National Rail
The name and the accompanying double arrow symbol are the intellectual property of the Secretary of State for Transport. The National Rail logo was introduced by ATOC in 1999, and was used on the Great Britain public timetable for the first time in the edition valid from 26 September in that year. Rules for its use are set out in the Corporate Identity Style Guidelines published by the Rail Delivery Group, the NR title is sometimes described as a brand. As it was used by British Rail, the operator before franchising, its use maintains continuity and public familiarity. National Rail should not be confused with Network Rail, the two networks are generally coincident where passenger services are run. Most major Network Rail lines carry traffic and some lines are freight only. About twenty privately owned operating companies, each franchised for a defined term by government. The Rail Delivery Group is the association representing the TOCs and provides core services. It runs Rail Settlement Plan, which allocates ticket revenue to the various TOCs, and Rail Staff Travel and it does not compile the national timetable, which is the joint responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail.
Since the privatisation of British Rail there is no longer a single approach to design on railways in Great Britain, the look and feel of signage and marketing material is largely the preserve of the individual TOCs. However, National Rail continues to use BRs famous double-arrow symbol and it has been incorporated in the National Rail logotype and is displayed on tickets, the National Rail website and other publicity. The trademark rights to the arrow symbol remain state-owned, being vested in the Secretary of State for Transport. The double arrow was already prescribed for indicating a railway station, the lettering used in the National Rail logotype is a modified form of the typeface Sassoon Bold. It is a misconception that Rail Alphabet was used for printed material. The British Rail typefaces of choice from 1965 were Helvetica and Univers, TOCs may use what they like, examples include Futura, Frutiger, and a modified version of Precious by London Midland. Several conurbations have their own metro or tram systems, most of which are not part of National Rail, LO now possesses some infrastructure in its own right, following the reopening of the former East London line of London Underground as the East London Railway of LO.
Heathrow Express and Eurostar are not part of the National Rail network despite sharing of stations, northern Ireland Railways were never part of British Rail, which was always confined to Great Britain, and therefore are not part of the National Rail network. National Rail services have a common ticketing structure inherited from British Rail, through tickets are available between any pair of stations on the network, and can be bought from any station ticket office
City and South London Railway
The City and South London Railway was the first deep-level underground tube railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. When opened in 1890, the line had six stations and ran for 3.2 miles in a pair of tunnels between the City of London and Stockwell, passing under the River Thames. The diameter of the tunnels restricted the size of the trains, the railway was extended several times north and south, eventually serving 22 stations over a distance of 13.5 miles from Camden Town in north London to Morden in Surrey. Although the C&SLR was well used, low prices and the construction cost of the extensions placed a strain on the companys finances. In 1933, the C&SLR and the rest of the Underground Group was taken into public ownership, its tunnels and stations form the Bank Branch of the Northern line from Camden Town to Kennington and the southern leg of the line from Kennington to Morden. In November 1883, notice was given that a bill was to be presented to Parliament for the construction of the City of London & Southwark Subway.
The railway was to run from Elephant and Castle, in Southwark, south London, the tracks were to be in twin tunnels 10 ft 2 in in diameter, running for a distance of 1.25 miles. The bill received assent as the City of London and Southwark Subway Act,1884 on 28 July 1884. Section 5 of the Act stated, The works authorised by this Act are as follows, with Newington Butts and terminating at King William Street. The subway shall consist of two tubes for separate up and down traffic and shall be approached by means of staircases, in 1886, a further bill was submitted to Parliament to extend the tunnels south from Elephant and Castle to Kennington and Stockwell. The tunnels on this section were of a larger diameter –10 ft 6 in. Before the railway opened, a further bill received assent, granting permission to continue the line south to Clapham Common, the act was published on 25 July 1890 as the City and South London Railway Act,1890, effecting a change of the companys name. Like Greatheads earlier Tower Subway, the CL&SS was intended to be operated by cable haulage with an engine pulling the cable through the tunnels at a steady speed.
