Crabtree Crossing

Located 13-miles 22-chains from Charing Cross via Lewisham, Crabtree was one of three public road crossings situated in Belvedere upon the North Kent Line. The second was Belvedere Crossing, positioned at the west end of Belvedere station; the third was Picardy Crossing, located 297-yards east of Belvedere Crossing and 295-yards west of Crabtree. Crabtree Crossing took its name from the road upon which it was situated: Crabtree Manor Way.

A road by the name of Crabtree Manor Way is mentioned as early as the 28th June 1842 edition of the South Eastern Gazette newspaper. Thus, a level crossing must have existed at this point since the opening of the North Kent Line, the latter of which came into use for public traffic on 30th July 1849. Indeed, Ordnance Survey maps dated twenty-five years later show Crabtree Manor Way intercepting the railway. Those early editions show no evidence of any structures around the level crossing.

A Board of Trade (Railway Division) accident report concerning a pedestrian fatality at Crabtree Crossing, dated 20th March 1911, describes a "gateman’s hut" at the location, situated on the "north-west corner of the crossing". The same report remarked that the hut comprised a mechanical frame containing seven levers and that the normal position of the large crossing gates was for them to be closed against the road. The gates were interlocked with home and distant signals that were situated on either side of the crossing, and before the gates could be opened by hand for vehicular traffic, the signals had to be set to "danger". Wicket gates — illuminated by lamps from dusk until daylight — were provided for pedestrians, these being locked by the gateman near the time a train was about to pass. Bell signals from signal boxes at Belvedere and Erith were repeated in the hut at Crabtree Crossing; therefore, the gateman had full information about the approach of all trains. The gateman’s hours were from 5:00 A.M. until midnight and he was provided with a house on the north eastern corner of the crossing. In 1911, it was estimated that 1,800 pedestrians used the crossing daily (ref: Eltham & District Times, 3rd February 1911).

The 1921 Ordnance Survey edition shows no sidings at Crabtree Crossing. However, the edition published a decade later includes a series of tracks on the eastern side of the crossing, on the "down" side of the running lines. As the accompanying diagram shows, a branch extended north east, eventually reaching the southern bank of the Thames and fed a series of large industries along the way:

In his book The North Kent Line (1977), R. W. Kidner suggests that the branch from Crabtree Crossing, heading north east to the Thames, was evident during World War I and was likely busy during that period with traffic in connection with Vickers’ munitions factory. The same publication also makes note of a branch line to Burt, Boulton & Hayward’s timber yard opening from the North Kent Line at Belvedere in 1938 (ref: The North Kent Line, R. W. Kidner, 1977). This made a trailing connection with the "down" track of the North Kent Line, immediately west of Crabtree Crossing, and is marked on the diagram.

On 24th July 1949, a then new 21-lever signal box was opened at Crabtree Crossing (ref: Southern Railway Register, Section A8: North Kent East Junction to Maidstone West via Erith, Signalling Record Society). This was situated on the south east corner of the crossing, on the "up" side of the line and, as the picture on this page attests, was a very sturdy brick and concrete structure. Two-storeys high and of a utilitarian appearance, this robust signal box design — formally designated SR 14 — had been introduced during World War II to withstand bomb blast damage. Just down the line, at nearby Crayford Spur "A" and Crayford Spur "B" Junctions, signal boxes of the same type had been brought into use on 11th October 1942 with a double-track chord linking the North Kent Line with the Dartford Loop Line via Sidcup (ref: The Railway Gazette, 14th September 1945).

26th June 1984

A functional appearance, but very sturdy. Of robust concrete and brick construction, by the time of this picture Crabtree Crossing signal box controlled automatic double lifting barriers. This is a southward view: the London direction is to the right; the Dartford direction to the left. A house for the crossing keeper formerly sat on the opposite side of the running lines to the signal box, but its site has long since been swallowed up by industrial development. © David Glasspool Collection

On Friday, 12th October 1962, Belvedere Power Station was officially opened (ref: The Rugby Advertiser, 23rd October 1962). This was on a site immediately west of Boulton’s timber yard and, in his 1977 book The North Kent Line, R. W. Kidner noted a rail connection to the power station that was fed by the same branch as the former. However, your author has so far been unable to trace this spur to the power station in period photographs, nor on maps of the area. Perhaps the reference was to a temporary rail connection that was in use during the power station’s construction.

In connection with the resignalling of the North Kent routes, colour lights were brought into use between Plumstead and Erith (inclusive) on 25th October 1970. No existing signal boxes along this section — of which Crabtree Crossing was one —were closed, because they were still required to control sidings or level crossings (ref: RCTS’ The Railway Observer, December 1970). From 1st of the following month the then new Dartford Panel took control of the area (ref: The Railway Magazine, January 1971).

In the February 1982 edition of The Railway Magazine, it was reported that Burt Boulton had donated its Simplex standard gauge diesel-mechanical locomotive, which the company used for shunting in their sidings, to the North Downs Steam Railway (NDSR). The NDSR moved the locomotive from Erith to their yard at Higham station, which was leased from British Rail, on 31st October 1981. It seems likely that the branch to the timber yard from the North Kent Line ceased to be used around that time.

Crabtree Crossing still retained traditional crossing gates as late as 1977; however, by 1983, these had been replaced by double lifting barriers accompanied by warning lights. In his 1984 book Railways of the Southern Region, Geoffrey Body noted that Belvedere Crossing — protected by automatic barriers and CCTV — was worked from Crabtree Crossing signal box. He also remarked that sidings at Crabtree Crossing still existed at that time.

Crabtree Level Crossing and Signal Box were closed for good on 2nd April 1989 (Southern Railway Register, Section A8: North Kent East Junction to Maidstone West via Erith, Signalling Record Society). Vehicular traffic could no longer cross the railway at this point, but pedestrians were provided with a footbridge over the rails. A footbridge had been recommended for the site since as early as 1911, after a pedestrian was struck by a train on the crossing (ref: Forest Hill & Sydenham Examiner, 3rd February 1911).

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