1.
London Overground
–
The London Overground is a suburban rail network in the United Kingdom. Established in 2007, it serves a large part of Greater London and parts of Hertfordshire, the network forms part of the National Rail network, but under the franchise control and branding of Transport for London. Operation has been franchised to Arriva Rail London since 13 November 2016, the Overground has been assigned the colour orange as a mode specific colour by Transport for London. This colour is used in the Overground version of the TfL roundel, for the representation of Overground routes on the map, in train interiors. Rail services in Great Britain are mostly run under franchises operated by train operating companies. The concept of developing a network of services around London goes back to the independently produced Ringrail proposals in the early 1970s. The proposal from Barren was for several overlapping services mainly using the North London Line and this was given the marketing name Cross Town Link-Line, and operated with basic 2-car diesel units. The next initiative came from the GLC in 1984, when the government supported the Broadgate development that would entail the demolition of Broad Street Station. The closure process was convoluted because of problems in making arrangements for the North London Line. These would eventually run to and from Liverpool Street via a new section of track and this used a name once associated with a semicircular service that operated from Broad Street to Mansion House, but ceased during World War 1. The pamphlets and briefings, first issued in 1997, initially suggested a route from Clapham Junction to the Greenwich Peninsula, intended to improve access from south London to the Millennium Dome. However, this was thwarted by architect Richard Rogers who considered a railway route on an elevated viaduct could cause community severance, nothing further happened to develop this network until after the new GLA was set up in 2000. But the lobbying discreetly continued with a series of short briefings published by one RDS member based in North London, mayoral and GLA candidates were approached to discuss the viability of the Outer Circle concept. The principle was widely supported and was adopted into the first Mayors Transport Plan, meanwhile, a pilot scheme was launched in 2003 to bring several National Rail local services, mainly in South London and operated by multiple companies, under the ON – Overground Network brand. TfL introduced consistent information displays, station signage and maps on the routes in South London. The pilot scheme was later dropped, in January 2004 the Department for Transport announced a review of the rail industry in Great Britain. As part of review, proposals were put forward by TfL for a London Regional Rail Authority to give TfL regulatory powers over rail services in. A result of consultation was agreement by the then Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling
2.
Rotherhithe
–
Rotherhithe is a residential district in south east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. Historically, the area is the most northeastern settlement in the county of Surrey and it is located on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping and the Isle of Dogs on the north bank, and is a part of the Docklands area. It borders Bermondsey to the west and Deptford to the south east, Rotherhithe has a long history as a port, with many shipyards from Elizabethan times until the early 20th century and with working docks until the 1970s. In the 1980s the area along the river was redeveloped as housing, through a mix of warehouse conversions. Rotherhithe is located 4.5 km east of Londons centre point, Rotherhithe, being an area of the Docklands, has the largest Chinese population in Southwark. The name Rotherhithe derives from the Anglo-Saxon Hrȳðer-hȳð meaning landing-place for cattle, the first recorded use of this name was in about 1105, as Rederheia. St. Marys Church is at the centre of the old Rotherhithe village, the dock has been remodelled, and its northwest half retained as an ornamental lake, renamed Canada Water. The canal has remained as a walkway and water feature within the redeveloped area, Rotherhithe is the home of the football team Fisher F. C. which plays its games at St Pauls Stadium. The league 1 team Millwall Football Club is located nearby in the London Borough of Lewisham. In January 2009 the London Mayor Boris Johnson said he would not fund the bridge, citing budget cuts due to the credit crunch, however the idea is still being supported by Sustrans. There are two Anglican churches in Rotherhithe St. Marys Church, and Trinity Church, there are two Roman Catholic churches, St Peter and the Guardian Angels, and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. Kings Stairs Gardens is a park on the river towards the Bermondsey boundary. In September 2011 Thames Water announced that they wanted to build an access shaft for the super-sewer Thames Tunnel, severn Islands Leisure Centre occupies the site of the old Rotherhithe Town Hall. The building ceased to be a hall in 1905 when the former Rotherhithe Council merged with the old Bermondsey Borough Council. The old Rotherhithe Town Hall became a library and a museum and it was razed to the ground by repeated bomb hits and near misses during the Second World War. Rotherhithe had its own hospital, St Olaves Hospital, on Lower Road close to the old town hall. Built originally in the early 1870s on land adjoining Rotherhithe Workhouse, it became the infirmary of St Olaves Union in 1875, and was renamed St Olaves Hospital in 1930. Subsequently, becoming part of the Guys Hospital Teaching Group in 1966, it closed in 1985, the Terriss Theatre opened in 1899 and was later renamed the Rotherhithe Hippodrome of Varieties
3.
