it will be watch Jago's videos 50 years from now. One day they're going to an amazing historical record of transport in london
Unless, at any point over those fifty years, it hasn't been in Google's interests to maintain the archive... 😬
South Bermondsey was the closest station to an old warehouse used by a LARPing group of which I was a member; a group of us stepped out (in costume) one Saturday afternoon for 'supplies', to be confronted by 4k+ Millwall fans on their way to the match through which we had to pass - some of the comments were memorable 😂
do tell lol
…don’t leave us hanging, that’s a story that must be told!
…and you set out on a quest but ended up encountering a group of orcs, trolls, goblins, and giants(or at least they looked that way while intoxicated)
@@bostonrailfan2427 The viewers intoxicated? Or the viewed? I know, both.
@@michaelwright2986 …with folks in my hometown, it’s both but then again no place is like mine so i have to hear the story there because this quest is hilarious 🤣
I for years was Hon Secretary of 'The South London Line (later Link) Travellers Association. Colleagues fought long and hard to save a passenger service that had declined to a weekday offering of a very few rush hour trains, still with cancellations and short working. East Brixton was closed, while Queens Road Peckham was on the list.
The Association reversed the trend, the timetable returning in time to twice hourly, seven days a week and in time a relaunch, commemorated at South Bermondsey Station.
All was then changed by the arrival of the Overground with 4 trains an hour and huge passenger numbers.
The downside was that four of the stations lost the direct link to Victoria, with some unable to reach London Bridge directly either.
The South London Line is now at best a geographical term or otherwise a frustrating memory.
South Bermondsey Station did also have a two car length covered platform area, while Queens Road had side platforms with rotting wooden canopies.
The South London line hasn't run between London Bridge and Victoria (via South Bermondsey, and Clapham High Street, among others) since 2012! The route was altered when Overground services between Clapham Junction and Dalston were introduced - I caught the first train on the new service at Clapham Junction! But it meant the direct service between London Bridge and Clapham High Street was withdrawn.
Blimey, you're right!
"The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
4 tph to London Bridge
2 tph to East Croydon via Norbury
2 tph to Beckenham Junction via Crystal Palace
During the evenings (after approximately 20:00), the service between London Bridge and Beckenham Junction is reduced to hourly. This service does not run on Sundays. "
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Bermondsey_railway_station
A line is a line. The exact services that run over it is irrelevant to that and it's still regarded as the South London line. It's true that all services through South Bermondsey now branch off the South London at Peckham Rye towards Croydon or Beckenham though.
‘Elevated Electric’ is when you keep your microwave on a high shelf
I thought it was just High Voltage.
@@stephenlee5929 I thought that was just a song
5:55 I appreciate how a single cyclist uses the bridge just as you mention it…
“Elevated Electricity” is quite literally “High Power”
I actually never noticed South Bermondsey on the Tube and Rail map until very recently, and I wondered what it was like there considering it was tucked so hidden on it, so this video definitely came out at the right time for me.
Wonderful video on a neglected station. Ref the Brighton Elevated, it was due to the elevation of the power source. As you stated the LSWR went for low level, low power DC whilst the Brighton went overhead, hence 'elevated'. We nearly got the whole of the Southern with an overhead wire but for about an extra 2 1/2 miles of third rail owned by the LSWR. The Southern decided that it was only fair that it was best to add up all the miles of each and the highest mileage won. The extra distance was found due to a spur from the LSWR into Victoria station via the former LCDR metals. Hey, ho.....
I live 15 minutes from South Bermondsey. My least favourite part of it is that there's literally no reason for me to use it. Even if I need to get to London Bridge, it's easier for me to go via Surrey Quays and Canada Water. I've told myself I'll go to SB just to see what is like, but it's such a ballache that I never have.
Similar to the reasons why it struggled for passengers for many years and was heavily hit by tram competition. It's there if you ever want to travel towards East Croydon, Beckenham Junction or Tulse Hill, but they're not on everyone's wish list.
You must be significantly closer to Surrey Quays than South Bermondsey to make the journey you describe more favourable than just hopping on to the Southern train at SB for one stop... The changeover at Canada Water, going on the Jubilee line and transferring from the tube to above ground at London Bridge are all painful and time-consuming experiences IMHO
I still say Euston Square looks and feels (and sometimes smells) like a disused public toilet.
