Hither Green marshalling yard, is a large railway

marshalling yard A classification yard (American English, as well as the Canadian National Railway), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, and Australian English, and the former Canadian Pacific Railway) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway y ...

designed for the concentration of

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

traffic to and from South East London, and for transfer to other yards in London. It is situated on the north side of the

South Eastern Main Line The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are the ...

between

Hither Green Hither Green is a district in south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham. It forms the southern part of Lewisham, 6.6 miles (10.6 km) south-east of Charing Cross, and on the Prime Meridian. Growing extensively with ...

and Grove Park stations. The facility was conceived and built by the South Eastern Railway after 1895, but by the time it opened in 1899 this railway had become part of the

South Eastern and Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eas ...

History

Freight traffic was considered to be of minor importance for much of the existence of the South Eastern Railway, but during the early 1890s the situation began to change. A growth in freight traffic was experienced to and from London, Kent and the Continent, and also for transfer to other railways in the north of England. This traffic was beginning to overwhelm the existing facilities at Bricklayers Arms which was also poorly sited with respect to transfer freight using the

East London Line The East London line is a railway line running north to south through the East, Docklands and South areas of London. It is used by London Overground services. It was previously a line of the London Underground. Built in 1869 by the East Lond ...

. Following the opening of Hither Green railway station in 1895 plans were therefore made for the construction of a new marshaling yard nearby. This location gave excellent access to the

and also had a connection with the Dartford Loop Line. It provided easy links to the neighbouring

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR (known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton)) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at ...

, and the Great Eastern, Great Northern, and Midland Railways via

. The new facility opened in 1899 after the formation of the

. The yard passed in to Southern Railway (SR) ownership in 1923 and fulfilled an important part in its plans for the re-organisation of freight traffic in South London, and connections with other railways. New junctions were created in the period 1927–1933. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the rail yard was also a frequent target of enemy action. The yards passed into

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

ownership in 1948, and in 1960 a new freight depot opened south of St Mildreds Road, handling at its peak over two million tonnes a year of continental fruit and vegetables. However, following the decline of rail freight the St Mildreds site was developed to become the Up side

Electric Multiple Unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

stabling roads of Grove Park depot. All roads provide

Third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...

750 volt DC

traction current Railway electrification is the use of electric power for the propulsion of rail transport. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), electric multiple units (passenger cars with their own ...

. The Southeastern Safety Training Centre was also built here.

Motive power depot

The Southern Railway opened a new

motive power depot A motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds" or just "sheds". Facilit ...

to the south of the station in 1933. In 1947, the sheds were the scene of a serious

boiler explosion A boiler explosion is a catastrophic failure of a boiler. There are two types of boiler explosions. One type is a failure of the pressure parts of the steam and water sides. There can be many different causes, such as failure of the safety val ...

, where both driver and fireman were severely scalded, but survived. The depot closed to steam in 1961 and was converted to Hither Green Traction Maintenance Depot. Hither green TMD 1980

References

External links

Southern E-group Hither Green

Pathe News, New British Railways Continental Freight… 1960
{{Railway yards in Great Britain Hither Green Rail yards in the United Kingdom 1899 establishments in England Transport in the London Borough of Lewisham Rail infrastructure in London