LJ4D - Loughborough Junction's Built History

“Trams Under the Bridge” by Ashley Best I have shared images of this painting before, but in the meantime its original creator kindly sent me a good quality print of it, which means I can now show it in a bit more detail. The painting depicts Coldharbour Lane in the 1950s. At this point the entrance to the station was still accessed via a small brick extension built onto the side of the viaduct - where the arrows on the "booking office" sign point. Ashley Best has told me that he remembers visiting the location when preparing the painting but also used a number of secondary sources, and he doesn't remember in exactly what year he painted it.

A close look at a painting of Loughborough Junction in the 1950s.

Century-old survivors at Loughborough Junction station Loughborough Junction station, in its current form, is 100 years old this year - I recently added a new page to the main website covering its history since 1925. Quite a bit of what was built in 1925 has since been removed, but looking carefully it's possible to see plenty of details which remain. Doing this is made easier by looking at drawings held in the Network Rail Corporate Archive - drawings produced for the original construction.

A look at some of the details that survive from Loughborough Junction station's 1925 rebuild.

Lift Up LJ campaigners demand an accessible and safe station at Loughborough Junction Earlier this month, the Lift Up LJ Campaign was launched outside Loughborough Junction railway station by a group of locals in an effort to provide the community with a fit for purpose, accessible …

An article on @brixtonbuzz.bsky.social about the new campaign to improve Loughborough Junction's station, Lift Up LJ
www.brixtonbuzz.com/2025/09/lift...

The campaign website is here:

www.ljstation.com

The homepage of Lift Up LJ - a campaign for improvements to Loughborough Junction station.

"Lift Up LJ" is a new campaign focused on making Loughborough Junction station safe, accessible & fit for the 21st century: www.ljstation.com

No accessibility improvements have been made in the 100 years since the current station opened. I've written about the station's birthday in previous posts.

As of this week, Loughborough Junction station (as we currently know it) is 100 years old. Lots more detail here: colin-m.com/lj4d/loughbo...

Loughborough Junction Station after 1925 - LJ4D - Loughborough Junction's built history Visit the post for more.

For a fairly detailed history of the station from 1925 to the present day, I have written a new page on the main LJ4D website, here: colin-m.com/lj4d/loughbo...

Happy 100th birthday to Loughborough Junction station The advert above was placed in the "Camberwell and Peckham Times" 100 years ago on the 11th of July 1925, by the Southern railway company. It advertises a major change to services across part of their network: steam trains were out and new, faster and longer electric trains were in. For Loughborough Junction this didn't just mean a new timetable and new trains, it meant a rebuilt station. Several things changed: the curved platforms which were used by trains heading towards Denmark Hill were closed for good. The platforms on the "main line" for trains between Herne Hill and Blackfriars were rationalised, resuting in a single, wider and longer, island platform with new station buildings on it.

Loughborough Junction station (in its current form) is 100 years old this weekend! I have written a bit about it here -

My second time making the front cover of the Herne Hill Magazine with a photo of Loughborough Junction. The magazine is published by the @hernehillsociety.bsky.social.

The article is a version of this -
colin-m.com/2025/01/21/p...

More photos from the Higgs tower:
colin-m.com/2025/03/01/v...

Penthouses pose uncertainty for South London estate Plans to build luxury penthouses in south east London has hit a major hurdle as residents refuse to leave their Grade-II listed homes.

For those unfamiliar with the story, the owner persistently refuses to do essential repairs to the structure of the building. The residents have to live with temporary timber framework preventing their balconies from collapse & now the threat of eviction too. www.selondoner.co.uk/news/1903202...

Donate to Save Dorchester Court, organized by Dorchester Court Residents' Association We Need Your Help Now – Join the Fight to Save Our Homes and Our Herita… Dorchester Court Residents' Association needs your support for Save Dorchester Court

The residents of Dorchester Court, the 1930s Grade II listed estate at the top of Herne Hill that has been badly neglected by its freehold owners are fundraising to help cover their legal costs defending themselves against a planning appeal by the freeholder. www.gofundme.com/f/save-dorch...

