Monday, 24 November 2025

London City Train Lines Remembered



North Woolwich railway station in North Woolwich in east Londonwas the eastern terminus of the North London Line. The station closed in 2006, to allow for the North London line between Stratford and Canning Town to be converted to Docklands Light Railway (DLR) operation.[3] The local area is now served by the nearby King George V DLR station. The historic station building (built by Sir William Tite in 1847) was Grade II-listed in 1998.[4]

History

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RCTS East London Tour in 1951

The station opened on 14 June 1847 as the southern terminus of the Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway from Stratford. The station building itself was designed by Sir William Tite. The service was later extended beyond Stratford to Palace Gates. In 1963 diesel traction replaced steam and the service was cut back to Stratford with peak-hour trains to Tottenham Hale.

North London line

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The route became an extension of the North London Line (NLL) in 1979. In 1979, the original station building and a platform were closed, being replaced by a minimalist entrance and passenger shelter on the south side.[5] From the 1980s onward, only one track of the double track line was used through the Connaught Tunnel under the Royal Docks and on to North Woolwich.

In 1985 the line from North Woolwich was electrified on the third rail system under British Rail, with the service running round inner north London to Richmond (a route part-third rail and part-overhead wire). Prior to closure, the typical service frequency Monday to Saturday was every 30 minutes during the daytime, increasing to every 20 minutes in the evening and every 30 minutes all day Sunday.

Class 313 waiting to depart a few days before the station closed.

For a period of about 18 months, from May 1994 until October 1995, the line from North Woolwich to Stratford (Low Level) closed temporarily during the Jubilee Line extension which involved reconstruction on the platforms at West Ham and Canning Town stations. A replacement bus was in place during this time. In 1998, the original station building was Grade II-listed.[4]

From 1984 until 2008 the original station buildings and one disused platform served as the North Woolwich Old Station Museum, dedicated to the history of the Great Eastern Railway.[5] The building was then owned by the Passmore Edwards Museum Trust and run by the London Borough of Newham - on its closure most of the collection was dispersed and the building passed to the Trust's successor, the River Lea Tidal Mill Trust.[6]

Station closure

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The historic station building in 2017, following the closure of the North Woolwich Old Station Museum

The station and the line to Stratford closed on 9 December 2006[7] to allow conversion of the North London Line between Stratford and Canning Town to a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) line. At closure the station was served by Silverlink. Following the opening of the DLR extension to London City Airport in 2005, the area was better served by more frequent services from King George V DLR station. Following the extension of the line to Woolwich Arsenal in 2009, a rapid transit connection across the Thames was provided for the first time.[3]

Future

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The Elizabeth line uses the Connaught Tunnel and nearby NLL route, with a new tunnel under the River Thames near the site of North Woolwich station. This prevents any future use of the station for railway purposes - preventing two proposed schemes for using the short section of railway track near the station:

Ownership of the station site passed to the House Mill Trust after closure, but high maintenance costs led to it being sold on to a property investment firm, Sav Group, in 2018,[8] with the station building and trackbed subsequently being purchased in 2021 by the New Covenant Church.[9]

In 2023 plans were submitted to redevelop the former goods yard with apartments, a café and a commercial space.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 174. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Estimates of station usage". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Archived from the original on 19 June 2025. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Key milestone reached in £211m rail extension". Transport for London. 11 December 2006. Retrieved 24 June2020.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "NORTH WOOLWICH STATION INCLUDING TURNTABLE AND PLATFORM LAMP STANDARDS., Non Civil Parish - 1376229 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Great Eastern Railway Society (1987). Return to North Woolwich. PEMT Enterprises Ltd. p. 8. ISBN 0 906123 09 7.
  6. ^ "House Mill - About Us". Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  7. ^ Closure of North Woolwich station Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Ian Visits: The disused North Woolwich railway station is up for sale, 28 July 2020
  9. ^ Colin Grainger: Former North Woolwich Old Station Museum to become a church, 07 February 2021
  10. ^ Ian Visits: Former North Woolwich railway station to become blocks of flats, 27 July 2023
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to North Woolwich railway station.
Disused railways
Preceding stationNational Rail National RailFollowing station
Silvertown
towards Richmond
SilverlinkTerminus

The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the Port of London further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fell into disuse but were later revived as part of the Docklands Light Railway, and London Overground's East London Line. The company was originally called the East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway (E&WID&BJR) from its start in 1850, until 1853. In 1909, it entered into an agreement with the London and North Western Railway which introduced common management, and the NLR was taken over completely by the LNWR in 1922. The LNWR itself became part of the LMS from the start of 1923. The railways were nationalised in 1948 and most LMS lines, including the North London route, then came under the control of the London Midland Region of British Railways.

History

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Railway map of London, 1899, from The Pocket Atlas and Guide to London

The East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway was incorporated by an act of Parliament, the East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. cccxcvi), on 26 August 1846. It was empowered to construct a railway from the district of Poplar and the docks to Camden Town in north London.[1] The railway's headquarters and locomotive works were initially in Bow.

East and West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway Act 1846

The North London Railway Act 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. xcvii) renamed the company to the North London Railway.

At first, it ran trains from Bow Junction on the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR) to Islington, starting on 26 September 1850. The line was extended to Camden Town railway station[2] from 7 December 1850 and to Hampstead Road station (later renamed Primrose Hill) from 9 June 1851. Another extension via the L&BR was opened on 1 January 1852, from Bow Junction to Poplar railway station, and from there to Blackwall and the East India Docks;[3] a connection at Bow allowed trains to run to Fenchurch Street. This arrangement lasted until 1865, when an extension from Dalston Junction to Broad Streetwas opened; Broad Street became the main terminus, and the Poplar line became a branch. In the meantime, in 1864, a banker on a train from Fenchurch Street to Chalk Farm became the first victim of a murder on a British train. 