Though Glasgow Central Low Level is worse!
Jago - regarding your map at the beginning - there is not a direct passenger service between London Bridge and London Victoria via Denmark HIll. Living near Crystal Palace Station, I can confirm that the direct route is via Crystal Palace - although it's a long ride! I sometimes use part of it to/from London Bridge or Victoria when I travel from/to Crystal Palace.
This is true. I think after "Thameslink 2000"?
There used to be, not too long ago. Then the service on this line was taken over by London Overground and they diverted the west terminus to Clapham Junction and diverted the east end of the line from South Bermondsey and London Bridge onto the East London Line.
There were major complaints about the service being withdrawn.
There are still parliamentary services to both Battersea Park (where the through platforms have been blocked off) and Victoria. The trains to Battersea Park are run by London Overground and the ones from Victoria now go along a bit of track that bypasses Battersea Park and does a different part of the route.
So, you are correct, from a day-to-day service point of view, but technically the original line that Jago showed, is still fully operational, as per the Act of Parliament. If you look around you will find nerdy videos by people who know the obscure day of the week to get the "if we run this train, but don't tell anyone we are running it, we are still complying with the law" trains.
@@CarolineFord1 Older than that - it was 2012 when the Overground was extended to Clapham Junction.
I assumed Jago's map was the historic original South London Line. He included the long closed (but candidate for reopening, IMHO) East Brixton. I think severing the connection to Victoria at Battersea Park was so they could extend the main platforms to handle 10-coach trains, so it was in a good cause.
@@DavidShepheard Ok, thanks for that info - I think I've heard something about that somewhere also. I also see on one of my rail maps, a dotted link between Tulse Hill and Streatham Hill - I seem to recall hearing that's for maintenance trains? Or was that the Parliament line?
One of the Overground services runs out of Surrey Quays, through Queens Road Peckham then along via Denmark Hill, so, yes - that part of Jago's route is used there.
How we do love the visual treat of the vibrant and so-informative ' Minimalist Linear Cartography'. Banksey, eat your heart out!
P.S. Abutments are not Parapets
Took a train from London Bridge to Victoria in the mid 1970s on one of our trainspotting trips to London. It was a 2-EPB iirc. The surroundings we travelled through in these pre- gentrification days were definitely not very salubrious.
Oh I needed something to cheer me up after more dreadful Warhammer news (can 10th get any worse?). Thank you for being more regular than British Rail, Jago. It always warms my heart to see new videos from ya, mate.
This raises an interesting question. While the end of Camberwell Station has been well documented, it baffles me as to why the nearby Brixton East was closed and there being no easy way to interchange from there to Brixton and the associated lines - including underground. Surely this connectivity would be valuable?
The snag would be that it was just on the half hourly London Bridge to Victoria service and so there was very little incentive for anyone to use that and change on to the Victoria Line. In fact the VL at Brixton actually reduced East Brixton's patronage and, after a 1975 fire, it closed back in 1976 and was demolished. With the new service pattern it would have more value.
The current station, as built, did have platform buildings including relatively long canopies. Obviously BR stripped all those away and replaced it with a shelter (I seem to remember a normal bus shelter, but I could be wrong). I think the bus shelter was then replaced with the current shelter.
@@PStaveley tbh all nearby platforms on the line to beckenham seem like an afterthought on the cheap.
I remember travelling through South Bermondsey with a friend one Saturday afternoon, and the platform was packed with Millwall football supporters. Although scheduled to stop there, we sailed through to London Bridge at a fair clip, and left them all behind!! (I'm glad I wasn't one of those people on the platform at the time!!).
Througb trains to Denmark Hill and Victoria ceased with the opening of the Overground line through Peckham Rye to Clapham Junction (which doesn't serve South Bermondsey) in 2012.
The folks on the platform would have probably been away fans awaiting a special train just for them to get back to London Bridge.
Jago, you are in a timewarp. The regular London Bridge-Victoria service ended 12 years ago! The South London Line became part of the crosstown Overground network. The termini for South Bermondsey services are East Croydon, or Crystal Palace- and beyond it Beckenham Jc, except on Sundays.
The South London line runs to a bay platform in Battersea Park and to Clapham Junction, but not Victoria since it was cut off by a platform extension at Battersea Park in 2012.
