2017

TQ4293 : A Central line train crosses the River Roding

taken 7 years ago, near to Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England

A Central line train crosses the River Roding
A Central line train crosses the River Roding
Construction of the line from Ilford through Hainault and Chigwell to join the Epping and Ongar line at Woodford started in 1900, although powers had been obtained as early as 1846. The stations were built to high standards. Passenger and local freight operations started on 1st May 1903. At first the service worked from either Fenchurch Street or Liverpool Street and then back both ways round the loop. Everything was done to prepare for heavy passenger traffic, misplaced optimism being shown by the stations which all had substantial buildings and long platforms. It was a difficult line to build with some substantial engineering, including a tunnel between Grange Hill and Chigwell stations and this viaduct over the River Roding between Chigwell station and what is now Roding Valley station.

Patronage remained very low until the building boom of the late 1920s and early 1930s when almost all the land between the eastern bank of the River Roding and the Hainault Loop was filled with small houses up to a point well north of Barkingside.

Eventually pressure from commuters in the new houses and the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board led to the proposal to extend the Central London line from its then terminus at Liverpool Street to Stratford and on to Leyton to join the Loughton line. At Leytonstone the new Tube would be made under Eastern Avenue as far as Newbury Park where the Underground would take over services on the Hainault Loop. Work was well underway from October 1936 when they stopped in 1940 because of the War. Plessey used the tunnels during the War for the manufacture of aircraft components, but after the War work began again and the first Tube trains were operated between Leytonstone and Newbury Park from Sunday 14th December 1947. LNER steam ran for the last time on Saturday 29th November 1947. Hainault was reached by Underground trains on 31st May 1948 and Woodford via Roding Valley on 21st November 1948 when Central line trains first crossed this viaduct.

Much of the uncovered land adjacent to the loop is in the London Green Belt which prevented large-scale building and any chance of increasing passenger numbers. To the east of the Central line there are almost no houses between Newbury Park and Hainault and to the north of the line between Hainault and Roding Valley, hence patronage of the line has never been as high as predicted. There has even been talk of closure over the years but the fact that there is the large Central line depot between Hainault and Grange Hill made this operationally impossible.

The path alongside the Roding only goes under the left hand arch, it being a dead end on the right hand side. A Central line train is crossing the viaduct and will shortly reach Roding Valley station on its way to terminate at Woodford. The view from Roding Valley back along the line to the viaduct can be seen at Link

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Marathon and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Rivers, Streams, Drainage Railways other tags: London Underground Train Viaduct Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Central Line Trains first Crossed this Viaduct [3] · Grange Hill [2] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
+
+
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
TIP: Click the map for more Large scale mapping
Grid Square
TQ4293, 25 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Marathon   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Monday, 6 February, 2017   (more nearby)
Submitted
Monday, 6 February, 2017
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TQ 4224 9309 [10m precision]
WGS84: 51:37.1200N 0:3.1905E
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TQ 4227 9305
View Direction
North-northwest (about 337 degrees)
Clickable map
+
NW N NE
W Go E
SW S SE
Image Type (about): geograph 
This page has been viewed about 108 times
You are not logged in login | register