like a stethoscope or something it's
like a stethoscope for tunnels but it's
got a nice long straight beam so you can
catch okay
okay you can use this bit as well thanks
even though i'm capturing it on my
camera
you're welcome
good morning two things number one
we're in london today we've gone from
rarely
visiting big towns and big cities more
covered in the countryside railways
to london straight away um number two
we've got some guides today you might be
able to see them just just see in the
background
um so it's always good to have a guide
and we've got a guide today because
we're covering
the crystal palace branch line
[Music]
yep it could be one of those days so you
join us in south
east london taking an official guided
tour from jeff and vicki
along the crystal palace branch line
built in 1865 it peels off
south here at nunhead station running
side by side the main line for around
about a quarter of a mile
before it turns even further south south
west
so you join us as we approach the first
station of the day
the journey today is going to see us go
off from none head
and head south to crystal palace of
course about high level what was
we've just left where it came off of
that um the main line
and we're gonna soon be on a oak oh no
on an oak but not on a road because i
think on a road was the current station
i'll ask our guide and it will confirm
that park on an oak
on oak that's it i want to add something
else i want to add a park or a road or
on a oak floor on oak park is the
current day yep
london overground station yep i'm going
to check on wikipedia i think honor oak
came first so today the crystal palace
railway had the privilege of
bagging the honor opening okay and when
those guys built their one they're like
well we can't call it on a road that's
called oak park
okay i'll check the dates on my phone
now do that
all right it's literally 10 seconds
later so honor oak
yep was first in 1865
but the honor oak station otto park yep
on what is now the brighton main line
didn't get the until 1886.
these guys bagged the honor opening
first well done
right jeff where are we forest hill
hornerman museum
haunted trail right railway it's all
good it's great
now just the other side of there is the
next station to tick off which is lord
ship
lordship lake lords of lane so the line
was built in 1865
by london chatham and dover
uh railway company has a branch line off
of their line down towards kent
the idea being to service crystal palace
of course they weren't the first station
there
london brighton and south coast railway
had beat them to it having put their
crystal palace low level in soon after
crystal palace was built
and that's really is a story of london
chat and dover
railway company's history they have
suffered from significant competition
not just in this area but also obviously
down into kent itself
in fact their name was originally east
kent railway company
uh changing their name in 1859 to sort
of
give you an indication of their
aspirations for the for their grander
plans
[Music]
we're in sydney woods sydenham hill
woods from hillwood sydney hill wood
and it houses the northern portal
present wood tunnel which will
invariably be locked because we're
in quite a populated area as they often
are
so this is the first tunnel of two today
this is crescent wood tunnel
it's 400 yards long it's straight it's
got eight
bricks i think it's in its arch it's
elliptical
i don't think we can see too far in this
one because it's got a um
two sets of doors so quick peek in and
uh yeah let's have some kind of storage
in there so you've got a 10 feet
uh recess and then another set of double
doors so i think we'll probably
get some pictures from the other end of
the tunnel um rather than
a picture of some still doors but you
know quite a quite impressive structure
[Music]
so our third station of the day which is
upper
sydney has the station master's house on
top of
uh the southern portal for crescent wood
tunnel
so we're just heading down the path now
alongside
the portal and down to upper sydenham
[Music]
[Applause]
station
so you might have to use your
imagination a bit here at upper sydney
um
i think we're about three three or four
feet above uh the level of the platforms
because it goes down to the tunnel
um just in front of us there but right
now where we stood
would have been the um platform heading
south
and also right here would have been a uh
footbridge just have a quick look at the
old side by side maps
and uh yeah got a full-on station here
despite the fact it was only just a
i know half a mile or so north of
crystal palace the final stop
also today you get to see
well you don't get to see what we get to
see behind the scenes
but also if you look at our social media
you'll know that we're fans of jeff
marshall vicki pipe
and all the work that they do jeff has
recently done
quite an amazing little playlist 10
videos in total it's going to be it
might be 13. i'll be 13.
lucky 13. london's lost railways if you
like what we do on this channel you'll
love that playlist
you can click on the playlist um by
clicking up here or wherever it's
link subscribe and smash the bell smash
the button do all of those things
because generally if you if you enjoy
what we do you'll love that playlist by
jeff it's a work of art
and when i mean a work of art i do mean
that because it's perfectly tightly
informative graphics you name it um
that that's payment right for your
course for the tour today yeah no
it's slightly off script let me write a
few words right let me just check the
notes
but this is my favorite out of all the
tunnel portals
even though i'm thinking even though the
one on the north side is sort of more
impressive
more people go there because it's the
woods whenever i've been here i've been
here like three or four times maybe it's
always
quiet and you never see anybody else and
i'm pretty sure that is the original
station building as well for uh location
so you get station building
plus tunnel portal plus none of this
derby all-round wins
so this is this is the north end
of the paxton tunnel i'm so disoriented
right now
yes yeah so we're facing south we're
facing south
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
southern portal of the southern tunnel
paxton tunnel
interestingly it's really ornately
decorated as is the southern portal of
crescent
hill tunnel further on what's
interesting though is the northern
portals to both tunnels so as you come
into crystal palace high level
are not decorated in any way shape or
form very boring brick boring
but as you go out of crystal palace
you've got this very strange
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
crystal palace high level itself was the
next and last stop of the day
[Music]
[Applause]
so you kind of have to use your
imagination as to what was here before
crystal palace high level the beautiful
ornate
ceiling uh yeah what is the word i'm
looking for
you you did me see ceiling roof yes
the crystal palace subway which allowed
passengers to
navigate to the palace itself is just at
the top of this wall here
it still remains today with its
beautiful fan vaulted brickwork on
display
full restoration is currently underway
so we intend to come back here
once it's fully open so we hope you
enjoyed that little vlog uh big thanks
to jeff and vicky for putting up with us
today
um they gave us a really good insightful
tour of the uh crystal palace high level
branch line
yep and if you click on the link above
you'll see jeff's playlist for his
abandoned lines on
the london railways and if you like what
we do
you'll love that indeed and if you're
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