The Bricklayers Arms branch never connected to the SLL. When I was growing up I used to enjoy standing on the footpath opposite North Kent West Signals Signalbox, watching the freight trains come and go. Also, trains stopped going to Victoria years ago when they extended the platforms at Battersea Park. I think there's just one or two trains that run to Battersea Park from Wandsworth Road now.
You probably have this already Graham, but for others here's a 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines around the approaches to London Bridge, showing the original position of South Bermondsey station: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Bricklayers_Arms_%26_New_Cross%2C_Midhurst_RJD_91.jpg
You've made South Bermondsey look exciting and positively inviting, Jago. Are you ready to accept the challenge that is Northolt Park yet?
In a similar vein, I visited Wapping overground station recently. The main access to the platforms is by lift, headed by the sign "lift to platforms", except that it isn't, it's a lift to another flight of stairs which spiral down to the narrowest platforms I've ever encountered. I asked a few people what was going on behind the hoardings at the back of the platform, painted with a mural and looking fairly permanent. Nobody knew, or seemed to care. Does anyone here have any ideas?
From there to Peckham Rye used to be 3-tracked with platforms on the outside of the formation \m/
'Peckham Rye!' always sounds like a rousing imperative issued to a squadron of warrior pigeons when I hear it announced.
I can relate about south Bermondsey It’s the local station where I work the departure boards regularly fail the roof leaks and the ticket machine is regularly vandalised
This was my local station growing up. It was either this or run to Queens Road Peckham. This was decades before the overground ran through their. The walking route I used to take is now the overground route impressive I should go back and check how they made it circumnavigate the park unless the park is gone.
I wouldn't call it a park but there is still a green space next to the line.
@JoeGrohlDJ Yeah as a kid it was a park swings, slides and such but I haven't been there in many years now
Jago never fails to get my attention with these extremely interesting videos
"Playing with electricity." I've done that too. Scalextric and Hornby OO. 😂
I used to watch the steam trains here in the 1960s. There were always plenty of steam-hauled goods trains going to the Bricklayers Arms and Willow Walk sidings as well as engines running light to the Bricklayers Arms shed.
I can confirm that the earlier comment is correct: there did used to be a rather nice LBSC platform canopy and a ticket hut at the top of the stairs. The ticket hut was replaced by a brick structure at the bottom of the stairs sometime in the late 1970s/ early 1980s, and I suspect the canopy was probably removed around the same time. Sad to see it looking so seedy and uninviting today. The stairs to Ilderton Road are a fairly recent addition, but they were talked about for years.
As a sidebar...
Sometime in the late 1980s /early 1990s I overheard a conversation between two guys who (presumably) worked for what was then London Transport talking about extending the Bakerloo Line to South Bermondsey via the then-abandoned goods depot and bridge over Rotherhithe New Road, and rebuilding the station as an interchange. Like most of the plans to extend the Bakerloo Line, nothing came of it.
It’s also bang next to Millwall’s football ground, which would certainly account for the feeling of hopelessness and despair the station evokes.
UPDATE Oh bugger. Having crafted this extremely witty comment before the video ended I found that you then mentioned the football ground, without any pithy remarks on it. Probably wiser than me, given that it’s Millwall!
Certainly had me rolling in the aisles
My local station when I lived in London. I used to love the ticket office which was more like a bunker. Saturdays were a little busy but you got use to it!
One thing - trains don't go to Victoria any more. I think that changed as part of Thameslink 2000/Thameslink programme. Is the Bermondsey dive under connected? It looks like they go to Beckenham Junction (via Crystal Palace) or East Croydon via Norbury. They obviously go to London Bridge, as there's nowhere else to go!
It was more as a result of the introduction of the new Overground loop in South London in 2012.
Yay! I found this one really quickly. Didn't even have a chance to go into Jago-withdrawal.
Unless I'm going crazy the south london line service you describe (London Bridge to Victoria via Denmark Hill) hasn't existed for many years, having been replaced by overground services from Rotherhithe
A line doesn't change just because the service pattern on it changes.
@@stephenholt4670 is there currently any service at all on the described line?
It looks pleasantly bosky for that part of London. Definitely worth a visit.
While, admittedly, waiting for a train late at night at South Bermondsey is a bit 'iffy', the panoramic view of south London from the central platform is quite impressive.
