| East Brixton | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Station platforms facing west in 1963 | |
  East Brixton Location of East Brixton in Greater London | |
| Location | Brixton, London, England |
| Local authority | Lambeth |
| Grid reference | TQ314756 |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| Railway companies | |
| Original company | London, Brighton & South Coast Railway |
| Pre-grouping | London, Brighton & South Coast Railway |
| Post-grouping | Southern Railway |
| Key dates | |
| 13 August 1866 (1866-08-13) | Opened as Loughborough Park |
| 1 January 1870 | Renamed Loughborough Park and Brixton |
| 1 January 1894 | Renamed East Brixton |
| 5 January 1976 (1976-01-05) | Closed by British Rail |
| Other information | |
| Coordinates | 51°27′49″N0°06′26″W / 51.4636°N 0.1073°W /51.4636; -0.1073 |
 London transport portal | |
East Brixton railway station was a railway station inBrixton, south London. It was opened asLoughborough Park by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway in 1866. Regular passenger service was theSouth London line fromLondon Victoria toLondon Bridge terminal stations in central London. Initially provided with a steam passenger service, competition from electric trams caused a conversion to overhead line electric operation in 1909. The station became part of the Southern Railway in 1923 and overhead line electrification was swapped for third rail in 1928.
The station lost patronage after the opening of Brixton Underground station in 1971. There was a fire at the station in 1975 and it was closed byBritish Rail in January 1976. The station was located to the east side of the southernmost rail bridge[1] over Barrington Road, near Coldharbour Lane. Since 2012London Overground trains pass through the site of the former station without stopping and there has been some campaigning to reopen it.
The inner south London suburb of Brixton in the parish ofLambeth was connected to central London by rail on 25 August 1862 whenBrixton and South Stockwell railway station was opened by theLondon, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) on the line from Victoria through Brixton to Herne Hill. East Brixton station was opened on 13 August 1866 by theLondon, Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR) as Loughborough Park. It consisted of two platforms with wooden buildings on highpiers next to the railway viaduct. Initially the station was the western terminus of thesteam passenger service from London Bridge. Through service was established to Victoria on 1 May 1867.[2] The next station to the east was Denmark Hill and the next station to the west was Clapham (now called Clapham High Street).
In 1870 the station was renamedLoughborough Park and Brixton, before it was finally renamed East Brixton in 1894.[3]
The station was included in a proposal published in 1905 by the Australian engineerElfric Wells Chalmers Kearney for an undergroundmonorail-type railway. The plans for theKearney High-Speed Railway envisaged running a tube line fromCricklewood via central London, Brixton andHerne Hill toCrystal Palace, but were never realised.[4]
The popularity of the service was threatened by the development of the electric tram network and the line through the station converted to electric operation in 1909, powered byoverhead line.
Sunday service was withdrawn during the First World War, on 1 January 1917 and was not restored until 12 July 1925.[5]
In 1923 the LBSCR was grouped into theSouthern Railway. The Southern Railway had more miles ofthird rail track than overhead line so in 1928 the electric traction system on the route was switched.
After nationalisation of the railways the line and station became part of theSouthern Region of British Railways.
East Brixton station made a brief appearance in the 1948 comedy filmA Date with a Dream. It is seen in the background of a scene in which two soldiers (played by Len Lowe and Bill Lowe) walk along Barrington Road.[6]
Over the years the station became progressively neglected and lost passengers from 1971 whenBrixton Underground station opened nearby as the southern terminus of the newVictoria line. With declining passenger numbers and the station requiring extensive repairs to the wooden platforms and buildings it was decided that the expense was not justified. There was a fire in 1975 which temporarily closed the station but the station reopened and was finally closed on 5 January 1976.[7] The platforms and its buildings were demolished shortly after closure. Nothing now remains of the station at track level, although there are some arches and windows in the viaduct of the still used line.[citation needed]
In 2012, most of theSouth London Line service was incorporated into theLondon Overground network as part of theEast London line extension project.[8][9] Trains now run from Clapham Junction to Wandsworth Road, follow the same route to Queens Road Peckham, then join the East London line core route at Surrey Quays. This service runs through Brixton, East Brixton and Loughborough Junction without stopping. The plans were criticised for missed opportunities to create new interchange stations withThameslink and theVictoria line.[10][11] No stations are planned at these locations as the line is on high railway arches, making the cost of any station construction prohibitive.[12]
In 2014 it was suggested that a re-opened East Brixton station could provide a form of interchange with the Victoria line and Thameslink as it would be located almost exactly in the middle of the two lines. This was the subject of a petition to parliament.[13][14]
In March 2017, Lambeth Council started a review to see if there was a business case for reopening the station, working withTransport for London andNetwork Rail.[15]
In August 2017,Labour’sFlorence Eshalomi MP andConservative member of the London Assembly,Andrew Boff, called for the station to be re-opened.[16]
In August 2018, theLiberal Democrats’Caroline Pidgeon called for the reopening of East Brixton, by launching a petition.[17]
In May 2022, James Bryan, the Labour Councillor for Brixton North (the ward which encompasses the former train station) made the case for the station to be reopened.[18]
![The London Overground network; East Brixton is between Denmark Hill and Clapham High St[19]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aLondon_Overground_map_2012.png)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clapham High Street | British Rail Southern Region South London Line | Denmark Hill | ||
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