(not about trams at all)
Chris Cook's Harrington Road page
Bright but stormy weather on Sunday 26th March at Harrington Road tramstop, on the edge of South Norwood Country Park.
This part of Tramlink's Beckenham branch has a semi-rural appearance. South Norwood Country Park is a former sewage farm and a dumping ground for rubble from bombed houses, which was cleaned up, landscaped and made into public open space in the 1980's. Fifteen years of things growing wild has made it an attractive location, and now it has a tramway running through it!
The immediate area of the tramstop is currently about half a mile from any public transport, to visit it before it opens, you can
- walk from Elmers End station across the park (footpath from up-side car park); or
- follow the line from Arena through the park (54/289 bus in Long Lane to get to Arena); or
- walk from Birkbeck (Connex or 351/361 buses) through the cemetery; or
- walk from Portland Road, Norwood Junction (312 and 197 buses)
The pictures were taken on an Olympus 2000Z digital camera. Click on a thumbnail to see a 640x480 version -
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Sharp downhill slope from the junction with the Crystal Palace-Birkbeck line to the stop. Note those sloping platforms - HMRI won't allow these on a 'full-size' railway, nor of course the unfenced line. |
Here near Love Lane, the single track with loops that runs from Beckenham, finally becomes double track all the way into Croydon. |
Looking the other way, towards the junction with the Railtrack formation (you can see the Crystal Palace-Birkbeck line running across the picture on the embankment and one day there may be a triangular junction here). |
This sign is probably unique! It has nothing to do with Tramlink's safety record. Although not made clear, it applies only to vehicles which might block the line if they drew up to the unopened gates. |
A tram on test pauses at Harrington Road. The passenger information display promised a Croydon-bound tram in 23 minutes all the while I was there. |
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South of the stop, the line winds through the Country Park largely unfenced. The curves and the absence of street clutter mean it's a good location for tram photography whichever direction the sun is coming from. |
Foot crossings in the Country Park have been finished to a high standard. Here it was quiet enough for me to sense a tram coming by the humming of the wires and poles - something I'd not experienced for years. |
Finally the Amey tram, still on the 26th March not fully re-vinyled after a mishap, giving a view of the 'front' ... |
... and the 'back', at the crossing of Lloyd Park Avenue on the Addington branch - another good place for photographs as you can climb on to the bank separating the line from Coombe Road (353 bus route). |
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To:
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The Unofficial Tramlink Site by Stephen Parascandolo | |
| (many more pictures and details about Tramlink, and it ought to be the 'official' site.) | ||
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