Location Purley Managed by Southern DfT category E Address Purley, United Kingdom | Grid reference TQ309606 Station code RHM Fare zone 6 Number of platforms 2 Original company South Eastern Railway, UK | |
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Similar Coulsdon Town railway st, Woodmansterne railway station, Purley Oaks railway st, Coulsdon South railway st, Chipstead railway station | ||
Reedham railway station is a railway station in the south of Purley in the London Borough of Croydon on the Tattenham Corner Line. The local area is residential and the station is near the A23 Brighton Road. The Brighton main line is adjacent, but is not served by this station.
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Although occasionally referred to as Reedham (London), it is more commonly and officially known as Reedham (Surrey) to distinguish it from Reedham railway station in Norfolk.
History
The station was opened by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway on its branch line to Tattenham Corner as Reedham Halt on 1 March 1911. Situated 49 chains (990 m) from Purley railway station, it was built with 300-foot (91 m) long platforms and adjoined an overbridge crossing Old Lodge Lane in Purley. It took its name from the nearby Reedham Asylum for Fatherless Children, founded in Richmond by philanthropist Andrew Reed in 1844. The asylum was renamed Reedham Orphanage in 1904 and Reedham School in 1950. It closed in 1980, but the trust which ran it still occupies the original lodge (gatehouse) of the estate.
After a period of temporary wartime closure between 1917 and 1919, the halt became a station on 5 July 1936. On 12 May 1980, the suffix "Surrey" was added to the station's name to distinguish it from Reedham (Norfolk). Some timetables used to refer to the station as "Reedham (GLC)". Having first been lengthened in advance of electrification of the line in 1928, the platforms were again extended in 1982 to take eight-car trains in the days when a train had both a driver and a guard. However nowadays, due to lack of station CCTV to assist the driver to close the doors safely, trains without train-mounted external cameras are only permitted to open the doors on the first four carriages.
A new passenger footbridge was installed in late 2013, removing the existing disabled access; the platforms were also resurfaced.
Services
Trains serve the station every 30 minutes off-peak (more frequently at peak times) and weekends in each direction. London-bound trains now run to/from London Bridge via Norwood Junction during the day Mon-Fri (and all day Saturdays & Sundays), with direct services to London Victoria only in weekday peak periods and evenings.
It was initially proposed that from 2018, when the Thameslink Programme is completed, services on this line would be operated with larger 12 car trains offering all day direct services to Cambridge via London Blackfriars. However, in September 2016, these proposals have been dropped; instead, services on the Tattenham Corner Line are to "remain as Southern South London Metro services with increased capacity as compared to today".
Connections
London Buses route 455 serves the station.