West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway was the first line to create a corridor from the south and east towards Westminster and led to the development of London Victoria railway station. To coincide with the reopening of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham Hill on 10 June 1854, the LB&SCR opened a short spur line linking a new Crystal Palace station to Sydenham station on the Brighton main line from London Bridge. The WELCPR was an independent company that aimed to create an additional line from Wandsworth to the LB&SCR station at Crystal Palace and thence to Norwood Junction, whence it would have running powers over the
Crystal Palace and South London Junction Railway Hill Wood nature reserve. Two tunnel entrances remain at Hillcrest Wood and are known hibernation roosts for the Brown long-eared bat. In the early 1990s, a local amenity group, Friends of the Great North Wood, produced a walking leaflet entitled "From the Nun's Head to the Screaming Alice" describing a route that closely follows the line. ('Screaming Alice' was Cockney rhyming slang for Crystal Palace.) The walk continues from the site of Crystal Palace High Level past the Crystal Palace Museum to the remaining Crystal Palace railway station (formerly Crystal Palace Low Level). The line served the following stations: Crystal