London Borough of Southwark
–
The London Borough of Southwark /ˈsʌðərk/ in south London, England forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London Government Act 1963, all districts of the area are within the London postal district. It is governed by Southwark London Borough Council, Dulwich is home to the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Imperial War Museum is in Elephant and Castle. The area was first settled in the Roman period but the name Southwark dates from the 9th century, the London Borough of Southwark was formed in 1965 from the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark, the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell, and the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey. The borough borders the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to the north, the London Borough of Lambeth to the west, to the south are the London Borough of Bromley and the London Borough of Croydon. At the 2001 census Southwark had a population of 244,866, Southwark is ethnically 63% white, 16% black African and 8% black Caribbean. The area is the home of many Nigerian, Jamaican, South African, Polish, Tower Bridge, the Millennium Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Southwark Bridge and London Bridge all connect the City of London to the borough. The skyscraper Shard London Bridge is currently the tallest building in the EU, the Tate Modern art gallery, Shakespeares Globe Theatre, the Imperial War Museum and Borough Market are also within the borough. At one mile wide, Burgess Park is Southwarks largest green space, Southwark has many notable places of Christian worship, Anglican, Roman Catholic and independent non-conformist. These include Charles Spurgeons Metropolitan Tabernacle, Southwark Cathedral, St Georges Cathedral, Londons Norwegian Church and Finnish Church and the Swedish Seamens Church are all in Rotherhithe. St George the Martyr is the oldest church in Greater London dedicated to Englands Patron Saint, the other redundant church is Francis Bedfords in Trinity Church Square, now a recording studio, Henry Wood Hall. Whilst Christianity is the dominant religion of the borough, several religious minorities are also active, according to the 2001 Census, approximately 28% of Southwark identified as non-religious, or chose not to state their faith. Charles Dickens set several of his novels in the old borough where he lived as a young man, the site of The Tabard inn, the White Hart inn and the George Inn which survives. The rebuilt Globe Theatre and its exhibition on the Bankside remind us of the areas being the birthplace of classical theatre, there is also the remains of the Rose Theatre. In 2007 the Unicorn Theatre for Children was opened on Tooley Street with both the Southwark Playhouse and the Union Theatre having premises in Bermondsey Street, the Menier Chocolate Factory combines a theatre and exhibition space. The Bankside Gallery is the headquarters of the Royal Watercolour Society, the Golden Hinde replica is at St Mary Overie Dock and nearby are the remains of the medieval Winchester Palace which is a scheduled ancient monument. Peckham Library, designed by Will Alsop won the Stirling Prize for modern architecture, the museum was closed by Southwark council in 2008. MOCA, London, as curated by the artist Michael Petry, is a museum located in Peckham Rye dedicated to exposing and showcasing new cutting-edge artists
4.
