4th visit to Balham Station on the Brighton Main Line and London Underground's Northern Line

Featuring services from Southern, Gatwick Express and London Underground Northern Line

Balham opened in 1856 originally as Balham Hill located on the west side of Balham High Road on the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway which at the time ran between Crystal Palace and Wandsworth Common.

The present location dates from 1863 when it was resited during as part of a widening scheme by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway

To increase capacity further remodelling on the Line was carried out between 1890 and 1897.

It was later renamed Balham and Upper Tooting on March 9th 1927 over 2 years after the LB&SC was merged with the Southern Railway and also at the same time adopted the 3rd rail system for electrification before It was finally renamed Balham on October 6th 1969.

The station building managed by Southern sits right next to the eastern station building entrance of London Underground’s Northern Line

The iconic Grade II Listed Underground station buildings in a pattern of Portland stone designed by Charles Holden is located on a busy junction with the A24 Balham High Road, Chestnut Grove and Balham Station Road.

Balham's Underground platforms was surprisingly a later addition opening on December 9th 1926 which was nearly 3 months after the line was extended to Morden from Clapham Common.

Back at the time during the construction of the extension to Morden was actually the first project of Charles Holden who was chosen by Frank Pick after being dissatisfied with Stanley Heaps original station designs.

Sadly Balham underground platforms like many underground stations was a victim during the London Biltz in World War II between September 1940 and May 1941.

At 8:02pm on the evening of October 14th 1940 a 1400kg semi armoured piercing bomb exploded 32ft above the station caused a huge crater

Moments later in total blackout conditions a No88 bus crashed into the crater which caused the Northbound tunnel to partially collapse

Water and earth from the broken sewage and water pipes ended up flood one of the cross passages which resulting the Southbound tunnel being flooded as far as 100 metres back North towards Clapham South.

The death toll at the time was believed to 69 people were killed although the exact toll remains unknown.

A revised plague in memory of that night was installed in 2010 although there is no mention of the number of people killed on that fatal evening.

Despite suffering extensive damage somehow it took just over 3 months to repair the station and clear the debris.

Trains would resume running southwards of Clapham Common on January 12th 1941 with the station reopening a week later on January 19th.

In recent times Balham was being proposed as a possible stop for a future line known as Crossrail 2 however the on due to the high traffic capacity already it may make it not viable with the other alternative being at Tooting Broadway two stops south on the Northern Line.

At the time of filming due to the combination of the recent Coronavirus Pandemic and TFL's lack of finances meant Crossrail 2 is unlikely to happen anytime soon and even both either Balham or Tooting Broadway would required extensive rebuilding below however the station buildings at both stations respectively being Grade II means they can't be demolished.

Music used:
JJD Adventure
Music provided by NCS

Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
   • JJD  Adventure | Glitch Hop | NCS  ...  

Filmed on Thursday October 19th 2023 on iPhone 14 Pro and edited on iMovie

#class377 #southern #class73 #balham #brightonmainline #class387 #southlondon #london #gatwickexpress