1925: Orpington goes Electric!
It was one hundred years ago, in July 1925, that the most dramatic and transforming event in Orpington's history took place. The railway lines from London to Orpington went electric. Less than a decade afterwards a village had grown into a town. Masses of new houses had attracted white collar commuters to enjoy the mutual benefit of rapid rail proximity to London and delightful green countryside to luxuriate in at home.
Specifically from Saturday 12th July 1925 Orpington was favoured with six(!) trains every hour - three from Holborn Viaduct and three from Victoria now that the lines running via Herne Hill had been switched on. It was the start of a an electric roll-out across many of the local Southern Railway lines in suburban London. One consequence of special benefit in our local area was the opening of a new railway station at Petts Wood in 1928.
It was one hundred years ago, in July 1925, that the most dramatic and transforming event in Orpington's history took place. The railway lines from London to Orpington went electric. Less than a decade afterwards a village had grown into a town. Masses of new houses had attracted white collar commuters to enjoy the mutual benefit of rapid rail proximity to London and delightful green countryside to luxuriate in at home.
Specifically from Saturday 12th July 1925 Orpington was favoured with six(!) trains every hour - three from Holborn Viaduct and three from Victoria now that the lines running via Herne Hill had been switched on. It was the start of a an electric roll-out across many of the local Southern Railway lines in suburban London. One consequence of special benefit in our local area was the opening of a new railway station at Petts Wood in 1928.
Let's see how this electrifying era of Orpington's history has been described in various of our Cray 150 local history books? Here is an extract from Curiosities of Orpington (2023):
'With the electrification of the Southern Railway in the 1920s towns such as Orpington became set for residential property development offering attractive family homes to London commuters. Orpington was styled as a ‘dormitory town’ meaning a place where many people live that work in a bigger town or city. The new houses were styled as ‘garden estates’ because there was plenty of open green space around and within; there was a richness of birches, hazels, oaks, ash and pine trees; one brochure extolled ‘green woodlands, golden in autumn, with deep glades shining with bluebells or the pale stars of the primrose … open parklands and gorse.’ Road names such as Elm Grove, Knoll Rise and Oatfield Road perpetuated the notion.'
'With the electrification of the Southern Railway in the 1920s towns such as Orpington became set for residential property development offering attractive family homes to London commuters. Orpington was styled as a ‘dormitory town’ meaning a place where many people live that work in a bigger town or city. The new houses were styled as ‘garden estates’ because there was plenty of open green space around and within; there was a richness of birches, hazels, oaks, ash and pine trees; one brochure extolled ‘green woodlands, golden in autumn, with deep glades shining with bluebells or the pale stars of the primrose … open parklands and gorse.’ Road names such as Elm Grove, Knoll Rise and Oatfield Road perpetuated the notion.'
In our companion book Curiosities of the Crays (2023) we took a wider sweep of describing the locational effects of the new electric railways lines that came in the 1920s:
'In May 1941 came a devastating blow to the retail economy of St Mary Cray. Dropped from the sky with intention to hit the railway viaduct, a huge German bomb fell near Blacksmith’s Lane and wrecked a large section of the High Street. That bomb would cast a long shadow over St Mary Cray. The late 1920s and the 1930s had already seen a significant commercial threat to the old village. The electrification of the railway lines into London had brought big growth of ‘garden’ towns and suburbs in the Home Counties including Kent and the south east.
'St Mary Cray’s loss became Orpington’s gain after the war when priority for building or rebuilding shops, offices and residential housing was given to the new up-and-coming commuter belt. Foots Cray similarly lost out to Sidcup. The old order had changed. Rebuilding in the Crays after the war was slow and patchy. Until the Nugent Shopping Park came along, there was a period of some four decades when St Mary Cray was a forgotten and neglected shopping centre. 'Houses of distinctive design and attraction’ had been seductively advertised in the 1930s to attract white collar London commuters and their families to come and live in ‘garden’ towns like Orpington, Petts Wood and Sidcup whose landscapes did not have the working class grime and industrial clutter that was associated with places like the Crays.'