There is a separate exit and entrance for away fans visiting the den, they leave the ground from the North Stand take a five minute walk fully separated from the home fans and then put onto trains to London Bridge at South Bermondsey Station. Jago if you need anymore Millwall FC info let me know, it’s more interesting than shifty Americans and West Ham.
Give the walkway its proper name, 'cowards' way' 😂
@@Oldcbl I was trying to play things down.
I have fond memories of South Bermondsey. My friend used to live near there when we were at uni and I used to return to London Bridge to get my train home from South Bermondsey. We used to sing, drunkedly, on the platform. Good times.
A funny tale if you will too, my Bermondsey born and bred friend, her eldest also born and bred there decided to support the "other" team and he had just bought a flat opp our new ground... well one fateful day he was catching the train into town to go see his own team as a ton of Millwall fans alighted and well they spotted his scarf and he gave them a ton of attitude and it is said they chased him virtually all the way to Rotherhithe on foot and within a week he had put his flat on the market and moved down here in Dorset to live with his mother lol So somewhat emasculated no doubt he wanders in to our local and to be fair he is a big bloke but a bully with it. He's at the bar loudly slagging off our team not knowing that in this small Dorset town are 25 of us ahem "players" so one of the chaps whispers in his ear to calm it down sort of thing as we are all down here for the quiet life and well, red rag to a bull and a few minutes later ambulance called and the lads went back to drinking their beers. So when he came out, he had one thing left up his sleeve to regain his manliness... He starts on my youngest daughter, who is tiny in build and stature but her provenance is a mix of London, Irish and Scots, her mothers family grew up next door to Lenny McLean in Hoxton and her uncle Wally Hanmore was one of the "firm" and the chap who used to own the black Ford Galaxie you always see in the Kray films... so another ambulance was called and I had to seriously calm my little girl down. Incidentally she was the last girl to be born in the now gone Greenwich hospital before they moved to the hospital that was the armys place next door to Woolwich barracks.
it reminds me a bit of Darnall station in Sheffield, which is similarly high up, bare and desolate, and the city's last remaining surburban station (unless you count Meadowhall)
during the few months I used it regularly, in late autumn and early winter, the one shelter on the platform was closed for rebuilding, so the only place you could shelter from the rain was in the underpass, making it hard to hear the trains coming, and impossible to see them, without getting drenched - happy days
I rarely travel south of the river, but funnily enough, I have fond memories of using South Bermondsey down the years. I used it to visit a warehouse on a nearby industrial estate to purchase cheap defective silk ties which I sold on, they were hardly defective at all, maybe a missed stitch or so, and of very good quality that were sold new in Jermyn Street.
The only times I ever used South Bermondsey was when Jubilee line was closed and I needed to come home from Maltby Street market and didn't feel like going back to London Bridge.
One of my favourite industrial/secret/pedestrian walks is along the railway and interchanges (with views into central london) from South Bermondsey as you go up to Surrey Quays/down to Surrey Canal Road and Bridgehouse Meadows. I have a similar oblique fondness for South Bermondsey station being high up and able to see into central from a little secluded/strange (almost free-floating) island.
Oh, Jago, you must see the joy of Ravensthorpe! To be honest, it's going to be made better by provision of platforms on the Huddersfield - Wakefield line soonish, but no. It isn't very scenic and is very utilitarian. You'll have to see it after the 20th because there is an engineers possession until then. Oh, yes, Jago, it's in the north and you owe me four pints in the West Riding Refreshment Rooms in Dewsbury railway station!
Is there some kind of flyover between the old and present sites of South Bermondsey station? I'm struggling otherwise to imagine how a double track station can end up with both tracks heading in the same direction.
IIRC there is a junction between the two sites with lines to and from what is now New Cross Gate station.
I find the high, relatively narrow island platform unnerving.
69th! I live fairly close to the station but it is nearly always pretty empty (except on match days), and I wouldn’t want to wait there late at night!
I use this station every so often for football. Its long overdue a rebuild, especially for the numbers it gets once a week. We can only hope for a future Surrey Canal station.
There was still a rather spindly looking LBSCR canopy at South Bermondsey until about 25 years ago. After that, it really did become bleak.
