Eltham Park

[frodshamfella]

Does anyone have any memories of this station on the Bexleyheath Line ? I never used it, although I used the line a lot. The station seems somewhat rundown , had large canopies over the platforms from what I remember. Eventually lost its Sunday service, probably along the same time as Eden Park and Albany Park did, is there something in the name "park" that did that !!? Eltham Park and the nice station at Eltham Well Hall, were replaced by the rather unlovely " Eltham ".

 

[yorksrob]

I remember reading that the back end of a ten carriage EPB would still be leaving Well Hall as the front end entered Park.

 

[CarltonA]

I used the station in about 1982. Having got on the wrong train the day before I was hoping for better luck returning home the following day. The station staff had closed the gates a few minutes before 09.30hrs to stop off peak ticket holders getting onto peak trains. Nobody was allowed past as far as I could tell, regardless of tickets held. As the last peak train left, the gates were opened to allow the arriving prisoners off the station and then the riff raff could come in with their off-peak tickets. That's how it seemed to me on that one day, but it could have been an unusual situation.

 

[Roger1973]

The Kent Rail website has more, if you have not met that (and also a page on Well Hall of course).

I have vague memories of making a journey from one to the other on the last day (I may still have the ticket somewhere) - home then was on the Sidcup line, so not a station I used 'for real'.

It was not uncommon when 'slam door' trains were still running on the SE suburban lines (and when there was a ticket collector on duty) for the barrier to be closed once the train was in the platform, to stop last minute passengers trying to jump on, similarly at Charing Cross, the barriers would close briefly as trains departed. (although this wasn't possible at Waterloo East, London Bridge, Lewisham and so on.) - closing the barriers for several minutes before a train was due to leave sounds like someone was being a bit over-cautious...

 

[John Webb]

I lived with my parents on the north (Plumstead Common) side of Shooters Hill, and can recall several occasions my father and I went over to Eltham Park as one of the shops by the station had model railways for sale - possibly other toys as well. I can recall a display in the window of what I think were 7mm/ft coaches. But this was in the mid-1950s when I was still in single figures. By the time I became more mobile on my bicycle around the age of 11years, I think the shop had closed.
In Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith's 1991 Middleton Press book "Lewisham to Dartford" (covering both the Bexleyheath and Sidcup lines) the station with it's large canopies and waiting rooms and roofed-over walkways down to the platforms is described as the most opulent on the whole line. It was originally opened as "Shooters Hill and Eltham Park" but the prefix was dropped in October 1927.

 

[frodshamfella]

The Kent Rail website has more, if you have not met that (and also a page on Well Hall of course).

I have vague memories of making a journey from one to the other on the last day (I may still have the ticket somewhere) - home then was on the Sidcup line, so not a station I used 'for real'.

It was not uncommon when 'slam door' trains were still running on the SE suburban lines (and when there was a ticket collector on duty) for the barrier to be closed once the train was in the platform, to stop last minute passengers trying to jump on, similarly at Charing Cross, the barriers would close briefly as trains departed. (although this wasn't possible at Waterloo East, London Bridge, Lewisham and so on.) - closing the barriers for several minutes before a train was due to leave sounds like someone was being a bit over-cautious...

They used to do that at Bexleyheath, in the morning rush hours, to get trains away on time, the ticket office door to the up platform was locked for a brief period.

 

[gmaguire]

With the current unlovely Eltham station, it takes too long to walk from the bus stop on Well Hall Road to the up platform. That bus stop is closed at the moment as well… The down platform at least has stairs, but for the up platform you have to walk (or run) up the ramp.

 

[frodshamfella]

With the current unlovely Eltham station, it takes too long to walk from the bus stop on Well Hall Road to the up platform. That bus stop is closed at the moment as well… The down platform at least has stairs, but for the up platform you have to walk (or run) up the ramp.

Its really pretty horrid compared to Well Hall, where you had a bus station right outside..." integrated Transport "