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The image above was taken on the 16th of April 1954 by RC Riley, a railway photographer who grew up in South London and commuted between his home station of Tulse Hill and Holborn. His journey would have taken him through Loughborough Junction daily, but this photograph is not from a public viewpoint. Some time ago I worked out that it must have been taken from the large brick substation near to the station, and have fancied getting a modern-day equivalent view since then. Observant station users might have noticed that a couple of months ago this building was covered in yellow scaffold.

Part 1 of “The forgotten arcades of Loughborough Junction” looked at the old arcade structures in general. This post focuses on the area that was originally the main entrance to the station, at least ...

There is a fairly striking and relatively unusual feature of the architecture of Loughborough Junction’s old station that is almost entirely hidden from public view, and largely forgotten to history a...

Following on from the image I posted a few weeks ago, here's another view of what Loughborough Junction station would have looked like from street level, soon after it was rebuilt and expanded in 1872. This time we are looking down Herne Hill Road to the junction with Coldharbour Lane.

The illustration above is a best guess at what Loughborough Junction station looked like in early 1873, just after its enlargement from two to seven platforms. This should be regarded as a work in progress - there is more detail to be added. The view is from the north side of Coldharbour Lane. The bridge and main viaduct on the left would have been about ten years old at this point. The bridge on the right, on the corner with Flaxman Road, was new, carrying a new line towards Denmark Hill and Crystal Palace.

Currently available to watch (for free if you sign up for an account) on Talking Pictures TV’s streaming site is a short film called “One for the Road”. This is part of a series called “Look at Life” ...

Part 1 covered the history of Padfield Road (outlined in green above) in general. This post will look at the triangular site (outlined in red above) that sits on the corner specifically. This small si...

In October 2025 demolition work began on the building on the corner where Padfield Road turns at a right angle to go under the railway bridge. This quite characterful building had a number of signs on...

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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

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...

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 ...

A Couple, Shops, Shakespeare and a Green Man - more pictures and comments from my walk around Loughborough Junction on Sunday 6th May 1989.

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…

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…

Another image that has recently appeared on Lambeth Landmark – a view down Loughborough Road in 1960. This photograph is taken soon after the construction of the Loughborough Estate – …

Image from Lambeth Landmark This image, taken in 1980 was recently added to the Lambeth Landmark website. It shows the row of shops opposite what is now the Tesco supermarket on Coldharbour Lane. …

A “Windrush Line” train passes through Loughborough Junction, crossing above Hinton Road, Nov 2024 As of this week, what we previously knew as the “London Overground” has b…

Looking east along Coldharbour Lane, around 1910. From Lambeth Landmark The same view today, November 2024 Another postcard from the “Loobey collection” recently added to the Lambeth L…

Repairs underway, September 2024, viaduct at end of Wanless Rd Over the past couple of months, Network Rail contractors have been doing a large number of patch repairs to the main railway viaduct …

A couple of weeks ago I posted this video which tries to explain why Loughborough Junction ended up where it did, in the wider context of the devlopment of South London’s railways. The video…

A number of postcards from the “Loobey collection” were recently added to Lambeth Landmark and they include this one, a view up Herne Hill Road from near the junction with Wingmore Roa…

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