In 1869, the line was extended along the North and South Western Junction Railway (a joint enterprise by the LNWR, Midland Railway and the NLR) from Willesden Junction to a London and South Western Railway branch to Richmond. A bypass line from Camden to Willesden Junction via Gospel Oak and West Hampstead opened in 1860. Meanwhile, at the eastern end, a spur line connecting the NLR to Stratford from Victoria Park opened in 1854 but was not used by passenger services. The line between Camden Town and Dalston Junction was quadrupled in 1871.[3]

The LNWR took over the working of the railway under a common management arrangement on 1 February 1909.[4] The company still existed until 1922, with its own board of directors and shareholders, when it was absorbed by the LNWR. The last board meeting and last shareholders meeting were both held on 23 November 1922, the latter giving the shareholders' approval of amalgamation. The board minutes were signed by A Holland-Hibbert, the chairman, who added "Goodbye!". Beneath this was typed, "This was the last Board Meeting of the North London Railway Company, the Undertaking being absorbed under “The London and North Western Railway (North London Railway and Dearne Valley Railway) Preliminary Absorption Scheme 1922” by the London and North Western Railway Company as from 1 January 1922."[5]

The LNWR, which half-owned Broad Street station, was responsible for electrification of the Broad Street to Richmond and Kew Bridge lines in 1916.

Legacy

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Camden Road station is one of the few remaining examples of the NLR's yellow-brick, "Venetian" architectural style. It was designed by Edwin Henry Horne.

The Kew Bridge service was withdrawn as a wartime economy measure in 1940, which proved to be permanent.

The line from Dalston Junction to Poplar was heavily damaged during the Blitz of World War II. Passenger services from Broad Street to Poplar via Victoria Park and Bow were suspended on 15 April 1944 and officially closed on 14 May 1944. A substitute bus service was provided until 23 April 1945 but the service was finally withdrawn at the end of the war. The northern section of the East Cross Route(A12) built in the late 1960s ran parallel to the rail line between Old Ford and Victoria Park stations, both of which were demolished for the road's construction.

The Crosstown Linkline service reinstated passenger service over the Dalston Junction to Victoria Park Junction section of the Poplar branch from 14 May 1979, running from Camden Town to Stratford and then over the former Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway to North Woolwich. The remaining freight line from Victoria Park Junction to Poplar Docks via Bow Junction closed on 3 October 1983.[3] From 13 May 1985, the Camden to North Woolwich Crosstown Linkline was combined with the Richmond to Broad Street service and ceased to serve Dalston Junction and Broad Street, which finally closed on 30 June 1986.

The line between Willesden Junction and Camden via Primrose Hill is now primarily used (in 2014) for empty coaching stock movements between the North London Line and Willesden Depot, freight trains and, during engineering work, diverted passenger services to and from the Watford DC Line. Primrose Hill station has been closed.

Since 31 August 1987, Docklands Light Railway has followed the path of the North London Railway from Bow Church to Poplar.[3]

The East London Line Extension took over the abandoned stretch between Dalston Junction and Shoreditch from April 2010, incorporating it into the London Overground network.

Stock

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Among the first locomotives bought by the railway from outside contractors were five 0-4-2ST engines. After that, all were constructed at Bow, London.

Workshop

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North London Railway Act 1853

Bow railway works was built in 1853 and had a sizeable wagon repair shop. When the railway was merged into the LMS it was the smallest of 15 workshops. It repaired NLR locomotives and from 1927 those from the former London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR).

In the 1930s, the works developed and manufactured the Hudd automatic control system for the LTSR, which led to a British Rail (BR) team from the national headquarters setting up in Bow to develop BR's standard Automatic Warning System. The workshop was badly damaged during the Blitz and the wagon workshop destroyed.

In 1956, the workshop repaired diesel-electric locomotives for the motive power depot at Devons Road (the first to become all-diesel). After a while it was receiving locos in the morning and turning them round by the evening, which initially confused the statistical returns since locos were entering and leaving the works on the same day. The works closed in 1960.

Stations

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The NLR erected a First World War memorial to fallen staff at Broad Street. On that station's closure it was moved first to Richmond, then in 2011 to Hoxton.

Richmond to Willesden Junction (joined NLR 1856):

Willesden Junction to Camden via Primrose Hill (opened 1851–2, passenger services between South Hampstead and Camden withdrawn 1992):

Willesden Junction to Camden via West Hampstead & Gospel Oak (opened 1860):

Camden Road to Dalston (opened 1850):

Dalston to Broad Street (opened 1865, closed 1986, mostly reopened 2010):

Dalston to Poplar (opened 1850, closed to passengers 1944, Dalston- Stratford reopened 1980):

Bow to Plaistow (1869 to 1916):

At Poplar, the line connected to Millwall Junction, allowing goods trains to run to Blackwall and the East India Docks, or along the Millwall Extension Railway, which served the West India Docks.


North London Railway
Overview
HeadquartersBow, London
LocaleLondon, United Kingdom
Dates of operation1850–1922
SuccessorLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
North London Railway diagram
Legend
LNWR
Queen's Park
Kilburn & Maida Vale
Loudon Road
Chalk Farm
Hampstead Road
Kentish Town Junction
Camden Town
St Pancras Junction
MR / GNR
Maiden Lane
Caledonian Road & Barnsbury
Highbury & Islington
Canonbury
Mildmay Park
Western Junction
Dalston Junction
Haggerston
Shoreditch
Broad Street
NLR
Kensal Rise to Blackwall
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Location: Norwich, UK

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