page_title: Waterloo East railway station
section_title: South Eastern Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Waterloo East railway station / History / South Eastern Railway
caption_attribution_description: Railway Junctions in Crowhurst, Edenbridge &amp; Hurst Green; Boscarne (Bodmin); Waterloo pre grouping
context_page_description: Waterloo East railway station, also known as London Waterloo East, is a railway station in central London on the line from Charing Cross through London Bridge towards Kent, in the south-east of England. It is to the east of London Waterloo railway station and close to Southwark tube station.
  The station opened in 1869 as Waterloo Junction, to provide a connection between the London and South Western Railway at Waterloo, and the South Eastern Railway at Charing Cross. A dedicated line was built between Waterloo and Waterloo East, which was later converted to a footpath. Trains originally ran to Cannon Street, but after competition from the London Underground, these were withdrawn as a wartime measure in 1916. The station continued to be connected to Waterloo mainline via a footbridge. Waterloo East was given its current name in 1977, and remains an important interchange in London. It is part of the London station group.
context_section_description: The station was built by the South Eastern Railway (SER) after the line to Charing Cross opened in 1864. The company were under pressure to connect with London and South Western Railway (LSWR) services, as it would allow the latter to connect to the City of London via Cannon Street. The LSWR were not interested in making Charing Cross a joint station, but were amenable to providing a connection with the SER next to Waterloo.
  In 1867, the two companies agreed to build a joint connection so that passengers could change from LSWR to SER services in order to reach the City of London via Cannon Street. Another station, Blackfriars Road was built to the east, but it was closed in favour of a connecting station with the LSWR. Construction of a single-line, 5-chain (100 m) connection begun in May 1868, and the new connection station opened on 1 January 1869 at a total cost of £14,290 (£1,330,000 as of 2019). Blackfriars Road station closed on the same date. Trains began running from Waterloo Junction to Charing Cross and Cannon Street around every five minutes. Queen Victoria used the connection for royal trains travelling from Windsor Castle to Dover and Continental Europe.
  The original station was built with two platforms, which were 530 feet (160 m) and 440 feet (130 m) long, and both 18 feet (5.5 m) wide. The waiting room and ticket offices were housed in arches underneath the line. The bridge connection from the main Waterloo station included a movable platform, which allowed passengers to cross directly into Waterloo East when trains were not running. It was mounted on a four-wheel truck which could easily be moved out of the way if a train needed to come through. The connection ran until January 1893, when it was discontinued because of overcrowding.
  When the SER line opened between Charing Cross and Cannon Street in 1864, it was frequented by prostitutes, who discovered the journey between the two stations was sufficiently long to service clients while paying minimum rent. After Waterloo East opened, the frequent stopping of trains there made this impractical.
  The connection from Waterloo Junction through to Cannon Street did not prove a success because of competition from the Metropolitan District Railway (now the District line) and the spread of the Underground. Passengers were generally unaware of the existence of the station, as it was not obvious to find it from the main concourse in Waterloo. Following the opening of the Waterloo and City line on 8 August 1898, connections to Cannon Street were reduced. Cross train services from Waterloo Junction to Cannon Street ended on 31 December 1916, as a wartime economy measure.
  The dedicated line from Waterloo through to Waterloo Junction was demolished in 1911 when the main-line station underwent an extensive reconstruction. The bridge which carried the line over Waterloo Road subsequently accommodated the pedestrian walkway between the two stations.
caption: A 1910 Railway Clearing House map of lines around Waterloo – note the connecting line between Waterloo and Waterloo East.
exif: {}