Loughborough Junction railway station (and the incoming Higgs Yard development) – Brixton Buzz | So Good News

Serving around one million passenger journeys each year, Loughborough Junction is a station that sometimes struggles to keep up with demand, with overcrowded platforms at peak times.

Things are unlikely to improve with a large new housing development called Higgs Yard currently being built near the station (seen here in the background).

The excellent site for decommissioned stations contains the full history of the station. Here is an excerpt:

The first platforms at what would later become Loughborough Junction were on the Brixton line which first appeared in public timetables in October 1864, two years after the LCDR’s Metropolitan Extension to Victoria opened.

The station was named Loughborough Road. From 1 July 1872 three platforms were provided on the Herne Hill lines. At the same time a spur was built by the Crystal Palace & South London Junction Railway which joined the Metropolitan Extension with the line to Peckham.

This required the construction of three iron bridges and the demolition of a number of houses in Flaxman Road. Two platforms were provided on the track commonly referred to as the Cambria Road platforms and track for nearby Cambria Road.

The station was renamed Loughborough Junction on 1 December 1872.

Wikipedia adds:

The Loughborough Road platforms closed permanently on 3 April 1916 as a wartime economy measure, by 1916 all LCDR City branch stations south of the Thames were closed except for Loughborough Junction and Elephant & Castle.

In conjunction with the Southern Railway suburban electrification, the platforms on the Cambria Jn track could not be extended, so they were closed on 12 July 1925.

Above you can see the abandoned platforms.

Trains can be seen coming from all angles as the station is in the middle of a triangle (see the map below):

A nice collection of chimney pots.

It is not the most attractive of stations.

The Higgs Yard development will see 154 flats built – none of them for social rent.

This building remains a mystery as it has never been confirmed whether it was ever used by the railway, despite its location.

Details from the long-abandoned platforms.

The Shard can be seen from the station.

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