IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Aylward Road, LONDON, SW20 9AJ

The plate on the bridge unusually puts the structure number before the line reference. Perhaps this is to avoid confusion as the line reference also includes a number. The line is Wimbledon to Sutton, the road is Cannon Hill Lane.

The Wimbledon - Sutton line crosses Whatley Avenue. The left hand abutment is a large pier shared with bridge 6, over Cannon Hill Lane.

Spring blossom graces a suburban street.

A small green with a few trees at the junction of Beaford Grove and Buckleigh Avenue.

The Wimbledon to Sutton line was first proposed in the early 1880s with the intention of stimulating house building across the clay pastures between the two towns, which up until then had remained largely untouched. Lack of enthusiasm or downright opposition from established railway companies, particularly the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway, prevented any progress until after the First World War. The LBSCR went to such lengths to prove there was no need for a railway north of Sutton that when a Parliamentary committee in 1910 was considering a Bill for the line they produced a lady who explained that she had once tried to hail a bus which used to run between Wimbledon and Sutton. The conductor was so surprised that he failed to signal to the driver to stop, and the driver turned round to see what the lady was waving at. The line finally opened in 1930, nearly 50 years after it was first proposed. The Wimbledon to Sutton line was designed for electric trains, with many inclines and sharp curves, although it hardly justified the drivers' nickname for it: "Wall of Death". South Merton, along with other stations on the line, has a single central platform. This cuts down the need for a footbridge and the station is approached by a single set of steps down from Martin Way at the junction with Mostyn Road. This is the view up the line towards Wimbledon Chase.

Behind South Merton Methodist Church.