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Old Lodge Lane, PURLEY, CR8 4DG

Opened in 1911 by the South Eastern & Chatham Railway on the branch line from Purley to Tattenham Corner. View south towards Coulsdon Town and Tattenham Corner.

A branch line along the Chipstead Valley from the Brighton Main Line was first projected in 1884. This scheme failed to take off. The line from Purley East Junction to Kingswood & Burgh Heath was eventually opened on 2nd November 1897 as a single track and this was doubled during 1899. The line finally reached Tattenham Corner on 4th June 1901 - Derby Day. Reedham station opened as Reedham Halt on 1st March 1911. The station took its name from the nearby Reedham Home for Fatherless Children, opened in 1844. This in turn took its name from its founder, philanthropist the Rev. Andrew Reed - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Reed_(clergyman) The purpose of Reedham Halt was to enable Chipstead Valley passengers to reach the orphanage and the new housing being built along the nearby main road. The Home was renamed Reedham Orphanage in 1904 and Reedham School in 1950. It closed in 1979, but the trust which ran it still occupies the original lodge (gatehouse) of the estate, just east of the station on the corner of Old Lodge Lane and Reedham Drive. The halt was renamed as a station on 5th July 1936. Reedham station is very close to the main Brighton line (see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3045080 ), and in fact the line between Reedham and Coulsdon Town station, the next one to the south, runs alongside the main line almost the whole way.

A 2-EPB unit enters the Up platform on its way to Purley. The London to Brighton main line can be seen in the background, while the road passing under the bridge is Old Lodge Lane.

The temporary works in the station forecourt in a previous photo Image had been removed.

This is the bridge for the line which runs to Tattenham Corner. The bridge for the main line was directly behind me.

On the west side of Brighton Road (A23) almost opposite the Old Lodge Lane junction.

This shows the northern end of Old Lodge Lane, looking south from where it joins Brighton Road. The apartment blocks on the Western side (right) are new (2006), but the property on the eastern side pre-dates the first world war. The bridge in the background carries the ex-SER Tattenham Corner branch, and Reedham Station is just up to the left at this point.

In the distance, the fast lines to Coulsdon and the gap through the Downs.