I think my and two colleagues tried to catch a slam door train from those sleeerr platforms after a night in bermondsey. Cannot remember what happened other than I still got home to Bexleyheath
The entrance to South Bermondsey is down a really long path from the road and this has actually been made longer than it was when the station first opened. I used to think that there was originally a second low-level island platform on the Bricklayers' Arms branch line and that the current entrance was actually the former interchange corridor between the 2 lines, but I did some research & it turns out this was never the case.
Thanks for such a well-researched video into this station! Further to my earlier comments, I'd like to say that I agree indeed that South Bermondsey indeed IS a very bleak station! Before redundancy at lockdown then retirement, I'd often commute home from London Bridge to Crystal Palace via South Bermondsey. That route terminates at Beckenham Junction.
Also really good to hear about the Bricklayers Arms marshalling yard! As a child in the 1960’s, it was in operation. And I used to love standing at Patterson Park fence, watching the diesel shunters pushing the old freight wagons around. And what were the other children doing? Playing football! Well, that shows where MY real interest was!
And yes, the bridge site you showed at 5:50 had the original one rusting away for many years, until replaced by that cycle bridge recently.
The third track through South Bermondsey, Queens Road and Peckham Rye was there to serve the electric train sheds at Peckham Rye, which handled the spare capacity of commuter stock out of London Bridge, to be stabled during the day. I think there were there right up until the early 60's being removed to make way for the island platforms at all 3 stations mentioned, when the sheds were no longer used. As a youngster I certainly remember a very forlorn Queens Road Peckham station, platforms each side of the up and down lines with a rather large gap between the two running lines were the third line once was. That dates me dunnit!
In the spirit of the Hex/HC debacle, there miight be room for a video on the different approaches to the New Den.
Close inspection from the island platform would reveal a fenced-off matchday-only path to what I believe are the visitor stands. IIRC home fans usually use Surrey Quays and walk along Bluebell Path to the home end. Surrey Canal Road would eventually serve their needs \m/
Top video as always!Would love to see more of the South London line! And not just cos it's my local line 😅
The service between Victoria and London Bridge via S Bermondsey no longer exists, and hasn't since 2012.
I absolutely love South Bermondsey as it was an old local stop for me, but for the love of god it has a lot of issues. I do remember the 455s and 456s stoping there and then the 377s and sometimes a 171 or two passing through it, just a lot of neat memories
I think that we all have a least favourite station..but this one certainly would be in the top (or bottom) ten! still..its better than walking!
My old station! I lived there for a year, and rather handily my road connected to the long path up to the station (seen at 5:20). Not South Bermondsey’s fault, but I moved there during a horrible time in my life and only having rail access to central London via the train to London Bridge didn’t really help. It wasn’t worth the 20 minute walk to Bermondsey station to catch the Jubilee line, as that didn’t take me near to where I worked in Holborn. I would walk 5 minutes to South Bermondsey, get the train to London Bridge (which is very speedy to be fair), then change and get a Thameslink to Farringdon (also fairly speedy). This video brought back some funny old memories! I did wonder “how and why have you managed to make a whole video about this station”, as I recalled nothing being there - no station building, bare platform, and with only one useful route (to London Bridge). It gave me a laugh that the video was triggered by your request for bad stations! Makes sense… I agree it’s not the worst station, I guess it’s not actively horrendous, just more ‘nothing-y’. Hope you enjoyed your visit anyway!
What a woeful excuse for a platform shelter. 6:33 The yellow bin in front looks more inviting.
This is my local station as I live on Ilderton Road! So presently surprised by the dedicated video for this non-TfL station!!
Are there really parts of the railway system without complicated history? 🤔🤔🤔
Some bits had fairly dull lives as quaint branch lines that closed pre beeching...but even they tended to be so picturesque they were interesting
The best thing about this station is walking street level either side of the track back towards London Bridge. Otherwise known as the Bermondsey beer mile, with multiple beer places under the arches.
I kinda knew you would like South Bermondsey it has a charm all of its own :)
Personally I just don't like how the stairs slope downwards at a weird angle that makes you feel like you're about to fall.
The stairs would be a nightmare for my wonky eyes.
The London station offering ultimate grimth would have to be Wembley Central main-line....compared with which S Bermondsey is an oasis of welcoming luxury.
I did some surveying work round here in the late 90’s as part of the planning for the London Overground. I have to say the area around South Bermondsey Station including around Surrey Canal Road was the only area I genuinely felt unsafe at any point during that piece of work. I’d visited various areas in Hoxton and Dalston too, long before gentrification, so that’s saying something! The footpaths to and from the station, as mentioned by others, I found particularly intimidating. Even though it was a sunny weekday afternoon, the whole area was virtually deserted.