Tramlink
–
Tramlink is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in London since 1952 and it is owned by London Trams, an arm of Transport for London, and operated by FirstGroup. The Tramlink is the fourth-busiest light rail network in the UK behind Manchester Metrolink, Tyne and Wear Metro, in 1990 Croydon Council with London Regional Transport put the project to Parliament and the Croydon Tramlink Act 1994 resulted, which gave LRT the power to build and run Tramlink. In 1996 Tramtrack Croydon Limited won a 99-year Private Finance Initiative contract to design, build, operate, TCL was a partnership comprising FirstGroup, Bombardier Transportation, Sir Robert McAlpine and Amey, and Royal Bank of Scotland and 3i. TCL kept the revenue generated by Tramlink and LRT had to pay compensation to TCL for any changes to the fares, TCL subcontracted operations to CentreWest Buses. One of the leading to its creation was that the London Borough of Croydon has no London Underground service. There are four routes, Route 1 – Elmers End to Croydon, Route 2 – Beckenham Junction to Croydon, Route 3 – New Addington to Wimbledon, and Route 4 – Therapia Lane to Elmers End. Route 2 runs parallel to the Crystal Palace to Beckenham Junction line of the Southern network between Birkbeck and Beckenham Junction – the National Rail track had been singled some years earlier. At Woodside the old station buildings stand disused, and the platforms have been replaced by accessible low platforms. From Woodside to near Sandilands and from near Sandilands almost to Lloyd Park, Tramlink follows the former Woodside and South Croydon Railway, including the Park Hill tunnels. The section of Route 3 between Wimbledon and West Croydon mostly follows the single-track British Rail route, closed on 31 May 1997 so that it could be converted for Tramlink, a partial obstruction near this point has necessitated the use of interlaced track. A Victorian footbridge beside Waddon New Road was dismantled to make way for the flyover over the West Croydon to Sutton railway line, the footbridge has been re-erected at Corfe Castle station on the Swanage Railway. In March 2008, TfL announced that it had reached agreement to buy TCL for £98m, the purchase was finalised on 28 June 2008. The background to this purchase relates to the requirement that TfL compensates TCL for the consequences of any changes to the fares, in 2007 that payment was £4m, with an annual increase in rate. In October 2008 TfL introduced a new livery, using the blue, white and green of the routes on TfL maps, the colour of the cars was changed to green, and the brand name was changed from Croydon Tramlink to simply Tramlink. These refurbishments were completed in early 2009, the tram stops have low platforms,35 cm above rail level. They are unstaffed and have automated ticket machines, in general, access between the platforms involves crossing the tracks by pedestrian level crossing. There are 39 stops, most being 32.2 m long and they are virtually level with the doors and are all wider than 2 m
5.
Train station
–
A train station, railway station, railroad station, or depot is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight. It generally consists of at least one platform and a station building providing such ancillary services as ticket sales. If a station is on a line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. The smallest stations are most often referred to as stops or, in parts of the world. Stations may be at level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other modes such as buses. In British usage, the station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified. In the United States, the most common term in contemporary usage is train station, Railway station and railroad station are less frequent. Outside North America, a depot is place where buses, trains, or other vehicles are housed and maintained and from which they are dispatched for service. The two-storey Mount Clare station in Baltimore, Maryland, which survives as a museum, first saw service as the terminus of the horse-drawn Baltimore. The oldest terminal station in the world was Crown Street railway station in Liverpool, built in 1830, as the first train on the Liverpool-Manchester line left Liverpool, the station is slightly older than the Manchester terminal at Liverpool Road. The station was the first to incorporate a train shed, the station was demolished in 1836 as the Liverpool terminal station moved to Lime Street railway station. Crown Street station was converted to a goods station terminal, the first stations had little in the way of buildings or amenities. The first stations in the modern sense were on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, manchesters Liverpool Road Station, the second oldest terminal station in the world, is preserved as part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. It resembles a row of Georgian houses, dual-purpose stations can sometimes still be found today, though in many cases goods facilities are restricted to major stations. In rural and remote communities across Canada and the United States, such stations were known as flag stops or flag stations. Many stations date from the 19th century and reflect the architecture of the time. Countries where railways arrived later may still have such architecture, as later stations often imitated 19th-century styles, various forms of architecture have been used in the construction of stations, from those boasting grand, intricate, Baroque- or Gothic-style edifices, to plainer utilitarian or modernist styles
6.
