On 20 Jan, 20:01, "Peter Masson" wrote:
"Mwmbwls" wrote

I don't think that it was geology that was the dominant blocker. Under
the New Works Programme, undertaken to relieve the Depression,
parliamentary powers were obtained in 1931 to build the Camberwell
extension.with a terminus under Camberwell Green However, London
Transport were not convinced that the route would pay.and the project
was postponed. The Camberwell powers were renewed in 1955 prolonging
their validity to 1961 but were allowed to lapse in favour of the
Victoria Line extension to Brixton. In 1963 the London Transport board
considered an extension to Peckham. The 1974 London Rail Study
believed the cost benefit case to be weak and so Camberwell like
sleeping beauty nodded off until most recently in 2006

Of course, Camberwell used to have trains to Farringdon, Kings Cross, and
Moorgate - but Camberwell New Road station was closed in 1916. Quite a lot
of it is still there.

Peter


Whilst the station was indeed called "Camberwell New Road" for most of
its life (1963 - 1908), it opened as "Camberwell" in 1862 - and when
it closed in 1916 it also went by that name. All according to
SubBrit's Disused Stations entry:

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/s...ad/index.shtml


Of course when any extension of the Bakerloo to Camberwell is mooted,
the idea of reopening this station (or at least opening a new station
on this line nearby) will always come up as a cheaper alternative. If
there were to be a new or reopened station then the decision as to
what lines it would serve would have to be made - there are two pairs
of tracks, one carries the FCC Thameslink service from Elephant &
Castle down to the Sutton loop, the other carries the Southeastern
service from Blackfriars and then the Elephant down to Sevenoaks.

The Thameslink service is every 15 minutes, whilst the Southeastern
service is only half-hourly - and the Southeastern trains already stop
at Denmark Hill, on the southern edge of Camberwell. Thus it would be
most attractive if a new Camberwell station was served by the more
frequent Thameslink trains, though platforms could be constructed on
both lines so it could thus be a stop for both services.

I guess the Southeastern service could itself become more frequent,
with trains every 15 minutes. One issue would be whether the
Southeastern service, even a more frequent one, would actually be that
attractive to passenger from Camberwell - it only goes to Blackfriars,
which is itself unlikely to be the final destination for most people,
and which only has interchange with the east/west Circle and District
lines. Of course passengers arriving at Blackfriars could also change
on to Thameslink trains there to get further north - but at present at
least Thameslink does not provide a service akin to an Underground
line, with trains almost crawling through the central part of the
route (something I hope that will be remedied under the Thameslink
2000 project aka the "Thameslink Programme").

Passengers from Camberwell on the Southeastern service to Blackfriars
could also change at Elephant & Castle for the Bakerloo and Northern
lines - but this isn't a very convenient interchange at all, so
passengers might well choose to go by bus to the Elephant (or indeed
stay on their bus) - and it'd be unlikely that passengers would get
off their bus at Camberwell just to get on a train only as far as the
Elephant.

If Thameslink trains stopped at Camberwell, or passengers were
encouraged to transfer to Thameslink at Blackfriars, then one ends up
with the crucial question of whether there is enough capacity -
Thameslink is already a very busy route as it is at peak times, so
could it handle yet more passengers even if all the trains were 8
carriages long?

Whilst having a station at Camberwell would, IMO, be a good thing
(though existing passengers might well disapprove given the increase
in journeys times an extra station would bring) I'd caution anyone who
was tempted to think that it would be a cheaper yet effective
substitute for an extension of the Bakerloo line.


[I use the name of the TOC "Southeastern" above simply for the ease of
reference it provides - of course in a few years time the franchisee
could go under a completely different moniker.]