The Life, Death and Rebirth of Lea Bridge Station, Stratford, east London

[editor]

Great piece on London Reconnections about the old station at Lea Bridge Station, Stratford, east London, which closed in 1985. I can just remember seeing it open, right near the end.

It now looks likely to reopen

With the resumption of services along the line on which the station sits in 2005, Waltham Forest sniffed an opportunity to push the case for the station’s reopening.

At first glance, the station may seem a poor candidate for regeneration, appearing to sit on the edge of a surprisingly large expanse of open space between Hackney and Waltham Forest. In truth, though, the case for reopening has only increased over time. The station sits on a busy road well connected to Walthamstow, Hackney and Leyton via local buses.

Nearby Bakers Arms, an area of increasing population density, is also shorter on solid rail connections than one might think – the Central Line, Victoria Line, Overground and National Rail connections to Liverpool Street are all temptingly close but just out of reach. A reopened station at Lea Bridge would be only a five minute journey from Stratford, a location and station reinvigorated by the arrival of Westfield and the Olympics.

None of the above has been lost on Waltham Forest council (or indeed on both Network Rail and TfL). The council pushed heavily for the station to be rebuilt and reopened before the Olympics, and though their campaign was ultimately unsuccessful it did push the door to redevelopment ajar, with Network Rail indicating that they were open to suggestions in the future.

In March 2012, the Council began another push to see the station reopened, commissioning a feasibility study into options and costs, with the tacit backing of Network Rail and TfL (whose own interests in the future of the Lea Valley Line were by this point well known).


Finally, in January 2013, Waltham Forest Council confidently announced that they now had Network Rail’s support and were working together to secure the required funds.

Although it was a major step forward, there were still some issues to overcome. This month, however, theDfT finally confirmed that the station would be one of four to be given the green light for development.

Lea Bridge station’s rebirth is now all but guaranteed.

More: http://www.londonreconnections.com/2013/lea-bridge-lives-again/

 

[editor]

More here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-65-million-railway-station-to-be-built-in-waltham-forest

 

[Dogsauce]

I remember seeing plenty of stations in that kind of disrepair back in the 80s - can see why unmanned platforms weren't popular and borderline frightening. I think Severn Tunnel Junction used to look a bit like that.

It still seems a bit crazy that stations were still being closed in the 80's, especially in urban areas, when in other places the rail revival was underway.

Nice Cravens unit too.

 

[marty21]

Heard about this - it is almost my closest station - about 10 minutes on the bus - so may well use this if it does reopen

 

[Crispy]

The other thing to do along with the station is reopen the Farm Hall curve to the North, allowing a Chingford-Stratford service via Walthamstow, which would massively improve local connectivity. There's currently no direct route, you have to take combinations of buses/trains/tubes cos the marshes/reservoirs are in the way.

 

[Tom A]

If there was no train and passengers in that photo people could easily assume that it was already closed. Glad to see yet another station reopen though.

 

[editor]

Set to reopen next month:

The station is scheduled to open on Sunday 15th May, with the first train (unusually) at eighteen minutes past eight in the evening (due to planned engineering works). Normally there'll be two trains an hour, shuttling from Stratford to Hertford East on Sundays and Stratford to Bishops Stortford for the rest of the week, and it'll be interesting to see how busy the new services will be.

On paper not very many people live close by, with most of the land to the west of the station essentially the flood plain of the River Lea, but there's a lot of industry nearby (up Argall Way) and an excellent bus service to feed in punters from the upper reaches of Leyton. If nothing else it's refreshing to see a station being added to an existing railway line because it can be, rather than to feed the pockets of housing developers... or at least, we'll see.

diamond geezer

 

[Puddy_Tat]

while looking for something else, found this early 1960 journey from North Woolwich to Palace Gates (via Lea Bridge)

 

[goldenecitrone]

Set to reopen next month:

diamond geezer

I reckon it will get pretty busy with the new cycle path from Clapton, Leyton and Walthamstow leading there.