Section 5 of the 1884 Act specified that, The traffic of the subway shall be worked by, the system of the Patent Cable Tramway Corporation Limited or by such means other than steam locomotives as the Board of Trade may from time to time approve. However, the length of tunnel permitted by the supplementary acts challenged the practicality of the cable system. It is reported that this problem with the CL&SS contributed to the bankruptcy of the company in 1888. However, electric traction had been considered all along. So, CL&SS chairman Charles Grey Mott decided to switch to electric traction, other cable-operated systems using the Hallidie patents continued to be designed, such as the Glasgow Subway which opened in 1896
Gloucester Road tube station
Gloucester Road is a London Underground station in Kensington, west London. It is served by the District and Piccadilly lines, on the District and Piccadilly lines, the station is between South Kensington and Earls Court, and on the Circle line, it is between South Kensington and High Street Kensington. It is in London fare zone 1, the station entrance is located close to the junction of Gloucester Road and Cromwell Road. Close by are the Cromwell Hospital and Baden-Powell House, a variety of underground and main line services have operated over the sub-surface tracks. The deep-level platforms have remained largely unaltered, a disused sub-surface platform features periodic art installations as part of Transport for Londons Art on the Underground scheme. The station was opened as Brompton on 1 October 1868 by the Metropolitan Railway when it opened an extension from Paddington, the station was provided with four platforms sheltered by an elliptical glazed iron roof. A two-storey station building in cream-coloured brick with arched windows and a balustrade at roof level was built at the eastern end.
Initially, the MR operated all services over both companies tracks, on 12 April 1869, the DR opened a south-westward extension from Gloucester Road to West Brompton where it opened an interchange station with the West London Extension Joint Railway. At the opening there was no intermediate station – Earls Court station did not open until 1871 –, on 1 August 1870, the DR opened additional tracks between Gloucester Road and South Kensington and the West Brompton shuttle became a through service. On 3 July 1871, the DR opened its own tracks between Gloucester Road and High Street Kensington, on 1 February 1872, the DR opened a northbound branch from its station at Earls Court to connect to the West London Extension Joint Railway at Addison Road. From that date the Outer Circle service began running over the DRs tracks, the service was operated jointly by the H&CR and the DR. On 30 June 1900, the Middle Circle service was withdrawn between Earls Court and Mansion House, and, on 31 December 1908, the Outer Circle service was shortened to terminate at Earls Court.
In 1949, the Metropolitan line-operated Inner Circle route was given its own identity on the map as the Circle line. In 1907, Brompton was dropped from the name to bring it into accordance with the deep-level station. In the 1970s, the eastbound Circle line platform was out of use. The eastbound Circle and District lines both serve the side of the island platform and the westbound Circle line which was redirected to serve the south side of the island platform. The disused platform is used for Art on the Underground installations, in the 1990s a deck was constructed above the District and Circle line platforms on which was constructed a shopping mall and apartment building. By the beginning of the 20th century, the DR had been extended to Richmond, Ealing Broadway, Hounslow West and Wimbledon in the west and to New Cross Gate in the east
Earl's Court tube station
Earls Court is a London Underground station on the District and Piccadilly lines. The station is in fare zones 1 and 2. The station is located in the Earls Court area of central London, on the Piccadilly line the station is between Barons Court and Gloucester Road. It is the junction of the District line, with West Brompton and West Kensington to the west, High Street Kensington to the north. The Earls Court train crew depot is situated within the buildings towards the Warwick Road side of the station, it includes booking-on point, mess room. There are train stabling roads below nearby Hogart Road, at its opening, the extension had no intermediate station. The 1870s was a decade for the DR. On 3 July 1871 the DR opened a link from the West Brompton branch which connected to the Inner Circle south of High Street Kensington. Shortly afterwards, on 30 October 1871, the DR opened its first station at Earls Court, the original station was on the east side of Earls Court Road rather than the west. On 1 February 1872, the DR opened a branch west of Earls Court station to the WLEJR which it connected to at Addison Road.
From that date the Outer Circle service began running over the DRs tracks, the service was operated jointly by the H&CR and the DR. On 9 September 1874 another extension was opened which took the DR west from Earls Court to West Kensington, trains from Earls Court could travel via five different routes and the stations efficient operation was central to the DRs success. Unfortunately, the location of the close to the eastern junction meant that the original station was congested. A fire on 30 November 1875 damaged the station and a substantial replacement was built to the west of Earls Court Road. It was opened on 1 February 1878, on 5 May 1878 The Midland Railway began running a circuitous service known as the Super Outer Circle from St Pancras to Earls Court via Cricklewood and South Acton. It operated over a now disused connection between the NLR and the London and South Western Railways branch to Richmond, the service was not a success and was ended on 30 September 1880. An experimental service was operated for six months in 1900 when electric trains were tested over the section of track between Earls Court and High Street Kensington.
