Balham station

The West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway opened a station named Balham Hill on 1 December 1856,[9] at which time the line ran between Crystal Palace and Wandsworth Common. From the outset the line was worked by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, which purchased the line in 1859 after it had been extended to Pimlico.

Original location, 1862

Rebuilt location, 1895

Balham station

The original station was on the west side of Balham High Road; it was re-sited by the LB&SCR in 1863 as part of works to widen the line, and improve the route between East Croydon and Victoria.[10] Further remodelling of the line was undertaken in 1890 and 1897 to increase capacity.[11] It was named Balham then renamed Balham and Upper Tooting on 9 March 1927, reverting to Balham on 6 October 1969.[9]

The lines through the station to Crystal Palace were electrified in 1911,[12] by means of the LB&SCR 'Elevated Electric' overhead system. Work on electrifying the remaining services through the station had begun in 1913 but was interrupted by the First World War and not completed until 1925.[13] By this time the LB&SCR had been absorbed into the Southern Railway following the Railways Act 1921. In 1925 the Southern Railway decided to adopt a third rail electrification system and the lines through the station were converted between June 1928 and September 1929.[14]

When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the national rail lines were served by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of the British Railways in the 1990s to the Connex South Central franchise, replaced by the current operator in 2000.

Impressions of Balham

one of four bronze reliefs

The station has a high brick wall along Balham Station Road on which four cold cast bronze reliefs are mounted and titled "Impressions of Balham". These depict local residents and everyday scenes. They were conceived and constructed by Christine Thomas and Julia Barton and installed in 1991 for Wandsworth Borough Council.[15]

During the Second World War, Balham was one of many deep tube stations designated for use as a civilian air raid shelter. On the evening of 14 October 1940, a 1,400 kg semi-armour piercing fragmentation bomb fell on the road above the northern end of the platform tunnels,[19][20] creating a large crater into which an out-of-service bus then crashed. The northbound platform tunnel partially collapsed and was filled with earth and water from the fractured water mains and sewers above, which also flowed through the cross-passages into the southbound platform tunnel, with the flooding and debris reaching to within 100 yards (91 m) of Clapham South. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), sixty-six people in the station were killed[21] – although some sources report 64 shelterers and four railway staff were killed,[22] and more than seventy injured. The damage at track level closed the line to traffic between Tooting Bec and Clapham Common. The closed section and station were reopened on 12 January 1941.[23]

The second memorial plaque in the entrance hall, now replaced

The memorial plaque unveiled on 16 October 2016

In October 2000 a memorial plaque commemorating this event was placed in the station's ticket hall. It stated that 64 people died, which differed from the CWGC register at the time, and other sources. On 14 October 2010 this was replaced with a new commemorative plaque which does not state the number of fatalities.[24] This second plaque was again replaced with an official memorial stone in Welsh slate commissioned by London Underground and that was unveiled on 14 October 2016.[25] The two removed plaques were given to the London Transport Museum.

The bombing of the station during the war is briefly mentioned in Ian McEwan's 2001 novel Atonement, while the 2007 film based on the book depicts the station's flooding, in which a main character is killed. A character dates the event incorrectly (September in the novel; 15 October in the film). The film also refers to the fracturing of gas mains, as well as water. The bombing of the station is also featured in the children's novel Billy's Blitz by Barbara Mitchelhill when Billy and his family are sheltering in the tube station on the night of 14 October 1940. Ben Aaronovitch's 2012 novel, Whispers Under Ground, also mentions the flooding.[26]

A radio documentary exploring the background to the bombing and events on the day was broadcast on Riverside Radio to mark the 80th anniversary of the bomb on 14 October 2020.

All National Rail services at Balham are operated by Southern using Class 377 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[27]

• 8 tph to London Victoria
• 2 tph to Epsom Downs via Norbury
• 2 tph to Dorking via Hackbridge, of which 1 continues to Horsham
• 2 tph to West Croydon via Crystal Palace
• 2 tph to London Bridge via Forest Hill
• 1 tph to East Croydon
• 1 tph to Watford Junction via Kensington (Olympia)

During the peak hours, the station is served by an additional half-hourly service between London Victoria and Sutton via Norbury. The station is also served by three trains per day to/from Hemel Hempstead.[28]

On Saturday evenings (after approximately 18:45) and on Sundays, there is no service south of Dorking to Horsham.

The typical off-peak London Underground service on the Northern line in trains per hour is:[29]

• 10 tph to Edgware via Bank
• 2 tph to Mill Hill East via Bank
• 8 tph to High Barnet via Bank

During the peak hours, the service is increased to up to 22 tph in each direction, including trains that run via Charing Cross.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Clapham Junction		Southern Sutton & Mole Valley Lines		Mitcham Eastfields
		Southern Crystal Palace Line		Streatham Hill
		Southern West London Line		Streatham Common
Wandsworth Common		Southern Brighton Main Line Stopping Services
Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Clapham South towards Edgware, High Barnet or Mill Hill East		Northern line		Tooting Bec towards Morden
Proposed Future Development
Preceding station	Crossrail			Following station
Wimbledon towards Hampton Court, Shepperton, Chessington South or Epsom		Crossrail 2		Clapham Junction towards New Southgate or Broxbourne