Description:
The first in a planned series of caches following the route of the former Woodside & South Croydon Railway.
This cache is where the railway used to cross Croham Road, where, although not in use anymore, and a bit worse for wear, you can still see the former railway bridge.
History:
Connecting Woodside and Selsdon, after several delays during construction, the Woodside & South Croydon railway finally opened on the 10th of August 1885. It met with limited success throughout its history - running at a loss when closed due to the first world war, and running reduced services during the second world war. When the line finally closed, it was only being used by 200 people a day.
After opposition to closures in the 1960's, the line eventually closed on the 13th of May 1983 - partly because of the poor condition of the track, and, due to the low usage of the line, British Rail could not justify the renewing of it.
Today, tramlink now occupies a large portion of the original line from Coombe Road onwards. The track is still visible on the remainder of the line (although very overgrown), and several bridges and footbridges still exist, as well as the sites of some of the stations.
Part of the Brighton Mainline 2 (BML2) proposal is to reuse the route of the railway as part of a much needed new line to Brighton, which would reduce the load on the existing over-burdened Brighton mainline, and Tonbridge mainline, as well as providing alternate routes in case of any problems.
Further information about the history can be found here:
http://www.transport-of-delight.com/UK/BritishRail/WSCR/Pages/W&SCRmain.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodside_and_South_Croydon_Railway