Originally called the Commercial Railway, the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR) in east London, England, ran from Minories to Blackwall via Stepney, with a branch line to the Isle of Dogs, connecting the City of London and East End to many of London's docks in Poplar. It was operational from 1840 until 1926 (for passengers) and 1968 (for goods), closing after the decline of inner London's docks. Much of its infrastructure was reused as part of the Docklands Light Railway. The L&BR was leased by the Great Eastern Railway in 1866, but remained independent until absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the 1923 Grouping.[1] Another branch was opened in 1871, the Millwall Extension Railway.
History
It was authorised by an act of Parliament, the Commercial Railway Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. cxxiii), entitled An Act for making a Railway from the Minories to Blackwall, with Branches, to be called "The Commercial Railway" dated 28 July 1836 in the reign of William IV. The length of the railway was to be 3+1⁄4 miles (5.2km).[2]
Enabling acts
Short title
Regnal year and chapter
Date
Commercial Railway Act 1836
6 & 7 Will. 4. c. cxxiii
28 July 1836
Commercial Railway Act 1839
2 & 3 Vict. c. xcv
17 August 1839
London and Blackwall Railway Act 1842
5 & 6 Vict. c. xxxiv
31 May 1842
London and Blackwall Railway Act 1846
9 & 10 Vict. c. cclxxiii
27 July 1846
London and Blackwall Railway (Improvement and Branches to St. Katharine's and London Docks) Act 1848
11 & 12 Vict. c. xc
22 July 1848
London and Blackwall Railway Amendment Act 1848
11 & 12 Vict. c. cxi
25 July 1848
London and Blackwall Railway Amendment and Extension of Time Act 1849
12 & 13 Vict. c. lxxiii
28 July 1849
London and Blackwall Railway Act 1850
13 & 14 Vict. c. xxx
25 June 1850
London and Blackwall Railway (Branch to Haydon Square) Act 1851
14 & 15 Vict. c. xxviii
5 June 1851
London and Blackwall Railway Lease Act 1865
28 & 29 Vict. c. c
19 June 1865
London, Blackwall and Millwall Extension Railway Act 1865
28 & 29 Vict. c. cxvi
19 June 1865
London, Blackwall and Millwall Extension Railway Act 1868
31 & 32 Vict. c. cxx
13 July 1868
London, Blackwall and Millwall Extension Railway Act 1870
33 & 34 Vict. c. lxii
20 June 1870
London and Blackwall Railway (Steamboats) Act 1873
36 & 37 Vict. c. cxci
21 July 1873
London and Blackwall Railway Act 1873
36 & 37 Vict. c. clxiii
21 July 1873
London and Blackwall Railway Act 1874
37 & 38 Vict. c. xxxix
30 June 1874
London and Blackwall Railway Act 1885
48 & 49 Vict. c. cxiv
22 July 1885
London and Blackwall Railway Act 1888
51 & 52 Vict. c. lxviii
28 June 1888
London and Blackwall Railway Act 1893
56 & 57 Vict. c. ix
29 April 1893
Construction
Map of Isle of Dogs from 1908, showing the original line (top, west-to-east) and the Millwall extension (north to south). Scale: ½ mile grid lines.Blackwall Station, Brunswick Wharf, c. 1843Original bridge at Limehouse. It now carries a branch of the DLR. This section of line had an iron roof when steam locomotives were first introduced.
The engineer of the line was intended to be John Rennie, but the project's City financiers favoured Robert Stephenson, believing that they would also benefit from the knowledge and wisdom of his respected father George. Although, because of the terms of the act of Parliament, Robert Stephenson had to follow Rennie's route and use the obscure track gauge of 5ft1⁄2in (1,537mm),[4][5] he was free to choose his own method of propulsion. Drawing on his experience with the Camden Incline on the London and Birmingham Railway he decided upon cable haulage from stationary steam engines.[6]
The railway was on brick arches as far as the West India Docks, and then on an embankment before entering a shallow cutting near the Blackwall terminus at Brunswick Wharf. The station there had an iron-roofed shed, and offices designed in an Italianate style by William Tite.[6] The line opened on 6 July 1840, and the company changed its name to the London and Blackwall Railway on completion of an extension to Fenchurch Street, just within the City boundary, in 1841. The line was converted to use steam locomotives in 1848, partly because wear on the rope proved greater than anticipated (a steel-wire replacement had been tried but this twisted and kinked ferociously) and partly in consequence of the intended 1849 extensions.[7] A line from Stepney (now Limehouse) linking it with the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) at Bow was opened in 1849, known as the London and Blackwall Extension Railway (LBER), at which time the line was converted to steam locomotive operation and the track converted to 4ft8+1⁄2in (1,435mm) standard gauge. Agreement between the L&BR and the ECR about operation of the services over the LBER could not be reached so the actual junction was not completed. An interchange station called Victoria Park & Bow was opened but the ECR stopped few services there so most services terminated at Bromley and Bow. Services were withdrawn from Victoria Park & Bow on 6 January 1851.
By 1854 relations between the two companies had improved and the junction between the two lines was built and the LBER became part of the initial London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR) route to Fenchurch Street and the ECR started operating trains from Loughton into Fenchurch Street.[8][b]
The LBER was joined to the new LTSR. direct line from Barking at Gas Factory Junction in 1858.