Following protracted negotiations with the MR over the method of electrification to be used the first electrified section of the DR was opened in 1903, electric services through Earls Court were begun on 1 July 1905
City of London
The City of London is a city and county within London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, the City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, it one of the 33 local authority districts of Greater London, the City of London is not a London borough. The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City and is colloquially known as the Square Mile. Both of these terms are often used as metonyms for the United Kingdoms trading and financial services industries. The name London is now used for a far wider area than just the City. London most often denotes the sprawling London metropolis, or the 32 London boroughs and this wider usage of London is documented as far back as 1888, when the County of London was created. The local authority for the City, namely the City of London Corporation, is unique in the UK and has some unusual responsibilities for a local council and it is unusual in having responsibilities and ownerships beyond its boundaries.
The Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, the current Lord Mayor, as of November 2016, is Andrew Parmley. The City is a business and financial centre. Throughout the 19th century, the City was the primary business centre. London came top in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, published in 2008, the insurance industry is focused around the eastern side of the City, around Lloyds building. A secondary financial district exists outside of the City, at Canary Wharf,2.5 miles to the east, the City has a resident population of about 7,000 but over 300,000 people commute to and work there, mainly in the financial services sector. It used to be held that Londinium was first established by merchants as a trading port on the tidal Thames in around 47 AD. However, this date is only supposition, many historians now believe London was founded some time before the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD. They base this notion on evidence provided by both archaeology and Welsh literary legend, archaeologists have claimed that as much as half of the best British Iron Age art and metalwork discovered in Britain has been found in the London area.
One of the most prominent examples is the famously horned Waterloo Helmet dredged from the Thames in the early 1860s and now exhibited at the British Museum. Also, according to an ancient Welsh legend, a king named Lud son of Heli substantially enlarged and improved a pre-existing settlement at London which afterwards came to be renamed after him, the same tradition relates how this Lud son of Heli was buried at Ludgate
Northern line
The Northern line is a London Underground line, coloured black on the Tube map. The section between Stockwell and Borough opened in 1890, and is the oldest section of deep-level tube line on the network, for most of its length it is a deep-level tube line. There were about 252,310,000 passenger journeys in 2011/12 on the Northern line, making it the second-busiest line on the Underground. Despite its name, it does not serve the northernmost stations on the network, though it does serve the southernmost station, there are 50 stations on the line, of which 36 have platforms below ground. An extension in the 1920s used a route planned by a fourth company. Abandoned plans from the 1920s to extend the line further southwards, from the 1930s to the 1970s, the tracks of a seventh company were managed as a branch of the Northern line. The C&SLR, Londons first deep-level tube railway, was built under the supervision of James Henry Greathead and it was the first of the Undergrounds lines to be constructed by boring deep below the surface and the first to be operated by electric traction.
The railway opened in November 1890 from Stockwell to a station at King William Street. This was inconveniently placed and unable to cope with the traffic so, in 1900. By 1907 the C&SLR had been extended at both ends to run from Clapham Common to Euston. The CCE&HR was opened in 1907 and ran from Charing Cross via Euston and Camden Town to Golders Green and it was extended south by one stop to Embankment in 1914 to form an interchange with the Bakerloo and District lines. In 1913 the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, owner of the CCE&HR, took over the C&SLR, during the early 1920s, a series of works was carried out to connect the C&SLR and CCE&HR tunnels to enable an integrated service to be operated. The first of new tunnels, between the C&SLRs Euston station and the CCE&HRs station at Camden Town, had originally been planned in 1912 but had been delayed by World War I. The second connection linked the CCE&HRs Embankment and C&SLRs Kennington stations and provided a new station at Waterloo to connect to the main line station there.
