Selhurst fast line spur to St James' Junction

[Thebaz]

Following on from the discussion here, I'd be interested to know whether there were any regular services in the past (pre 1982) that used the fast line spur between Selhurst and St James' Junction on the West Croydon branch. I remember passing the remains of the junction on the train as a child when the trackbed was still very visible as it had only recently been lifted.

 

[JonathanH]

Following on from the discussion here, I'd be interested to know whether there were any regular services in the past (pre 1982) that used the fast line spur between Selhurst and St James' Junction on the West Croydon branch. I remember passing the remains of the junction on the train as a child when the trackbed was still very visible as it had only recently been lifted.

The place to look is 'passenger services over unusual lines' which has been compiled for many years, including pre 1982.

https://www.branchline.uk/PSULdocs.php

PSUL

Passenger Train Services over Unusual Lines

listing regular passenger trains over obscure rail routes in the British Isles

 

[Thebaz]

Okay thanks. Looks like it was only ever used a couple of times a day (presumably for route knowledge retention) with the last mention being 83-84. I had wondered whether it was ever used for any Victoria-Portsmouth/Bognor via Sutton services but there's nothing listed and I don't think it lists services diverted because of engineering works. It probably would have seen a lot of use after the Purley crash had it not been lifted as a lot of Brighton mainline services were diverted that way (I remember seeing Gatwick Express services between West Croydon and Sutton.)

 

[steamybrian]

It was known as the Emergency Spur and was rarely used.
An alternative route was via the slow lines spur which is in use today.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Pre 1900 Selhurst to Balham was two tracks, on the west side of the current formation. Thus the emergency spur was the connection from Selhurst to West Croydon. This changed on quadrupling as a new connection was made to the new slow lines on the east side. What was the original connection became the emergency spur. As Selhurst to Sutton never seems to have had fast services I suspect the emergency spur became used only when engineering work blocked the slow lines north of Selhurst.

 

[Rescars]

Pre 1900 Selhurst to Balham was two tracks, on the west side of the current formation. Thus the emergency spur was the connection from Selhurst to West Croydon. This changed on quadrupling as a new connection was made to the new slow lines on the east side. What was the original connection became the emergency spur. As Selhurst to Sutton never seems to have had fast services I suspect the emergency spur became used only when engineering work blocked the slow lines north of Selhurst.

Or if the Portsmouth/Bognor route via Mitcham Junction was blocked. I recall seeing main line trains running through Wallington in the early 1980s which would normally have run via Mitcham Junc. Presumably they used the emergency spur to reach the fast lines at Selhurst.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Good point.

 

[Thebaz]

Pre 1900 Selhurst to Balham was two tracks, on the west side of the current formation. Thus the emergency spur was the connection from Selhurst to West Croydon. This changed on quadrupling as a new connection was made to the new slow lines on the east side. What was the original connection became the emergency spur. As Selhurst to Sutton never seems to have had fast services I suspect the emergency spur became used only when engineering work blocked the slow lines north of Selhurst.

Good info, thanks.

 

[Surreytraveller]

I imagine that it must have been similar to the layout which exists at Streatham North Junction today?

 

[zwk500]

I imagine that it must have been similar to the layout which exists at Streatham North Junction today?

Close to it, but not too similar: https://www.londonreconnections.com/2014/study-sussex-part-7-east-croydon/

 

[30907]

I imagine that it must have been similar to the layout which exists at Streatham North Junction today?

It was always double track, as the Streatham Jn Fast Spur used to be.

 

[PGAT]

As Selhurst to Sutton never seems to have had fast services I suspect the emergency spur became used only when engineering work blocked the slow lines north of Selhurst.

There have been 2 occasions where I used the emergency spur heading towards West Croydon. Both of which were when severe delays occurred and trains ran fast from Clapham Junction to Selhurst