North Woolwich railway station is a former station in
North WoolwichNorth Woolwich is a place in the London Borough of Newham. It is located north of Woolwich proper which is on the south bank of the River Thames. The two places are linked by the Woolwich Ferry and the Woolwich foot tunnel.-History:...
in east
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. It was the eastern terminus of the
North London LineThe North London Line is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of London, England. Its route is a rough semicircle from the south west to the north east, avoiding central London. The line is owned and maintained by Network Rail...
and was in
Travelcard Zone 3Travelcard Zone 3 is a zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services...
. The next station was . The station was last served by Silverlink Trains.
The station opened on 14 June 1847 as the southern terminus of the
Eastern Counties and Thames Junction RailwayThe Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway in East London connected the Royal Docks with the Great Eastern Railway.-History:The EC&TJR opened in 1846, from Stratford to Canning Town, to transport coal to the mouth of Bow Creek...
from
StratfordStratford station is a railway station in Stratford, Newham, East London on National Rail, London Underground, London Overground and Docklands Light Railway lines. It is served by the Underground Central and Jubilee lines, and by London Overground, National Express East Anglia and c2c. It is in...
. The service was later extended from Stratford to
Palace GatesPalace Gates railway station was a railway station on the Palace Gates Line in Wood Green, north London. It was located on the corner of Bridge Road and Dorset Road....
, but in 1963 was cut back to Stratford with peak-hour trains to Tottenham Hale, when diesel traction replaced steam.
North Woolwich railway station is a former station in
North WoolwichNorth Woolwich is a place in the London Borough of Newham. It is located north of Woolwich proper which is on the south bank of the River Thames. The two places are linked by the Woolwich Ferry and the Woolwich foot tunnel.-History:...
in east
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. It was the eastern terminus of the
North London LineThe North London Line is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of London, England. Its route is a rough semicircle from the south west to the north east, avoiding central London. The line is owned and maintained by Network Rail...
and was in
Travelcard Zone 3Travelcard Zone 3 is a zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services...
. The next station was . The station was last served by Silverlink Trains.
History
The station opened on 14 June 1847 as the southern terminus of the
Eastern Counties and Thames Junction RailwayThe Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway in East London connected the Royal Docks with the Great Eastern Railway.-History:The EC&TJR opened in 1846, from Stratford to Canning Town, to transport coal to the mouth of Bow Creek...
from
StratfordStratford station is a railway station in Stratford, Newham, East London on National Rail, London Underground, London Overground and Docklands Light Railway lines. It is served by the Underground Central and Jubilee lines, and by London Overground, National Express East Anglia and c2c. It is in...
. The service was later extended from Stratford to
Palace GatesPalace Gates railway station was a railway station on the Palace Gates Line in Wood Green, north London. It was located on the corner of Bridge Road and Dorset Road....
, but in 1963 was cut back to Stratford with peak-hour trains to Tottenham Hale, when diesel traction replaced steam. The route was extended on to the North London Line in 1979. In 1985
third railA third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost fully...
electric trains replaced the diesel service and the route was extended around inner north London from North Woolwich to
RichmondRichmond station is a London Underground, London Overground and National Rail station in Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London....
.
The line to North Woolwich was originally double track but in the 1980s it was in effect singled in the tunnel under the Royal Docks and on to the terminus, the main North Woolwich station platforms and building were closed (later to become the museum; see below) and a new minimalist terminal platform and shelter were built on the south side.
The station and the line up to Stratford closed on 9 December 2006 to allow conversion of the North London Line between Stratford and
Canning TownCanning Town station is a inter-modal transport interchange in East London. It is served by the London Underground Jubilee line, the Docklands Light Railway and local buses operated for London Buses...
to a
Docklands Light RailwayThe Docklands Light Railway is a light metro or light rail system opened on 31 August 1987 to serve the redeveloped Docklands area of East London, England...
(DLR) line. The extension, which opened in December 2005, of the DLR from Canning Town to
King George VKing George V DLR station is a station on the Docklands Light Railway which opened on 2 December 2005 and named for King George V Dock, nearby...
takes a similar route and gives a replacement service to North Woolwich at that station.
Preservation
From 1984 until 2008 the original station buildings and one platform were occupied by the
North Woolwich Old Station MuseumThe North Woolwich Old Station Museum was a small railway museum in East London. It was housed in what was the original station building at North Woolwich railway station, situated next to the later, more austere station which became the eastern terminus of the North London Line from 1985 until it,...
, dedicated to the history of the
Great Eastern RailwayThe Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...
. It was closed by the beginning of 2009 and by April 2009 all external exhibits including rolling stock had been removed.
A new beginning
In 2006
NewhamThe London Borough of Newham is a London borough in East London, within Greater London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames...
council endorsed a plan for a new museum at the site with a heritage railway. This museum, rather than concentrating on the GER, would show the heritage of local and suburban
National RailNational Rail is a title used by the Association of Train Operating Companies as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain...
lines in London and the south east. The museum at present has very limited opening hours.
The
Royal Docks Heritage RailwayThe Royal Docks Heritage Railway is a new heritage railway which was due to open in London, England during 2007. It is associated with a separate training organisation called RailSchool...
based at North Woolwich would use the line to
Custom HouseCustom House station is in the Custom House area by the Royal Docks, east London. It is served by the Docklands Light Railway , and is in Travelcard Zone 3. It takes its name from the old Custom House, which formerly stood nearby....
, with the intention to run heritage train services and training trains; for this the line between stations would be re-doubled, at closure North London Line services used only one track, but the second track is in place for much of the route. The 1980s station building would be the public entrance to the museum site. If the third rail were retained the line could be Britain's first mainline electric preserved railway. However this seems at odds with
CrossrailCrossrail is a project to build major new railway connections under central London. The project's name refers to the first of two routes proposed by Cross London Rail Links Ltd, based around an east-west tunnel from Paddington to Liverpool Street station...
plans to use the Connaught Tunnel.
The Royal Docks Heritage Railway official website includes details of the visions for the museum plus pictures of the line, taken from a special train run the day after the last public service ran.
External links