Station Memories
Addiscombe station was located on the Lower Addiscombe Road, and was the terminus of the two-mile line which forked off the Charing Cross to Hayes line at Elmers End.
The station was the second to built on the site and was opened in 1899 by the South Eastern Railway company. It was the last station to be built by the company before its merger with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company.
The original Addiscombe Station was opened by the Mid Kent Railway Company on April Fools Day 1864 as an extension to their Beckenham railway line. It was called Addiscombe Road.
The carriage shed was built in 1925 in conjunction with the electrification of the branch line and was often used for berthing the electric multiple units that worked surburban services out of Charing Cross or Cannon Street. With electric passenger services commencing from Addiscombe on February 28, 1926. The station was renamed Addiscombe (Croydon). The stations last name change took place in June 1955, becoming Addiscombe Station.
Addiscombe station was one of the last stations with a semaphore signalling system and a south Eastern Railway wooden signal box was still in operation until it was destroyed by fire in March 1996.
With East Croydon station in close proximity and offering more frequent and direct trains to London, passenger numbers dwindled. With Addiscombe station losing its through services from April 1976 and with the goods yard closure in June 1968, the station became little used.
After being part of the railway network for 133 years, Addiscombe Station finally became a casualty of the Croydon Tramlink project on May 31, 1997.
From Gerry Futrall, Purley.