When the Crystal Palace exhibition site opened in June 1854 it was served by one railway line to a station half way down the hill carrying thousands of visitors a day… But another private railway company wanted a piece of the pie! 10 years later the Crystal Palace High Level Railway opened bringing visitors to the top of the hill to a very grand castillated station with an ornate entrance right into the exhibition halls!

This line and station have now long gone. So what happened?

My walk traces the remnants of the southern half of the line up to the Lordship Lane station site. We find elegant butressed station walls, north and south portals to two major tunnels, pass the site of the Crystal Palace subway (currently under a fantastic restoration), walk along the track bed in Sydenham Woods to find that “Pissarro view” and take in other surprises such an historic ventilation shaft, a surviving station building and other historic buildings.

Note: this is a three hour walk but there is the chance for a break at the Wodehouse pub. Sensible footwear is recommended for walking through woods. We will finish by the beginnings of the Horniman’s nature trail. It is a short walk from there down to Forest Hill mainline station or there are plenty of buses going from there and along London Road.