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Short History of the Epping to Ongar Line
In the early nineteenth century Woodford, Loughton and Epping were small villages in rural Essex which, bordering Epping Forest, lay on the stagecoach road to Newmarket and Norfolk. Over twenty coaches a day passed along this road but journey times were slow, travel being hindered by the many hills, the general state of the roads, and the tolls levied on their users. To overcome these difficulties, the Eastern Counties Railway obtained a bill in 1846 to build a branch line from Loughton to join its man line near Ilford. However, these early powers lapsed so in 1853 the ECR was obliged to obtain new powers to build its branch from Loughton, this time to join the mainline at Stratford. The line was completed in 1856 and services commenced with services running into the Fenchurch Street terminal of the London & Blackwall Railway, as well as the ECR's own overcrowded terminal at Bishopsgate. The railway was not extended to Epping and Ongar until 1865, by which time the ECR had been absorbed into the Great Eastern Railway. This new line was initially single track, leaving the ECR's branch just south of its original terminus and requiring the construction of a new station at Loughton; the old being converted to a goods yard and sidings.
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The old station at Loughton
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Ongar station in 1915
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In 1874/75 the GER built a new London terminus at Liverpool Street and from then on, the majority of trains from Ongar and Epping ran into this new terminus, although Fenchurch Street continued to be used, especially during peak hours. In 1892/93 the line from Loughton to Epping was doubled to provide better services for the expanding towns of Epping and Theydon Bois, especially during the summer weekends when excursions were operated from the East End to the beauties of Epping Forest.
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Buckhurst Hill's second station
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Ongar station - a train waits on a wet day
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By the turn of the century the GER believed that additional traffic would be generated from North Ilford and Chigwell if the area was served by a frequent rail service so, in 1903, it opened a new loop line from Woodford through Chigwell, Hainault and Barkingside to Ilford. Built to impressive standards this line unfortunately failed initially to attract sufficient extra traffic. However in 1923 the GER was absorbed into the newly created London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and, in the years which followed, development of these towns along the railway gained momentum and created an increasing burden on the steam hauled services of the branch.
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Steam and tube at Epping in the 1950s
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Nearly the end - a Cravens unit at North Weald
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Accordingly, in 1935, the branch was included in a major development of London's railway infrastructure - the "New Works Programme" - which was to see its operation pass to the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) which had been created two years earlier. Under these plans, the Central Line of the tube railway was to be extended from Liverpool Street through Bethnal Green, Mile End, and Stratford to join the branch just south of Leyton, from where it would run over the existing tracks to Loughton, Epping, and Ongar. A new section in tube tunnel would also be built from Leytonstone through Wanstead and North Ilford to join the Fairlop Loop near Newbury Park. The Second World War interrupted these plans and electrification was not completed until 1947/49. Electric trains did not in fact reach Ongar until 1957, leading to the operation of a steam shuttle between there and Epping for many years.
This then completed the history of the line we know it today until September 1994 when LT closed the loss making section between Epping and Ongar. After prolonged discussions and a bid by the Epping Forest Railway to re-open the line as an enthusiasts railway, LT decided to award the line's operation to a company called Pilot developments but only recently, some 10 years later, few trains have started to run at weekends.
The company now operating the line are the Epping Ongar Railway, and they operate a service every Sunday and Bank Holiday between Coopersale and Ongar. From the start, the line has been over-shadowed by politics and arguments between the Ongar Railways Preservation Society, and the Epping Ongar Railway about redevelopment of the land at the various stations, opening the line through to Epping, and various other issues. One can not help feeling that a golden opportunity to preserve an historic branch line and operate it as a proper heritage line has been lost.
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