Trains at: East Croydon, BML, 21/12/19

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

[@oranoconnell108]

I love the Brighton main line so much it is undoubtedly my favorite line in the ik thank u so mouth for filming here!!!!

[@Tornado922]

Well you're very welcome

[@leccystar]

Fun fun fun. Continue your amazing content.

[@VisionForDynamics]

Yes

[@ghighlandchieftain4462]

Great video tornado 922 merry Christmas and happy new year to u

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, I hope you had a great Christmas and you have a wonderful new year

[@Matthew_Webb_2023]

I was on board 375/152 that came bouncing into the station. I would have come to say hello but I had a meeting to go to. And yes it was a rather harsh bounce

[@Tornado922]

Well next time I'm in the area and you have some free time you would be more than welcome to come over and say hello :) From where I was standing the bounce looked absolutely horrendous!

[@europeantransporttv212]

Great video!! I love East Croydon. Its an amazing station!!

[@Tornado922]

thanks very much, this is a great station to come to

[@VisionForDynamics]

Thanks for filming my favourite trains, Electrostars

[@Tornado922]

You're more than welcome

[@1BarnetTE.]

Is it okay for me to vomit now? I hate Electrostars and Aventras. Don't even mention it.

[@VisionForDynamics]

@@1BarnetTE. How could you? How dare you?! Those are my favourite Bombardier trains! Want to vomit? Vomit on the 445, because I don't like that train. But other than that,
HOW DARE YOU!! GRRR😡😠

[@nonameunfortunately]

@@1BarnetTE. did you have to say that? You are acting so immature from saying that!

[@arnoldspottingvideos5269]

@@1BarnetTE. if you don't like Electrostars, then which trains do you like the most

[@paulandrews4551]

Love your sarcasm about people getting on trains we have all thought it at one time or other

[@Tornado922]

Just baffles me at times haha

[@LucyMichela]

Fitting you did this after the East Midlands as a large number of those 171s are getting turned back into 170s for EMR by 2022

[@Tornado922]

I hadn't actually realised that they were going to EMR

[@LucyMichela]

@@Tornado922 yeah it's weird too because it leaves Southern with so few of them and no real plans for their replacement so well done on that front boys

[@JimbobsTransportVideos]

Nice station great video

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@paulhill8224]

Great video Tornado922, can u please do a video on u ranting about anything u like to, and merry christmas and have a happy new year.

[@blkpig6664]

Hahaha!

[@chrisatrailway7573]

Great video 👍🍺🎅

[@Tornado922]

thanks very much

[@arnoldspottingvideos5269]

Great video Tornado922. And Merry Christmas to you. 🎄🎅

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, I hope you and you're family had a wonderful Christmas

[@arnoldspottingvideos5269]

I will

[@srgntsylveon2919]

Again i said in the last video cor blimey you've uploaded a lot of

[@Tornado922]

Had to try and get it all out before Xmas

[@thekentishtrainspotter3052]

I like the east coastway from Brighton to Hastings via Lewes

[@Tornado922]

I haven't been on that route yet but I sure I will travel on it eventually

[@thekentishtrainspotter3052]

Tornado922 you should it’s a beautiful scenery

[@leccystar]

I caught 377466 at Eastbourne! 😛

[@Tornado922]

Nice!

[@aleksandralobodziec439]

eastbourne is my hometown

[@dibejac8391]

the best thing about this video is that there is commentary it is so boring with out it so thx

[@Tornado922]

That's very kind of you to say, I'm glad you like my commentary :)

[@timdaugherty5921]

Merry Christmas!!!

[@Tornado922]

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas

[@maimadha]

Great video

[@Tornado922]

thanks very much

[@blkpig6664]

Sweet Art and Sky, makes it look so future against the Station. So many (FLU) stains where you were, brave man! Jokes aside, flawless work here, nice one bruv.

[@Tornado922]

This was a great station to come to, one of my favourites in the capital! And I didn't catch the FLU ;)

[@blkpig6664]

;}

[@blkpig6664]

Yeah, this is a real winner and has a great feel. Glad the FLU missed you ;}

[@sctrains3687]

Nice video 👍

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much

[@traintripsoftheuk8285]

I am going to film Leamington to Birmingham Moor Street with stations in between but should I include stations between Solihull and moor Street

[@Tornado922]

I think you should

[@cazz3130]

I just saw a human tube map by Geoff Marshall

[@Tornado922]

ok

[@levichalcraft8702]

20:50 That could be a brilliant lecture on train logic

[@alisonrawlings6679]

And one of his brilliant rants

[@Tornado922]

Maybe it should be a new career for me haha

[@raphaelnikolaus0486]

Regarding your rant: I do think alike. But what about more busy hours, in stations where people (can) enter from both ends of the train, maybe also carrying luggage? (And I'm still looking for the answer/solution myself, so I'm hoping you can maybe help out.)

[@Tornado922]

Most of the trains running on this network have the capacity for luggage to be stored. But even then there are announcements made by the staff telling passengers to use the entire length of the platform as well as the train

[@lhj592]

Clapham junction does get a bit boring every year though particularly as you already did it two weeks ago. Could you maybe do somewhere different

[@iaspex1289]

I like keeping Clapham Junction as the last station of the year

[@Tornado922]

I appreciate that there was two in close succession to one another but Clapham junction is always the end of year film for this channel

[@ousmanlowe8364]

Good video and can you flim at richmound

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much, I will look into it for you

[@rhysd2727]

Merry Xmas

[@Tornado922]

I hope you had a great Xmas!

[@timdaugherty5921]

What does that sign FLU mean ?

[@blkpig6664]

I know right. I'm just glad he never caught it!

[@Tornado922]

It stands for FULL LENGHT UNIT, it means that a train that is 12 cars long has to stop at that part of the station

[@blkpig6664]

That makes sense!

[@cazz3130]

When is your next trainspotting video releasing?

[@Tornado922]

I'm spacing them out as much as possible because I'm not doing any filming at the moment whilst the coronavirus is in full swing

[@cazz3130]

@@Tornado922 ok can't wait when you film at Ipswich or Norwich because you'll see the class 755's

[@realkdy1789]

Random question but have you ever been to warrington

[@Tornado922]

Not yet

[@realkdy1789]

OK thank you

[@millercool21]

The 43 is a girl the 377 is a boy the 707 is a girl and umm

[@oncewasmoody]

Where do you live

[@Tornado922]

I live in Northamptonshire

[@arnoldspottingvideos5269]

Are you near Northampton station

[@stayalivegaming1018]

6th notigicationsqaud

[@robertabroadbent1156]

TRAINMAN 305 TEAM HAS COPIED YOU

[@Tornado922]

In what way?

[@ClaretBlueTrainspotter]

Great video.

[@Tornado922]

Thanks very much