The smaller-diameter tunnels of the C&SLR were expanded to match the diameter of the CCE&HR. In conjunction with the works to integrate the two lines, two extensions were undertaken, northwards to Edgware in Middlesex and southwards to Morden in Surrey. The Edgware extension used plans dating back to 1901 for the Edgware and it extended the CCE&HR line from its terminus at Golders Green to Edgware in two stages, to Hendon Central in 1923 and to Edgware in 1924. The line crossed open countryside and ran on the surface, apart from a tunnel north of Hendon Central
District line
The District line is a London Underground service that crosses Greater London from east to west. From Upminster, the terminus, the line runs through Central London to Earls Court before dividing into three western branches, to Ealing Broadway and Richmond. There is a branch that goes from Earls Court to Kensington. A branch runs north from Earls Court to Edgware Road via Paddington, the track and stations between Barking and Aldgate East are shared with the Hammersmith & City line, and between Tower Hill and Gloucester Road and on the Edgware Road branch with the Circle line. Some of the stations are shared with the Piccadilly line, unlike Londons deep-level tube railways, the railway tunnels are just below the surface, and the trains are of a similar size to those on British main lines. The District line is the busiest of the lines as well the fifth busiest line overall on the London Underground with over 208 million passengers in the year 2011/12. The original Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini.
Services were operated at first using wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, electrification was financed by the American Charles Yerkes, and electric services began in 1905. In 1933 the railway was absorbed by the London Passenger Transport Board, in the first half of the 1930s the Piccadilly line took over the Uxbridge and Hounslow branches, although a peak-hour District line service ran on the Hounslow branch until 1964. Kensington has been served by the District line since 1946, the trains carried guards until one-person operation was introduced in 1985. The signalling system is being upgraded, and the current D Stock trains are to be replaced by new 7-car S Stock trains by spring 2017, the Metropolitan District Railway was formed to build and operate part an underground inner circle connecting Londons railway termini. The first line opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster, by 1871 when the District began operating its own trains, the railway had extended to West Brompton and a terminus at Mansion House.
Hammersmith was reached from Earls Court, services were extended to Richmond over the tracks of the London and South Western Railway and branches reached Ealing Broadway, Hounslow, as part of the project that completed the Circle line in October 1884, the District began to serve Whitechapel. Services began running to Upminster in 1902, after a link to the London, electric multiple-units were introduced on other services in 1905, and East Ham became the eastern terminus. Hounslow and Uxbridge were served by 2 or 3-car shuttles from Mill Hill Park, some served South Acton. Services were extended again to Barking in 1908 and Upminster in 1932, in 1933 Piccadilly trains reached to Hounslow West, the District continuing to run services with an off-peak shuttle from South Acton to Hounslow. Most of the cars on the District line were the 1904–05 B Stock type with wooden bodies. The off-peak District line services on the Hounslow branch were withdrawn on 29 April 1935, following bombing of the West London Line in 1940 the LMS and the Metropolitan line services over the West London Line were both suspended
Mark Lane tube station
Mark Lane is a disused station on the London Underground. It was served by the Circle and District lines and it took its name from Mark Lane, the street on which it is located, slightly west of the current Tower Hill station that replaced it in 1967. Mark Lane was planned to have been named Seething Lane, however the station was given the former name upon opening. On 1 September 1946 the station was renamed Tower Hill, the station was earmarked for closure due to overwhelming passenger numbers and little space available for expansion. It was closed on 4 February 1967 and the present Tower Hill station was opened as its replacement, located on the same site as the Tower of London station that had closed in 1884. The sub-surface section of Mark Lane station can still be seen between Monument and Tower Hill, though only one platform on the track now remains due to redevelopment of the track. The surface station, sited in Seething Lane, can be seen in the form of a subway under the road, the offices above the station were called Mark Lane Station Buildings, and this sign can still be read above an entrance on Byward Street.
A History of the Metropolitan Railway, the London Underground, A Diagrammatic History. Londons Abandoned Tube Stations - Mark Lane
Metropolitan Railway
Its first line connected the main-line railway termini at Paddington and Kings Cross to the City. It opened to the public on 10 January 1863 with gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, the line was soon extended from both ends, and northwards via a branch from Baker Street. Harrow was reached in 1880, and the line extended to Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles from Baker Street. Electric traction was introduced in 1905 and by 1907 electric multiple units operated most of the services, unlike other railway companies in the London area, the Met developed land for housing, and after World War I promoted housing estates near the railway using the Metro-land brand. On 1 July 1933, the Met was amalgamated with the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, former Met tracks and stations are used by the London Undergrounds Metropolitan, District, Hammersmith & City and Jubilee lines, and by Chiltern Railways. In the first half of the 19th century the population and physical extent of London grew greatly, only Fenchurch Street station was within the City.