East London Line
–
The East London Line is part of the London Overground, running north to south through the East End, Docklands and South areas of London. It was previously a line of the London Underground, built in 1869 by the East London Railway Company, which reused the Thames Tunnel intended for horse-drawn carriages, the line became part of the London Underground network in 1933. After nearly 75 years as part of the Underground network, it closed in December 2007 for a refurbishment and expansion. Phase 2, which links the line to the South London Line with a terminus at Clapham Junction, opened on 9 December 2012, the latter two operated what are now the Metropolitan, Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines of the London Underground. The incorporation of the ELR took place on 26 May 1865 with the aim of providing a link between the LB&SCR, GER and SER lines, the companies reused the Thames Tunnel, built by Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel between 1825 and 1843 for horse-drawn carriages. The tunnel had generous headroom and two carriageways separated by arches, despite being used by pedestrians. It connected Wapping on the bank of the Thames with Rotherhithe on the south bank. A triumph of engineering, it was a commercial failure and by the 1860s it had become an unpleasant. The tunnel was the most easterly land connection between the north and south banks of the Thames, close to the docks on both banks of the river and was not far from mainline railways at either end. Converting the tunnel to a railway thus offered a means of providing a cross-Thames rail link without having to go to the expense of boring a new tunnel. On 25 September 1865 the East London Railway Company took ownership of the tunnel at a cost of £800,000, over the next four years the company built a railway through the tunnel to connect with existing railway lines. The companys engineer was Sir John Hawkshaw, who was responsible for the major re-design. 13 March 1871, A spur opened from just south of what is now Surrey Quays station to the South London Lines Old Kent Road station, Passenger services were withdrawn from 1 June 1911 and freight last used the line in 1964, the track was subsequently removed. This alignment was relaid and restored to service by London Overground in late 2012. 10 April 1876, Wapping to Shoreditch, through a tunnel constructed in part along the bottom of an infilled dock. At Shoreditch a connection was made with the Great Eastern Railway to Liverpool Street, intermediate stations were at Shadwell and Whitechapel. 1 April 1880, A spur to New Cross opened,3 March 1884, A spur to the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Railways opened south of Whitechapel using St Marys Curve. This enabled Metropolitan Railway and Metropolitan District Railway trains to commence services to the East London Railway later that year
7.
River Thames
–
The River Thames is a river that flows through southern England, most notably through London. At 215 miles, it is the longest river entirely in England and it also flows through Oxford, Reading, Henley-on-Thames and Windsor. The lower reaches of the river are called the Tideway, derived from its tidal reach up to Teddington Lock. It rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, and flows into the North Sea via the Thames Estuary, the Thames drains the whole of Greater London. Its tidal section, reaching up to Teddington Lock, includes most of its London stretch and has a rise, in Scotland, the Tay achieves more than double the average discharge from a drainage basin that is 60% smaller. Along its course are 45 navigation locks with accompanying weirs and its catchment area covers a large part of South Eastern and a small part of Western England and the river is fed by 38 named tributaries. The river contains over 80 islands, in 2010, the Thames won the largest environmental award in the world – the $350,000 International Riverprize. The Thames, from Middle English Temese, is derived from the Brittonic Celtic name for the river, Tamesas, recorded in Latin as Tamesis and yielding modern Welsh Tafwys Thames. It has also suggested that it is not of Celtic origin. A place by the river, rather than the river itself, indirect evidence for the antiquity of the name Thames is provided by a Roman potsherd found at Oxford, bearing the inscription Tamesubugus fecit. It is believed that Tamesubugus name was derived from that of the river, tamese was referred to as a place, not a river in the Ravenna Cosmography. The rivers name has always pronounced with a simple t /t/, the Middle English spelling was typically Temese. A similar spelling from 1210, Tamisiam, is found in the Magna Carta, the Thames through Oxford is sometimes called the Isis. Ordnance Survey maps still label the Thames as River Thames or Isis down to Dorchester, richard Coates suggests that while the river was as a whole called the Thames, part of it, where it was too wide to ford, was called *lowonida. An alternative, and simpler proposal, is that London may also be a Germanic word, for merchant seamen, the Thames has long been just the London River. Londoners often refer to it simply as the river in such as south of the river. Thames Valley Police is a body that takes its name from the river. The marks of human activity, in cases dating back to Pre-Roman Britain, are visible at various points along the river
8.
West Croydon station
–
West Croydon is a National Rail station, a Tramlink stop and a London Buses hub, serving as a transport interchange between the three systems. It is in the London Borough of Croydon and Travelcard Zone 5, the East London line, part of London Overground, was extended to the station on 23 May 2010. The main entrance is on London Road, a distance from the main shopping area. There are ticket barriers protecting the platforms, trains run to London Victoria, London Bridge, Highbury & Islington, and Sutton and from there to west Surrey and West Sussex. By December 2009 station remodelling and tracklaying were completed for the extension of the East London Line. Bay platform 1 has been retained, in April 2012 a new entrance was constructed in Station Road, allowing direct access to the railway station from the adjacent bus and tram stops. A short distance from the entrance is Station Road, where West Croydon bus station. The tram stop is next to, but was for a long time physically separate from, all Tramlink routes use West Croydon, which is a single platform stop on the unidirectional loop around central Croydon. The bus station is a hub for London Buses, with 19 routes terminating or passing through, from 1809 to 1836 the site was the terminal basin of the Croydon Canal. The canal was drained and became part of the route of the London & Croydon Railway, in 1845 the L&C inaugurated the atmospheric system of propulsion, it worked for about a year but was not successful. The station was originally named Croydon, in April 1851 it became West Croydon, the canal basin was served by a short private branch from the terminus of the Surrey Iron Railway at Pitlake. From 1855 the station was the terminus of the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line and this line closed on 31 May 1997, to be replaced by Tramlink. Platform 2, the bay for the Wimbledon line, was trackless until 2008. Very little remains of this platform apart from a section at the western end. In 1912 the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who was a resident of Croydon and this was due to overwork and pneumonia. He died at home a few days later, during the 1930s the station saw major alterations and reconstruction. A new ticket office was built on London Road, the original station buildings, ticket office and entrance in Station Road were closed and are still standing, converted to a shop. Trains are provided by Southern and London Overground, West Croydon is Croydons second station, used mainly by suburban trains, the main station is East Croydon, served by express trains to London and the South Coast and suburban trains
9.
