Angerstein railway for railway press

 

In Greenwich we have just had a surprise decision by Network Rail about one of the last open level crossings in London. The crossing itself unusual, and locally listed. The threat of closure led to a community campaign which revealed how busy it is despite its isolation.

The Angerstein Railway handlesfreight only to Angerstein wharf and is the only remaining railhead on the River, running to the River from a junction between Charlton Station and the Blackheath tunnel. In a recent Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society Newsletter Bob Carr described some of the traffic which uses it:-

“Several freight trains bring aggregate from Bardon Hill quarry to Charlton each week. …..the train left Bardon Hill at 23.20 … it turned north through Leicester to Syston, and then travelled through Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Corby, and thence to Kettering … then … down the Midland Mainline to Cricklewood. …… Wandsworth Town ... Crayford … Slade Green … Charlton to Angerstein Wharf – due at 6.37am..itwas pulled by a 3,300 bhp diesel-electric locomotive, most of which were made in London Ontario. The load was 2,000 tonnes and the maximum speed 60 mph. It would very likely have consisted of twenty 100 ton bogie wagons.”

 

So, a bit of historicalbackground on the line:John Julius Angerstein was an 18^thcentury  financierthought to be the son of Empress Ann of Russia and a British banker. In 1851 his son financed a private railway running on an embankment to the River from the Blackheath Tunnel and leased it to the South Eastern Railway.

Up until the 1970s the line was used heavily with branch lines to the East GreenwichGas Works, to the massive Charlton glassworks and many other works. Today the line carries about eight trains daily. We understand there is demand for an increased number of trains and a new signalling system is being installed.

From Westcombe Park Station a bridge runs across the Blackwall Tunnel Approach road to a crossing over the Angerstein line. It is on the line of a footpath which originally ran from Coombe Farmhouse to fields and chalk pits. Atunnel may once have gone under the line- some of it seems to remain. Once over the railway a footpath between houses leads to Fairthorn Road.  The crossing is in a charming and isolated spot where you can imagine yourself at a 19^th century countryside railway. I can claim to have been on one of the few passenger trains on this line – on a spotters’ special, where my husband and many friends were waiting on the crossing to see us come down the line

Over the past couple of years Network Rail havemade it clear that they want to close the crossing – which is heavily used by pedestrians going from new housing estates in Charlton to Westcombe Park Station. There have been threats of legal action and arguments about whether the old farm footpath was a right of way.  To cut a long story extremely short a letterfrom our localMember of Parliament, Matt Pennycook, to local residents says:”as a result of the collective pressure we exerted, an independent review was commissioned by Network Rail which concluded that there are sufficient grounds in this case to disapply the national algorithm that the organisation uses to determine safety risk at individual crossings….Network Rail are content to treat Angerstein as an exception to their general policy vis-à-vis such crossing closures”.

 

Currently the crossing features in a two booksout this month '100 Things to see in Greenwich' by Solange Berchaminand in my own ‘The Greenwich Riverside. Upper Watergate to Angerstein’ .It hasbeen listed as of 'community value', and on the net is the subject of various videos, blogs and podcasts , There are many other articles in the press . For more details on the line there is an authoritative article on the gas works extensions to the line by Malcolm Millichip'East Greenwich Gas Works Railway'Railway Byelines 11/1998,.And many otherarticles in the railway press since at least the 1950s.

Mary Mills