The congested streets and the distance to the City from the stations to the north, none were successful, and the 1846 Royal Commission investigation into Metropolitan Railway Termini banned construction of new lines or stations in the built-up central area. The concept of a railway linking the City with the mainline termini was first proposed in the 1830s. Charles Pearson, Solicitor to the City, was a promoter of several schemes. The scheme was rejected by the 1846 commission, but Pearson returned to the idea in 1852 when he helped set up the City Terminus Company to build a railway from Farringdon to Kings Cross. Although the plan was supported by the City, the companies were not interested. The Bayswater and Holborn Bridge Railway Company was established to connect the Great Western Railways Paddington station to Pearsons route at Kings Cross, a bill was published in November 1852 and in January 1853 the directors held their first meeting and appointed John Fowler as its engineer. After successful lobbying, the company secured parliamentary approval under the name of the North Metropolitan Railway in the summer of 1853 and this dropped the City terminus and extended the route south from Farringdon to the General Post Office in St.
Martins Le Grand. The route at the end was altered so that it connected more directly to the GWR station. Permission was sought to connect to the London and North Western Railway at Euston and to the Great Northern Railway at Kings Cross, the companys name was to be changed again, to Metropolitan Railway. Royal assent was granted to the North Metropolitan Railway Act on 7 August 1854, construction of the railway was estimated to cost £1 million. Initially, with the Crimean War under way, the Met found it hard to raise the capital, while it attempted to raise the funds it presented new bills to Parliament seeking an extension of time to carry out the works. In July 1855, an Act to make a connection to the GNR at Kings Cross received royal assent
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England, the Midlands, and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835, Goods wagons were painted red but this was changed to mid-grey. Great Western trains included long-distance express services such as the Flying Dutchman, the Cornish Riviera Express and it operated many suburban and rural services, some operated by steam railmotors or autotrains. The company pioneered the use of larger, more economic goods wagons than were usual in Britain and it operated a network of road motor routes, was a part of the Railway Air Services, and owned ships and hotels. The Great Western Railway originated from the desire of Bristol merchants to maintain their city as the port of the country. The company was founded at a meeting in Bristol in 1833 and was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1835. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, aged twenty-nine, was appointed engineer and this was by far Brunels largest contract to date.
Firstly, he chose to use a gauge of 7 ft to allow for the possibility of large wheels outside the bodies of the rolling stock which could give smoother running at high speeds. Secondly, he selected a route, north of the Marlborough Downs and this meant the line was not direct from to London to Bristol. From Reading heading west, the line would curve in a northerly sweep back to Bath, the first 22.5 miles of line, from Paddington station in London to Maidenhead Bridge station, opened on 4 June 1838. When Maidenhead Railway Bridge was ready the line was extended to Twyford on 1 July 1839, the cutting was the scene of a railway disaster two years when a goods train ran into a landslip, ten passengers who were travelling in open trucks were killed. This accident prompted Parliament to pass the 1844 Railway Regulation Act requiring railway companies to provide carriages for passengers. The next section, from Reading to Steventon crossed the Thames twice, a 7. 25-mile extension took the line to Faringdon Road on 20 July 1840.
Meanwhile, work had started at the Bristol end of the line, on 17 December 1840, the line from London reached a temporary terminus at Wootton Bassett Road west of Swindon and 80.25 miles from Paddington. The section from Wootton Bassett Road to Chippenham was opened on 31 May 1841, as was Swindon Junction station where the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway to Cirencester connected. That was an independent line worked by the GWR, as was the Bristol and Exeter Railway, in 1851, the GWR purchased the Kennet and Avon Canal, which was a competing carrier between London, Reading and Bristol. The GWR was closely involved with the C&GWUR and the B&ER, the South Wales Railway had opened between Chepstow and Swansea in 1850 and became connected to the GWR by Brunels Chepstow Bridge in 1852. It was completed to Neyland in 1856, where a port was established
Willesden Junction station
Willesden Junction is a Network Rail station in Harlesden, north-west London, UK. It is served by both London Overground and the Bakerloo line of the London Underground.5 miles to the northwest, passenger services ended in 1962 when the platforms were removed during electrification of the WCML to allow the curvature of the tracks to be eased. Later the bridges for the North London Line were rebuilt, the High-Level station on the NLL was opened by the North London Railway in 1869 on a track crossing the WCML roughly at right angles. In 1894 a new high level platform was built, together with a new entrance. By 1897199 passenger and 47 goods trains passed through the High Level station each day. The Willesden New Station or Low-Level station on the Watford DC Line was opened in 1910 to the north of the line with two outer through platforms and two inner bay platforms at the London end. In 1896 staff totalled 271, including 79 porters,58 signalmen and 58 shunters and they issued 1,006,886 tickets to passengers in 1896, up from 530,300 in 1886.