In 1852 the North London Railway had linked up with the L&BR at Poplar, and Fenchurch Street became the terminus for that line until Broad Street opened in 1865. In 1871 another branch line, the Millwall Extension Railway, opened from Millwall Junction to Millwall Docks to serve the West India Docks better. A year later the line was extended to North Greenwich, near the site of the original Island Gardens DLR station.
Withdrawal of services
In 1893 the Fenchurch Street–Stepney line was widened to four tracks, but by the turn of the century traffic to Blackwall and the Isle of Dogs was dropping. To save money railmotors acquired from the Great Western Railway were introduced in 1922, but nonetheless passenger services east of Stepney to North Greenwich and Blackwall were ceased on 3 May 1926 as a result of competition from trams.[c][9][10]
John Betjeman (1906–1984), in his book First and Last Loves (published 1952), wrote of a journey on the L&BR (most likely in the years just before closure):
Those frequent and quite empty trains of the Blackwall Railway ran from a special platform at Fenchurch Street. I remember them. Like stagecoaches they rumbled past East End chimney pots, wharves and shipping stopping at empty black stations till they came to a final halt at Blackwall station...When one emerged there, there was nothing to see beyond it but a cobbled quay and a vast stretch of wind whipped water...[11]
The minor stations at Leman Street and Shadwell were closed in 1941 as wartime economy measures (as was Burdett Road opened on the Bow extension route in 1871). The junction at Stepney was disconnected in 1951, so that the only remaining access to the Blackwall Branch was from the LBER via the Limehouse Curve, and this was abandoned in 1963 (last train ran 5 November 1962). Access for occasional goods services to Blackwall and North Greenwich via the North London Railway at Poplar continued until 1968, but with the closure of the docks the line was abandoned, leaving only the Fenchurch Street–Stepney section of the original Blackwall branch still in use.[d]
When the Docklands Light Railway opened in 1987, it reused much of the L&BR line between Minories (renamed Tower Gateway) and Westferry Road. Part of the viaduct at North Greenwich for the line to the original terminus between Mudchute and Island Gardens DLR stations was used, though some of this section became disused again when the extension to Lewisham was constructed and those stations replaced with ones nearby but below ground.
Cable haulage
Minories station on the L&BR, c.1840. The winding drums and Cooke-Wheatstone “needle” telegraph instrument (left foreground) are shown. Note the lever-operated brake to keep the cable taut during unwinding.
As built the line was 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6km) long, with two bidirectional tracks operated independently of each other. At the opening only one track was complete and the other was not brought into use until one month later. Each track had a double length of hemp rope; as an engine was winding in from one end an equivalent length of rope was being paid out at the other. Fourteen miles of rope, with metal swivels inserted at intervals to resist entanglements, were therefore required.[6]
On journeys from the terminus cars were dispatched in two groups: the first group of four cars for the three most distant stations (the terminus stations, as the most important, received two cars per trip) and the second group destined for the three nearest. Each rearmost car was released ("slipped") as the convoy passed through its destination station. When the extension to Fenchurch Street was brought into use, departing cars were allowed to roll into Minories station under gravity—the descending gradient at this point was 1:150 (0.7%) away from the new platforms—and there brought to a halt, before departing with the cable as before. On arrival, the cars were slipped from the rope at Minories, but the brakes were not applied and momentum carried them up the slope to the Fenchurch Street platforms. "Slipping" and "pinning" (attaching) was controlled from an open platform at whichever end of a car was leading, using levers connected to iron grips (acting vertically against blocks beneath the carriage floor).[7][6] The carriages were joined by link-and-pin couplings and the pin was withdrawn as each carriage was released.[12] First and second class accommodation was provided; seats were not thought necessary in second class because of the short journey times.[13]
On journeys to the terminus all the cars were "pinned" to the cable at their respective stations and started simultaneously, the timing coordinated by an early example of the Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph.[e] They arrived at the terminus at intervals and a new train gradually assembled itself, with the pair of cars from the far terminus becoming the lead pair for the return trip. The timetable was simply one train every 15 minutes.
Power was provided by eight marine steam engines from Maudslay, Sons and Field, providing for four in use and four in maintenance. The Minories winding house had four at 110 horsepower (82kW) but the engines at Blackwall were only at 75 horsepower (56kW) as the overall gradient of the line fell from the west, where it was built on brick arches, to the east.[7]
The line was converted to use steam locomotives in 1848, partly because wear on the rope proved greater than anticipated (a steel-wire replacement had been tried but this twisted and kinked ferociously) and partly in consequence of the intended 1849 extensions. A light roof over the line was provided where it passed near to timber stores or shipping, because of the anticipated fire risk from locomotive sparks. It then became possible to travel directly between intermediate stations, without a detour by way of a terminus.
Bow Road first station (1876–1892) then closed and replaced by second station to provide interchange with Bow (North London Railway station) and on site of original Bromley and Bow station (opened 1892, closed 1949)
↑ The partially-open cast-iron railing was popular with passengers, as it gave a quieter ride than the nearby London and Greenwich Railway's reverberating brick walling.[3]
↑ Freight services to this area of the dock continued up until 3 October 1983 via the North London route via Bow. The track was lifted the following year and later re-opened as part of the Docklands Light Railway.
↑ Each station had a two-position rotary switch marked Stop or Ready. The position of each switch was displayed on an instrument at the terminal stations.[14]
References
↑ Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. London: Guild Publishing. p.144. CN 8983.
↑ McCarthy, Colin; McCarthy, David (2009). Railways of Britain – London North of the Thames. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing. p.12. ISBN978-0-7110-3346-7.
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