'In May 1941 came a devastating blow to the retail economy of St Mary Cray. Dropped from the sky with intention to hit the railway viaduct, a huge German bomb fell near Blacksmith’s Lane and wrecked a large section of the High Street. That bomb would cast a long shadow over St Mary Cray. The late 1920s and the 1930s had already seen a significant commercial threat to the old village. The electrification of the railway lines into London had brought big growth of ‘garden’ towns and suburbs in the Home Counties including Kent and the south east.
'St Mary Cray’s loss became Orpington’s gain after the war when priority for building or rebuilding shops, offices and residential housing was given to the new up-and-coming commuter belt. Foots Cray similarly lost out to Sidcup. The old order had changed. Rebuilding in the Crays after the war was slow and patchy. Until the Nugent Shopping Park came along, there was a period of some four decades when St Mary Cray was a forgotten and neglected shopping centre. 'Houses of distinctive design and attraction’ had been seductively advertised in the 1930s to attract white collar London commuters and their families to come and live in ‘garden’ towns like Orpington, Petts Wood and Sidcup whose landscapes did not have the working class grime and industrial clutter that was associated with places like the Crays.'
In our Cray Wanderers football club history book Pitches at an Exhibition (2025) we touched upon the perhaps surprising fact that large swathes of present-day Orpington and Chislehurst not so long ago belonged to Foots Cray:
'It might startle you to learn that little old Foots Cray was big enough and mighty enough once to have its boundaries extended as far west as the present-day Cray Wanderers ground at Flamingo Park and indeed almost as far as the big intersection of roads at Fiveways. But there is a common history shared by the villages of St Mary Cray and Foots Cray. They each used to be kingpin in their respective territories until outgrown by Orpington and Sidcup respectively. It was between the wars that the growth took pace, resulting from the electrification of the railway lines coming out from London.
'By 1921 Foots Cray Urban District Council had been re-named Sidcup; then in 1965 the local identity was swept away into the new Greater London borough of Bexley. At the same time the Chislehurst, St Paul’s Cray and St Mary Cray side of the A20 was taken into Bromley.'
'It might startle you to learn that little old Foots Cray was big enough and mighty enough once to have its boundaries extended as far west as the present-day Cray Wanderers ground at Flamingo Park and indeed almost as far as the big intersection of roads at Fiveways. But there is a common history shared by the villages of St Mary Cray and Foots Cray. They each used to be kingpin in their respective territories until outgrown by Orpington and Sidcup respectively. It was between the wars that the growth took pace, resulting from the electrification of the railway lines coming out from London.
'By 1921 Foots Cray Urban District Council had been re-named Sidcup; then in 1965 the local identity was swept away into the new Greater London borough of Bexley. At the same time the Chislehurst, St Paul’s Cray and St Mary Cray side of the A20 was taken into Bromley.'
Finally back to Curiosities of Orpington (2023) for a modern-day commentary on the transport benefits that define how since its transformation a hundred years ago Orpington is now a renowned des-res commuter hub:
'Thanks to being inside the Greater London boundary our over-60s enjoy free bus and rail travel with the Freedom Pass. There are regular train services into various parts of the capital city. New tube links criss-cross the metropolis and the Home Counties. Our road links have become more direct since the M25 motorway opened in 1986.
'Reporting in 2017 the CITY AM newspaper said: ‘Developers are starting to show an interest in this well-connected town in Zone 6.’ City AM highlighted Orpington’s excellent transport links.'
Illustration: The art work of Stephen Chaplin (Born 1934 in Orpington) is featured in our Curiosities of Orpington book. You can see more of his splendid depictions of familiar local scenes by Googling his name at the Art UK website.
'Thanks to being inside the Greater London boundary our over-60s enjoy free bus and rail travel with the Freedom Pass. There are regular train services into various parts of the capital city. New tube links criss-cross the metropolis and the Home Counties. Our road links have become more direct since the M25 motorway opened in 1986.
'Reporting in 2017 the CITY AM newspaper said: ‘Developers are starting to show an interest in this well-connected town in Zone 6.’ City AM highlighted Orpington’s excellent transport links.'
Illustration: The art work of Stephen Chaplin (Born 1934 in Orpington) is featured in our Curiosities of Orpington book. You can see more of his splendid depictions of familiar local scenes by Googling his name at the Art UK website.