Many of them were housed in what is now the Old Oak Lane conservation area, built by the LNWR in 1889, the main-line platforms were numbered from the south side followed by the high level platforms and the DC line platforms which thus had the highest numbers. Later the surviving platforms were re-numbered, on 5 December 1910, a passenger train was in a rear-end collision with another at the station. Three people were killed and more than 40 were injured,23 of 25 passengers were injured, all but one were discharged from hospital during the same evening. There are no platforms on the West Coast Main Line, which is separated from the station by the approach road to Willesden Depot which lies immediately south-east of the station. Both platforms have been extended across the DC line to accommodate 4-coach class 378 trains, the HL station previously had a third platform on the eastern side which was used by services to/from Earls Court. There is another turnback siding further east which was previously used, in October 2014 the DC line was closed temporarily between Wembley Central and Queens Park reportedly by Network Rail to allow platform 2 to be extended further west as a through platform.
Most of the original and buildings were demolished when platform 2 was extended in preparation for longer Class 378 trains and provision of a new footbridge. Platforms 1 and 3 are used by the Bakerloo line services, until May 2008 north-bound Bakerloo line trains which were to reverse at Stonebridge Park depot ran empty from Willesden Junction although the southbound service began at Stonebridge Park. The station signs on the say, below the Overground roundel. The LNWR opened a locomotive depot on a site on the south side of the main line to the west of the station. The London Midland and Scottish Railway opened an additional roundhouse on the site in 1929, both buildings were demolished when the depot was closed in 1965 by British Railways and replaced by a Freightliner depot
North London line
The North London line is a railway line of the London Overground, which passes through the inner suburbs of north London, England. Its route is a rough semicircle between the south-west and the north-east, avoiding central London, the line is owned and maintained by Network Rail and London Overground. It is an important freight route and is used by the Richmond to Stratford service of the London Overground, between Richmond and Gunnersbury, London Undergrounds District line shares tracks with London Overground services, although this part is owned and maintained by Network Rail. The line reopened on 1 June 2010 with a service and none on Sundays, and with the upgrade work completed. The construction of the Royal Victoria Dock necessitated a swing-bridge on the route south of Canning Town which was rerouted in 1850 via Custom House. The original route was retained as the Silvertown Tramway, a freight line connected at both ends to the new main line. The main central section opened from 1850 to 1852 as the East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway and this gave a link from the Euston main line near Primrose Hill to the docks at Poplar via Bow.
In the west, the North & South Western Junction Railway was opened in 1853 from Willesden Junction to a junction with the Hounslow Loop Line near Kew Bridge, the last link in the east was opened between the NLR near Victoria Park and Stratford in 1854. To obviate NLR trains running on the busy Euston main line, to give the NLR direct access to the City of London, the City extension to Broad Street was opened from Dalston Junction in 1865. The final part of the route was the opening of a link from South Acton to Richmond by the London & South Western Railway in 1869, the line from Broad Street to Kew Bridge and Richmond was electrified by the LNWR in 1916 on the 4th-rail DC system. In 1944, passenger services on the NLR Poplar branch ceased, freight traffic continued on the branch to the docks on the Isle of Dogs until 1980. The trackbed of the part of the branch, from Poplar to Bow, was used for the Docklands Light Railway branch to Stratford. The service was listed for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report and it was saved after a huge campaign.
The line was Grant Aided under the Transport Act 1968 and came under threat when the Conservative Government of 1970-71 proposed to reduce Grant Aid funding. That threat, eventually lifted, led to the founding of a new group, the North London Line Committee. In 1979, the North Woolwich to Stratford service was extended to Camden Road as the CrossTown LinkLine service, using the same Cravens-built diesel multiple unit trains. There were no stations until, in 1980, Hackney Wick was opened, near the site of the former Victoria Park station and Hackney Central was re-opened. New platforms were built at West Ham for interchange with the adjacent Underground station, in the 1980s, Broad Street station closed and the Tottenham Hale–Stratford link and the station at Lea Bridge ceased to be used by regular passenger trains
5.77 million[2]
5.56 million[2]
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London Underground
