The line ran parallel with Tooley Street, crossing Blue Anchor Road, Corbetts Lane and the Grand Surrey Canal.

Even so, several of the piers near to Corbetts Lane moved four or five inches (100 - 125 mm) out of the perpendicular and on 18 January 1836 two arches close to Tooley Street collapsed.

[3] Originally the line had single parallel tracks of Stephenson gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm), fixed to stone blocks or sleepers.

Bridge rails were used on the viaduct between Deptford and Greenwich initially, laid on longitudinal timbers with cross sleepers at four-foot intervals.

The first section, between Spa Road and Deptford, opened on 8 February 1836: demonstration trains had been running from mid-1835 including Corbett's Lane Temp Station.

In 1837, The Gentleman's Magazine celebrated the railway project saying: "This great national work reflects the highest honour on the gallant proprietor, Colonel Landmann, no less credit on the contractor, Mr Macintosh, under whose orders no less than 60,000,000 bricks have been laid by human hands since the Royal assent was given to the Act of Parliament for its formation in 1833.

"[4]The line reached Bermondsey Street in October, and London Bridge on 14 December 1836 (Spa Road was no longer used as a stop at this time).

At the other end, the line reached a temporary station at Church Row in Greenwich on 24 December 1838, having been delayed by problems with the Deptford Creek lift bridge.

It is believed that at Corbetts Lane there was installed the first fixed signal used to control a junction, a white disc operated by the pointsman.

c. cxxvii) for laying additional lines as far as the junction at Corbetts Lane and the London and Greenwich Railway (Southwark Station) Act 1840 (3 & 4 Vict.

The increasing congestion of the lines approaching London Bridge and dissatisfaction with the high tolls charged by the L&GR caused the SER and the L&CR to build a new terminus at Bricklayers Arms.

The SER took some time to respond and in the meanwhile the company received a similar offer from the L&BR and also negotiated reduced tolls with the L&CR.

Eventually the SER agreed to lease the L&GR from 1 January 1845, and this was approved by the London and Greenwich Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict.

[6] The L&GR continued in existence until January 1923 but its activities were restricted to receiving the annual rent from the SER and distributing it to shareholders.

[7] Greenwich was the terminus until 1878, when the cut-and-cover tunnel to Maze Hill was opened by the SER, linking it to the North Kent Line just west of Charlton.

A space between the two tracks, for the locomotive 'escape route' to reverse the trains, disappeared in the 1990s when the station was altered to accommodate an extension to the Docklands Light Railway.