I like south Bermondsey because it’s on my favourite line , “London’s Elevated Electric Railway “ I was even beginning a layout based on East Brixton , which I was thrilled to see on the map you used .
South bermondsey is also the start/ end of the Bermondsey beer mile!
Great video too.
Hi Jago. I love the concept of a destination being a pub (The Bricklayer's Arms); I'd vote for that!
The South London Line no longer goes to Victoria - or South Bermondsey for that matter. Since the opening of the Overground route the only trains through South Bermondsey turn left at Peckham Rye towrads Tulse Hill and Sutton. The Overground joins between S Bermonsey and Queens Road Peckham, and follows the SL route as far as Wandsworth Road where it turns left for Clapham Junction, except for a handful of services that go to Battersea park but cab no longr reach Victoria because an extended platform on the main line route has blocked the SL branch
There is a fair bit of open land either side of the railway, at the moment. I think that this island platform station should be replaced by a new side-platform station, slightly further to the south, and that the replacement station should have entrances at Bolina Road, Stockholm Road and Surrey Canal Road, so that the station can cope with football crowds.
The existing station could then be demolished and the third set of tracks could be put back, so that there is a place to turn back trains short of London Bridge. This would allow the line to South Bermondsey to continue to operate, whenever engineering works are needed at London Bridge Station or whenever there is an emergency closure of London Bridge. There is poor resilience in the railways in South East London and when one stops working, they all tend to chug up. So the investment to make it possible to isolate various bits of South East London track and keep some of the trains moving would be repaid the next time a major problem happens.
It's a real shame that this line had overhead electrification that was ripped out to replace it with inferior third rail. At some point the third rail in South London needs to go. I can imagine that this line would not be a major priority. However London Overground operates trains that switch between third rail and overhead electrification and so does Thameslink and the unnamed-but-awesome railway that goes between Clapham Junction and Watford Junction. So the time will come when it makes sense to get this swapped back to overhead electrification, as part of a project involving the West London Line, East London Line and Thameslink.
I think we need to get everywhere electrified before we spend money changing the method in already electrified track. It would cost far too much for little benefit.
Hi Jago, yes South Bermondsey is a weird little station, not very far from my partner and son's home.
Apart from match days, it's a pretty quiet station.
It's so out of the way from the street, you can easily miss it!
I passed through S Bermondsey with the Den kicking out. Crowded but not too uncomfortable
When I went to this station, there were dead pigeons under the railway bridge.
I used this station in the 1990s to get to and from Peckham Rye station and Southwark Model Railway Club. At that time the station was downright creepy; It was reached by a long footpath that passed through the site of the old tracks leading to the Bricklayers' Arms depot and the area was deserted - no buildings at all. There was no other way off this path except up to the station so if someone was following you, you would be trapped. The island platform was not even tarmac, it was wooden planks. There was nothing on the platform except for a few lamps and on at least one occasion these were not working. The fact that it was an island platform made it feel more intimidating, there was no way to get off it. I would have thought that having a large number of people on an island platform would be dangerous under any circumstances, there being a high risk of people being pushed off one side onto the track.
Jago, please do a video about either the Sutton-Belmont-Banstead-Epsom Downs branchline or the Reedham-Coulsdon Town-Woodmansterne-Chipstead-Kingswood-Tadworth-Tattenham Corner please thank you!
I grew up in that area and never hear them mentioned, even locally!
When I lived in London itsed to also get a lot of traffic from people attempting the 'Bermondsey Beer Mile' although I'm not sure quite how many of those (excellent) breweries survived the UKs decision to arbitrarily close the economy for several years, but a map shows a few of them and some pubs. It's a great little beer walk, spending the afternoon walking back from there to London Bridge via some nice railway arches and excellent ales dotted along the way
I like it lots... the height, the views, the slightly desolate feeling.
Reminds me of Old Roan Station on the Merseyrail Northern Line. Home to a bridge which seemed to get hit by double deck buses with alarming regularity. Come to think of it, its about due one.
Old Roan is less depressing! Despite the eponymous pub being derelict.
