Petts Wood
The SER’s Tonbridge ‘’cut-off’’ line was
authorised by Parliament on 30th June 1862 to allow the railway company to
reduce the overall journey mileage between London Bridge and Dover, in response
to the LC&DR’s shorter route from Victoria. Freight began running over the line
on 3rd February 1868, with a full passenger timetable over the entire route
coming into use on 1st May of the same year. At this time, the area of what
became Petts Wood was flowing fields of fruit and vegetables, in the company of
extensive woodland (as per the place name). For sixty years the tranquillity of
the vicinity was maintained, with perhaps the occasional train breaking the
silence as it rumbled by.
Soon after coming into existence in 1923, the Southern Railway initiated a
scheme to electrify those former SE&CR suburban lines to speed up services and
improve reliability. The first route to receive the LSWR-inspired third rail was
Victoria and Holborn Viaduct to Orpington, electric services commencing
operation on 12th July 1925. Electric diagrams to the former SER termini of
Charing Cross and Cannon Street was made possible from 28th February 1926. The
reduced journey times which electric operation brought meant that London
commuters could live further afield, which resulted in much housing development
during the late 1920s and 1930s. The area of Petts Wood was included within the
expansion of the outer suburbs and the flowing fields were soon transformed into
residential estates. Petts Wood station came into use on 9th July 1928;
initially, only a single island platform of 520-foot in length by 30-foot in
width, was provided on the slow lines. However, over the next half decade
it was built up to become a ‘’proper’’ station, with two islands serving the
1904-commissioned quadruple track. The platforms were the epitome of what is
considered ‘’modern’’ SR design: they were wholly prefabricated concrete in
their construction (the components having been manufactured at the company’s
Exmouth Junction works) and the canopies were typical of the era. These had a
‘’W’’ shaped cross-section, were timber in construction with a functional
valance, and supported on a lattice steel frame. This design became the standard
for the SR throughout the whole of the 1930s, the rebuilt Tonbridge and new Swanley station receiving replica examples in 1935 and 1939 respectively. All
three stations also shared the characteristic of incorporating solidly built
enclosed waiting accommodation underneath the canopies. Unusually, however,
whilst the likes of Swanley and Tonbridge had brick-built waiting rooms, Petts
Wood’s accommodation was fabricated out of the same concrete used for the
platforms, which could be a resultant of the piecemeal construction work.
Concrete was certainly well used in other areas, even the station name board
frames and lampposts (which supported electric lighting from the outset) being
manufactured from it. This was in addition to a pair of rectangular waiting
shelters (one on each platform), isolated from the main canopies, being of the
same construction. Architecturally, Petts Wood seems to be a station of two
extremes; the main building is unique, another example operating in the same
capacity never appearing at any other South Eastern Division station, or indeed,
Southern station. Consisting of two-storeys, it was built around a steel frame,
had a timber-clad upper half, and looked decidedly like a large signal box! Such
an analogy would seem to have considerable substance, since the signal box which
appeared concurrent with the rebuilt Epsom station in 1929 demonstrated an
identical roof, the same timber-clad pattern, and matching window frame design
as Petts Wood’s structure. Trading outlets used the ground floor of the
building, thus access to the ticket office on the first floor was via a flight
of steel stairs. The ticket office in turn led to the platform footbridge
linking the two islands; this was also of metal construction, the customary
concrete which was so prevalent at the station possibly not being used in light
of the bridge’s physical connection with the main building. It stretched over
all four tracks to link both the eastern and western sides of the then new town.
Despite being a very late station to the route, goods provision was made here,
thus this is worth a mention. Before the coming of the station and its
associated residential development, the area was best known for the growing of
strawberries and indeed, this would have been the largest single traffic
generated here, conveyed to the markets by road. Those fields had to give way
for the building of the then new town and the exporting of goods switched to
importing, but this time of a wholly different commodity: coal. For this, land
was reserved on the station’s ‘’down’’ side for a coal yard of four sidings,
complete with stacks – no goods shed building of any form was in evidence.
Significant changes at the station began in accordance with the Kent Coast
Electrification. Although the stretch of line to Orpington had already received
third rail, signalling had remained mechanical. This system was then superseded,
colour light signals at Petts Wood formally taking over from semaphores on 4th
March 1962, controlled by a then new ‘’power box’’ at Chislehurst Junction.
Later in the same decade, on 7th October 1968, the goods yard closed, concurrent
with that at Orpington. The 1970s saw further revisions to the station: this
included the demolition of the two separate concrete waiting shelters on either
platform and the installation of rectangular glazed bus shelter designs in their
place. The concrete lampposts were replaced with metal equivalents and it was
decided at this time to tile the inside of the booking office. Additions in 1991
included two more bus shelters, but these of the semi-circular design which can
be seen at Beltring. The former goods yard site had for long been a car park by
this time. The first revenue-earning Eurostars passed through the station on
14th November 1994, these using the ex-SER main line from Petts Wood Junction
all the way through to Folkestone, the majority of the route being passed for
100 MPH running. The most recent change in 2004 involved replacing all waiting
shelters (except the original accommodation underneath the canopies) with newer
designs.
A London-bound view on 19th April 2006 reveals the two Southern Railway canopies still intact,
albeit with some surface grime, and the original waiting accommodation of the ''up'' side. The
footbridge looks modern, but the flights of stairs are most certainly authentic. One of the shelters
installed in 2004 can be seen on the right-hand side. David Glasspool
The unusual station building is viewed from the street on 19th April 2006. It bears the design
traits of a signal box and its access stairs can be seen on the right. The right-hand side of it
is the circulating area, whilst the three windows on the left indicate the size of the ticket office.
David Glasspool
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