Kate Macintosh photographed when young

Dawson's Heights

Dawson's Heights

1/ 🧵 To mark #InternationalWomensDay, a short tribute to some female architects of 1960s public housing. First up, Kate Macintosh and the incomparable Dawson's Heights Estate she designed for Southwark Borough Council aged just 28 in 1966.

If you can see the top of the Higgs tower... it can see you. Last week I took some photos from up there - see here:

colin-m.com/2025/03/01/v...

Views from the "Higgs Yard" tower, Loughborough Junction - LJ4D Yesterday I was kindly allowed up to the roof terrace on the top of the Higgs Yard tower. Here are some photos of a very familiar area, from an unfamiliar angle. You can click on the images to enlarge...

At the link below - some photos taken yesterday from the top of the "Higgs Yard" tower in the middle of Loughborough Junction. The view is as impressive as you might expect.

colin-m.com/2025/03/01/v...

Yes! Although as I understand it, bombs were nowhere near that accurate so if they happened to hit a railway line at all it was by luck.

The infamous Bengeworth Transformer, still sitting in Coldharbour Lane. Road signs now imply it could be there until this weekend.

Bomb damage at Loughborough Junction station - LJ4D For some time I have wondered why, visible here at the end of Rathgar Road, there is this concrete-framed structure inserted into the viaduct underneath Loughborough Junction station: This is roughly ...

I recently came across some 1940s photos that explain why a slightly mysterious structure under Loughborough Junction station exists - a WW2 bomb fell on the station, destroying part of the platform and viaduct beneath. I've written a bit about this here:
colin-m.com/2025/02/24/b...

Ah right - interesting. I'll have to go and have a look.

Ah, I think you mean the arches near the junction with Camberwell New Road. What was originally Camberwell station is a bit further down Camberwell Station Road - opposite the entrance to the bus depot.

No, I don't know what's afoot with Camberwell station - I haven't noticed anything happening there - what are they doing?

Two of the paintings I’m showing at the upcoming Affordable Art Fair in Battersea this coming March. Do you recognise the locations? Hint: both aren’t far from my studio in #Loughboroughjunction :)

Hinton Rd & Brixton Rec!

National Grid confirm that Coldharbour lane will be closed until Sunday at least.
www.nationalgrid.com/electricity-...

Power infrastructure old and new at Loughborough Junction: Bengeworth Road Power Station This weekend, the 18th/19th January 2025, a section of Coldharbour Lane was closed to traffic. This was to allow the delivery of a large electrical transformer unit to the National Grid substation…

2/. There must be some kind of problem because I think it was supposed to be moved yesterday and the road should have re-opened this morning.
I wrote about the first delivery a couple of weeks ago:

colin-m.com/2025/01/21/p...

1/ As of 5pm today (Tuesday) the 2nd of the two new "super transformers" to be delivered to the Bengeworth Rd substation site is still blocking Coldharbour Lane...

Yes, stretching the definition of "modern" a little bit!

An account of a walk around Loughborough Junction in 1989. The article links to a couple of other posts covering walks in the area. The author, Peter Marshall, has a lot of photos of London on Flickr - it's worth taking a look at his collection.

re-photo.co.uk?p=14994

A flight over Loughborough Junction in 1862.

There are lots more of these on the website here:
colin-m.com/lj4d/video/

Or directly on youtube:
www.youtube.com/@lj4d173/pla...

Ruskin Park’s stable block… rescued at last? Amongst the trees in the south-eastern corner of Ruskin Park is the “stable block” – a building that has been left unused and decaying for the past fifteen years or so. The Ruski…

A planning application has recently gone in to redevelop the "stable block" in Ruskin Park as a cafe / multi use space.
@ruskinparkse5.bsky.social (Friends of Ruskin Park) have been campaigning to find a use for this neglected building for some time.
colin-m.com/2025/01/24/r...

Power infrastructure old and new at Loughborough Junction: Bengeworth Road Power Station This weekend, the 18th/19th January 2025, a section of Coldharbour Lane was closed to traffic. This was to allow the delivery of a large electrical transformer unit to the National Grid substation…

I've written a bit about this including the history of the Bengeworth Power station site here:

colin-m.com/2025/01/21/p...