@@davidemmott6225 I've no idea whether South Bermondsey is truly depressing, I actually like a quiet station. Old Roan is rather peaceful, still has a feel of the 1960s about it. I still keep thinking that a Class 25 out of Containerbase towards Preston is going to appear any moment, especially on a quiet Sunday.
I go through it quite often, will get out and have a look next time.
One of my least favourites is its neighbour at Queens Road Peckham. High up and exposed, not much seating and only one tiny shelter accomodating two or three people depending on girth. The platform at the top of the stairs is dangerously narrow, one has to step outside the ominous Yellow Line in order to get past other passengers.
I use South Bermondsey Station when I have to travel to areas in London where the parking is non existent (parking permit only) or limited.
The Southern trains are very comfortable unlike the ironing board seats on the horrific Thameslink trains.
Free parking as it sits just outside of Southwarks Parking Zone.
There is a Gregg's if you need a cup of coffee or a bit to eat and also the Famous Mel's Cafe for a great English Breakfast.
Was the LBSC Elevated Electric called that because it ran on viaducts and embankments? I read somewhere that the name in fact related to its power supply coming via overhead wires. Both are plausible.
reminds me somewhat of St Johns on the southeastern line
Today I alighted at a station which was not on my itinery in order to take a survey of platform facilities before continuing my journey 15 minutes later. This was, of course, South Bermondsey.
It's a sort of mirror of Queens Road Peckham with fewer outside seats (6 to QRP's 9) but two decent sized shelters compared to the tiny booth at QRP.
No ominously narrow platform sections. Not a bad view of the "Eastern Cluster" - the skyscrapers in the City of London.
I also wonder if this is the innermost station with no ticket barriers.
"You are the new entrance to my hidden station" sounds like a double-entendre lead-in to something very X-rated. You might want to rethink that one!
Loved this vid history aspect spot on 👍
It just needs a little help from its friends… at Surrey Canal Road.
Well I'm certainly not going to visit this station - it's the wrong side of the river for this N London resident !! 🤣🤣
London Overground can take you on a trip through the East London Line to the next station along.
What’s wrong with crossing the River Thames? 😂 It won’t hurt you.
@@eastlancsesteem Nah - they're a dodgy lot in Sarf London !! 🤣🤣
I always enjoy your saucy endings!
I live near South Bermondsey station and I'm in a theatre group that stages its shows in the Greenwood Theatre in London Bridge, so I make heavy use of the station during show week, it's very convenient 😁 and that's about all I have to say about it 😂
Try looking at Basildon station horrible 70s nastiness - also part of the platform collapsed down the embankment two years ago, they haven't started to replace it yet, this means long trains can't stop there.
Not far from South Bermondsey station is where London Overground are planning to build a new station on Surrey Canal Road that would be very much close to Millwall FC The Den stadium. And could possibly replace South Bermondsey station.
Hello Jago, sorry to derail your narrative as it were, but at 0.33 you said the line through here goes from London Bridge to Victoria....... well, it used to but now the services from there head to London Bridge going Up Road, and East Croydon and Beckenham junction going Down Road. The stations along to Wandsworth Road are now covered by the London Overground service to Clapham Junction from the East London Line, picking up the old South London Line route at Queens Road Peckham...... But a good, interesting vid none-the-less!
I used to feel sorry for commuters that I'd see at South Bermondsey in the morning. It's not too far from London Bridge and connections with the Tube etc. but it probably would take a while to walk from there (and maybe on into the City) rather than catch a train. Many of the services coming through were already full as it's the last stop before London Bridge. Also, as said in the video, it is a bit up in the air and looks exposed to the elements.
It would take me about 35 minutes to walk between South Bermondsey and London Bridge stations, and there are many twists and turns along the route. I live right next to the viaduct midway between the two.
“South Bermondsey just can’t catch a break in wartime”
oh it caught a break, lots of them: broken windows, broken bricks, broken rafters…none of those breaks wanted!
We love you Jago ❤
I did my apprenticeship nearby so I got to know and used the station fairly often - grim but functional was my verdict. Best avoided when Millwall were playing.
If it isn't too late to suggest unlikable stations, may I suggest Erith in the London Borough of Bexley. It is down a rat infested ditch, the platforms are not parallel, it is not disabled friendly and is a trek from the town centre.
I always felt the same way about New Southgate station: desolate, isolated, plus all those intercity trains thundering past....
The escalator is broken.