Crystal Palace railway station
–
Crystal Palace is a Network Rail and London Overground station in the London Borough of Bromley in south London. It is located in the Anerley area between the centres of Crystal Palace and Penge. It is one of two built to serve the site of the 1851 exhibition building, the Crystal Palace. The station was opened on 10 June 1854 by the West End of London and it was formerly known as Crystal Palace to differentiate it from the nearby and now demolished Crystal Palace railway station. The station serves trains running between London Bridge and London Victoria in addition to services terminating at Beckenham Junction and Sutton, since 23 May 2010, the station has also been a terminus of the East London Line of the London Overground. This has been the catalyst for plans for a redevelopment of the station. From the outset trains were operated by the London, Brighton, initially the station was the terminus of a spur line from Sydenham. In 1856 the station was able to take through train services to Wandsworth via West Norwood and Streatham Hill, in 1857, an eastward connection was made to Norwood Junction and in 1858 the WEL&CPR was extended as far as Beckenham. From 1860 direct services were extended to London Victoria and this is a description of the station trainshed roof above the staircases at the west end. Originally the whole length of the platforms beyond the bottom of the staircases was covered by an elegant dual bow-spring arch iron roof. This was removed as a precautionary measure shortly after the collapse of the structure at Charing Cross in 1905. He envisaged the construction of a tunnel which would run from Crystal Palace to Cricklewood in north-west London and it was to be operated with an unusual monorail system patented by Kearney which would be powered by gravity, like a type of underground roller coaster. Kearney failed to support for his scheme and the line was never built. The line was electrified between Balham and Crystal Palace on 12 May 1911, using the LBSCR overhead system, in time for the Festival of Empire coinciding with the coronation of King George V. Electric trains from Victoria were advertised to complete the journey in fifteen minutes - a running time that has never been equalled. The station is built on the junction of two lines, the station platforms lying on the Sydenham route, and the later platforms on the southern spur to Norwood Junction. The southern platforms became the pair and the entrance to the station was moved to the south side of the building in the 1980s. A glazed ticket hall, which echoed the profile of the Crystal Palace with its roof structure, was constructed at this time on the southern flank of the Victorian building
10.
