Loughborough Junction railway station

This article is about the National Rail station in South London. For the station in Loughborough, Leicestershire, see Loughborough railway station.

Loughborough Junction railway station is a railway station in the Loughborough Junction neighbourhood nearby Herne Hill in the London Borough of Lambeth. It was opened as Loughborough Road by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in 1864. It is between Elephant & Castle and Herne Hill stations and is served by Thameslink reaching Central London in just 9 minutes

Loughborough Junction
The station entrance on 2 January 2007
Loughborough Junction Location of Loughborough Junction in Greater London
Location	Brixton
Local authority	London Borough of Lambeth
Managed by	Thameslink
Station code(s)	LGJ
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	2
National Rail annual entry and exit
2019–20	1.089 million[1]
2020–21	0.398 million[1]
2021–22	0.722 million[1]
2022–23	0.952 million[1]
2023–24	1.129 million[1]
Railway companies
Original company	London, Chatham and Dover Railway
Key dates
Oct 1864	Brixton spur platforms opened as "Loughborough Road".
1 Dec 1872	Main line and Cambria spur platforms opened. Station renamed "Loughborough Junction"
3 April 1916[2]	Brixton spur platforms closed
12 July 1925	Cambria spur platforms closed
Other information
External links	Departures Facilities
Coordinates	51.4661°N 0.102°W / 51.4661; -0.102
London transport portal

History

A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines around Loughborough Junction railway station

On 6 October 1862 the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) opened its City Branch from Herne Hill to Elephant and Castle. Services ran from Victoria to Elephant and Castle via a reversing move at Herne Hill. From 1 May 1863 services ran directly from Brixton to Camberwell via a curve at Loughborough Junction. Services were extended from Elephant and Castle to Blackfriars on 1 June 1894.^[3]

In October 1864 the LCDR opened Loughborough Road station on the north-to-west Brixton spur which connects the City Branch to the original Chatham Main Line at Brixton station.

On 1 December 1872 platforms were opened on the City branch and on the north-to-east spur (called the Cambria Road platforms and spur after nearby Cambria Road). The enlarged station was renamed Loughborough Junction.

The Loughborough Road platforms closed during the First World War on 3 April 1916 when the Victoria to Moorgate local service was withdrawn. This also led to the closure of Camberwell and Walworth Road stations to the north and the loss of direct service to Brixton, Clapham, Wandsworth Road, Battersea Park Road and Victoria.

In connection with the Southern Railway suburban electrification the platforms on Cambria Jn spur could not be lengthened so were closed on 12 July 1925.

After nationalisation the station was part of the Southern Region of British Railways and, from 1986, Network SouthEast. Around 1990 the station became part of the Thameslink route.

Services

Looking north from Loughborough Junction station showing platform 1 and 2. The train on platform 2 is the Thameslink service to St Pancras.

Off-peak, all services at Loughborough Junction are operated by Thameslink using Class 700 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[4]

• 4 tph to St Albans City
• 4 tph to Sutton (2 of these run via Mitcham Junction and 2 run via Wimbledon)

During the peak hours, a small number of Southeastern services between Beckenham Junction and London Blackfriars call at the station. The station is served by five trains to London Blackfriars in the morning peak and two trains to Beckenham Junction in the evening peak.

A small number of late evening Thameslink services are extended beyond St Albans City to Bedford. On Sundays, there are also direct services beyond St Albans City to Luton.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Elephant & Castle		Thameslink Thameslink		Herne Hill
		Southeastern Bromley South Line Peak Hours Only
	Historical railways
Camberwell		London, Chatham and Dover Railway Victoria–City Branch 1864-1916		Brixton
Camberwell		London, Chatham and Dover Railway Cambria Road Spur 1872-1925		Denmark Hill

Connections

London Buses routes 35, 45, 345, P4 and P5 and night route N35 serve the station.

Future proposals

Map of rail & tube lines passing through Brixton, showing the location of Loughborough Junction and the route of London Overground

The South London line, seen from Loughborough Junction

The South London line passes across the south end of Loughborough Junction station via a bridge but has never had platforms there. As part of phase 2 of the East London line extension project, this line is now part of the London Overground network operated by Transport for London. Completed on 9 December 2012, this extension connected the South London Line to the East and West London lines, allowing rail services to run across South London from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction.^[5] This creates an orbital network around Central London, fulfilling the Orbirail concept.^[6]

The new route passes over both Loughborough Junction and Brixton stations,^[5] and the proposals were criticised for not including new interchange stations at these locations.^[7][8] No London Overground platforms are planned at Loughborough Junction as the line is on high railway arches, making the cost of any station construction prohibitive.^[9] It has been proposed, as an alternative, that the disused East Brixton could be reopened instead as the site is close to both stations.^[10][11]

See also

v t e LC&DR's Metropolitan Extensions and neighbouring railway lines
Legend
To St Pancras Farringdon 1866 2009 Barbican Moorgate 1866 2009 1874 1990 Holborn Viaduct Holborn Viaduct (low) 1874 1916 Victoria City Thameslink 1867 1911 Grosvenor Road Ludgate Hill 1865 1929 Charing Cross Blackfriars River Thames 1867 1916 Battersea Park Road Blackfriars Bridge 1864 1964 Waterloo East To London Bridge Vauxhall Waterloo To Clapham Jct Borough Road 1864 1907 Wandsworth Road Elephant & Castle Clapham High Street Walworth Road 1862 1916 Camberwell 1862 1916 Loughborough Junction Brixton Denmark Hill Catford loop 1866 1976 East Brixton South London Line Herne Hill sidings 1885 1966 North Junction Herne Hill South Junction To Sutton Tulse Hill North Dulwich To L. Bridge West Dulwich Chatham Main Line to Kent

• Loughborough Junction – the area around the station