 

[maomao]

I'm sure up till about twenty years ago (certainly after 1985) there were occasional rush hour trains from Seven Sisters to Stratford. Must have used part of this line surely? This line will be great for getting me and the family to the marshes, the only thing about Hackney that I really miss.

WIll it be a single train going up and down all day like on the Romford > Upminster line? That's my favourite train at the moment. I rarely have cause to use it but it's a treat if I do. It goes from a special semi-hidden platform at Romford and then comes out right next to the district line trains at Upminster. It's a single two carriage train that goes up and down the same two stops all day and looks like it hasn't been replaced in 40 years.

 

[ViolentPanda]

I'm sure up till about twenty years ago (certainly after 1985) there were occasional rush hour trains from Seven Sisters to Stratford. Must have used part of this line surely? This line will be great for getting me and the family to the marshes, the only thing about Hackney that I really miss.

WIll it be a single train going up and down all day like on the Romford > Upminster line? That's my favourite train at the moment. I rarely have cause to use it but it's a treat if I do. It goes from a special semi-hidden platform at Romford and then comes out right next to the district line trains at Upminster. It's a single two carriage train that goes up and down the same two stops all day and looks like it hasn't been replaced in 40 years.

Sounds like the "Abbey Flyer" between Watford Junction and St. Albans, although they replaced the '50s slam-door jobbie in the '80s with a plastic crapheap.

 

[Crispy]

I'm sure up till about twenty years ago (certainly after 1985) there were occasional rush hour trains from Seven Sisters to Stratford. Must have used part of this line surely?

Correct. It's a single-track connection between the two lines though, so I doubt they'd be able to run them today, with the increased traffic on the regular services.

 

[editor]

I'm sure up till about twenty years ago (certainly after 1985) there were occasional rush hour trains from Seven Sisters to Stratford. Must have used part of this line surely? This line will be great for getting me and the family to the marshes, the only thing about Hackney that I really miss.

WIll it be a single train going up and down all day like on the Romford > Upminster line? That's my favourite train at the moment. I rarely have cause to use it but it's a treat if I do. It goes from a special semi-hidden platform at Romford and then comes out right next to the district line trains at Upminster. It's a single two carriage train that goes up and down the same two stops all day and looks like it hasn't been replaced in 40 years.

I've not heard of this line before. I like!

The branch is known colloquially as the "Romford Push and Pull" as it is single-track throughout. It is electrified at 25 kV AC. Electrification of the line saw an end to years of speculation about its future. There is only one intermediate station, at Emerson Park. At Upminster the connection west of the station to the main line was severed in 1968.

The branch is not signalled. There were plans to link the line from platform six at Upminster to the reception tracks of the London Underground depot there. This would have allowed the transfer of London Underground D78 Stock units onto the main line to be hauled away by diesel locomotive for refurbishment at Ilford depot. These plans were scrapped when the refurbishment work was transferred to Wakefield in Yorkshire and the transfer was done by road. The point-work which was half installed is still visible from the eastern end of platform five at Upminster.
Romford to Upminster Line - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Bungle73]

WIll it be a single train going up and down all day like on the Romford > Upminster line? That's my favourite train at the moment. I rarely have cause to use it but it's a treat if I do. It goes from a special semi-hidden platform at Romford and then comes out right next to the district line trains at Upminster. It's a single two carriage train that goes up and down the same two stops all day and looks like it hasn't been replaced in 40 years.

It actually used to be a completely separate station; that's why it's in an odd position on the other side of the road bridge. I used to travel on it a fair bit on my wanderings about London using a Day Travelcard.

 

[marty21]

Set to reopen next month:

diamond geezer

Good news for us locals

 

[maomao]

I've not heard of this line before. I like!

It's a very nice train indeed but possibly not worth a four hour round trip from Brixton.