Clapham Junction railway station
–
Clapham Junction railway station is a major railway station and transport hub near St Johns Hill in the south-west of Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, a district situated some 1.5 kilometres east-south-east of the station, the station is also the busiest UK station for interchanges between services. Before the railway came, the area was rural and specialised in growing lavender, the coach road from London to Guildford ran slightly south of the future station site, past The Falcon public house at the crossroads in the valley between St. Johns Hill and Lavender Hill. On 21 May 1838 the London and Southampton Railway became the London and South Western Railway and that was the first railway through the area but it had no station at the present site. The second line, initially from Nine Elms to Richmond, opened on 27 July 1846, Nine Elms was replaced in 1848 as the terminus by Waterloo Bridge station, now Waterloo. The line to Victoria opened by 1860, Clapham Junction opened on 2 March 1863, a joint venture of the L&SWR, the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the West London Extension Railway as an interchange station for their lines. When the station was built, much of Battersea was the site of heavy industry while Clapham, Side, London and Clapham Common W. Side, London despite being well away from those park-side streets. Additional station buildings were erected in 1874 and 1876, batterseas slums unfit for human habitation were entirely replaced with council and charitable housing between 1918 and 1975. A £39.5 million planning application from Metro Shopping Fund was withdrawn before governmental planning committee consideration on 20 May 2009, Overground, the change would have been at Clapham Junction. On the morning of 12 December 1988 two collisions involving three commuter trains occurred slightly south-west of the station, thirty-five people died and more than 100 were injured. On the morning of 16 December 1991, a bomb ripped through tracks on one of the stations platforms, the Provisional Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility. The station is named Clapham Junction because it is at the junction of rail lines. Latchmere Main Junction connecting the WLL to the Brighton Line at Falcon Junction, West London Extension Junction and Junction for Waterloo, relaid for Eurostar empty-stock moves from the Windsor Lines to the WLL. Pouparts Junction where the low-level and high-level approaches to Victoria split, each day about 2,000 trains, over half of them stopping, pass through the station, more than through any other station in Europe. At peak times 180 trains per hour pass through of which 117 stop and it is not the busiest station by number of passengers, most of whom pass through. Interchanges make some 40% of the activity and on that basis too it is the busiest station in the UK, in 2011 the station had three entrances, all with staffed ticket offices, though only the south-east entrance is open 24 hours a day. The most heavily used of the three, this leads from St Johns Hill via an indoor shopping centre into a subway some 15 ft wide. The north entrance, which has restricted opening hours, leads from Grant Road to the same subway, the subway is crowded during rush hours, with the ticket barriers at the ends being pinch points
11.
Metropolitan Railway
–
Its first line connected the main-line railway termini at Paddington, Euston, 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, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Piccadilly, 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, Paddington, 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 also altered so that it connected more directly to the GWR station. Permission was also 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 also 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
12.
Liverpool Street station
–
The station opened in 1874 as a replacement for Bishopsgate station as the Great Eastern Railways main London terminus. By 1895 it had the largest number of platforms on any railway station in London. During the First World War, an air raid on the station in 1917 led to 162 deaths, in the build-up to the Second World War, the station served as the entry point for thousands of child refugees arriving in London as part of the Kindertransport rescue mission. Liverpool Street was built as a station with provision for the Underground. A tube station opened in 1875 for the Metropolitan Railway, and the station today is served by the Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines, Liverpool Street is the third-busiest railway station in the United Kingdom after Waterloo and Victoria, both also in London. It is managed directly by Network Rail, a few daily express trains to Harwich International provide a connection with the Dutchflyer ferry to Hook of Holland. Stansted Express trains provide a link to Stansted Airport and Southend Victoria-bound services stop at Southend Airport, most passenger services on the Great Eastern Main Line are operated by Greater Anglia. Since 2015, the Shenfield metro service has been controlled by TfL Rail, a small number of late-evening and weekend services operated by c2c run via Barking. The station is split into two halves, the west side for the Lea Valley Lines services and the east side for services via Stratford. The typical off-peak weekday service pattern from Liverpool Street is, Liverpool Street station was built as the new London terminus of the Great Eastern Railway which served Norwich, the GER had been formed from the merger of several railway companies, inheriting Bishopsgate as its London terminus. Consequently, the GER planned a more central station, the station was planned to be around 630 by 200 ft in area, with its main façade onto Liverpool Street and an additional entrance on Bishopsgate-Street. The line and station construction were authorised by the Great Eastern Railway Act 1864, the station was built on a 10 acres site previously occupied by the Bethlem Royal Hospital, adjacent to Broad Street station, west of Bishopsgate and facing onto Liverpool Street to the south. The development land was purchased, displacing around 3,000 residents of the parish of St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate. To manage the disruption caused by rehousing, the company was required by the 1864 Act to run daily low-cost workmens trains from the station. The station was designed by GER engineer Edward Wilson and built by Lucas Brothers, the overall design was approximately Gothic, built using stock bricks and bath stone dressings. The building incorporated booking offices as well as the offices of the GER, including chairmans, board, committee, secretary. The station was built with a connection to the sub-surface Metropolitan Railway, with the platform sunk below ground level, the Metropolitan Railway used the station as a terminus from 1 February 1875 until 11 July 1875, their own underground station opened on 12 July 1875. Local trains began serving the partially completed station from 2 October 1874, the original City terminus at Bishopsgate closed to passengers and was converted for use as a goods station from 1881
1.107 million[1]
London transport portal
UK Railways portal
London Overground
London Underground
