Balham Station Island Print

This story of Balham Station began in 1979 when the land surrounding it began to shift, cracks were formed and were restricting access to the main entrance. TFL & Wandsworth Council did everything they could to stop them getting worse, but the cracks got larger & larger and eventually it was clear that the station itself was built on a previously unknown fault line deep within the Earth.

Locals realised the land was shifting as the average time to walk to Balham from nearby Tooting was increasing by 3 minutes per week. Strangely, the journey from Clapham seemed to be shortening (citation needed).

The station was closed for many years, and in 1983 the surrounding land completely fell away, known as ‘The day South London moved’. The areas of Tooting, Streatham, Clapham and Wandsworth completely fell away from the station, as did the immediate town of Balham itself, including the High Street.

The deep crevices in the land formed by the moving land eventually filled with water, mostly from the storm of 1987 and newly formed outlets from the River Wandle. The following year, the station was officially declared an island, and as such TFL made changes to the way Londoners could access the station, bringing in the infamous ‘Water Shuttle’, still in use today.

A petition in 1993 led to the installation of a large lighthouse style light bulb on top of the station, as many late night revelers were falling in to the surrounding waters, as well arranging illegal late night parties on what became known as ‘Balham Beach’.

Did you know: The station now functions as originally intended, connecting many routes such as Victoria Station & Clapham Junction. The original crossing lights have been left in place, even though the cross roads are now deep within the ocean floor.