"Peter Masson" wrote in message
...

"Matthew Church" wrote in message
om...

Something else that has bothered me recently. London's first (proper)
railway The London and Greenwich was built *entirely* on a viaduct to
prevent collisions with cattle!? I read somewhere that they had a lot
of trouble with wheels cracking and came up with a radical solution
but can't remember what it was. Amongst the arches around Bermondsey
there must be viaducts from the old railway, anyone from The Old Kent
Road know which is which?

From North Kent West junction (where the Greenwich line leaves the South
Eastern Main (Tonbridge) Line) to just short of Greenwich the two-track
viaduct is the original 1836 viaduct. Between NKWJ and London Bridge the
viaduct was widened in various stages up to 1901, and track use rearranged
on various occasions, most recently in he 1970s. On the approach to London
Bridge the current tracks on the original portion of the viaduct are the
No.
5 (Charing Cross) Down and the No. 6 (Charing Cross) Up.

London's oldest station (leaving aside the dubious arguments of Mitcham)
is
Deptford, although it was closed between 1915 and 1926.

Peter


The names of the Junctions you refer to above have become confused.

The junction of the line to Greenwich correct title is plain Greenwich
junction. North Kent East Junction was the connection of the Bricklayers
Arms branch to the main line to Tonbridge. North Kent West Junction was the
point where the Bricklayers Arms Branch bifurcated one arm continuing to
NKE Jnc. whilst the other arm joined up to the Brighton line .
MJW