| South Bromley | |
|---|---|
| Location | South Bromley |
| Owner | North London Railway |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| Key dates | |
| 1884 | Opened |
| 1944 | Closed |
| Replaced by | Langdon Park DLR |
| Other information | |
 London transportportal | |
South Bromley railway station was a former railway station in South Bromley, London, on the North London Railway between Bow and Poplar (East India Dock Road). It opened in 1884 [1] but was closed in 1944 after bomb damage in the Blitz cut off the railway east of Dalston Junction.
The station was built on a constrained site and access was via a footbridge and the station building straddled the northbound line platform. The platform was a single island consisting of two faces with the eastern face for Poplar and, between 1870 and 1890, Blackwall. The western face was for services towards Bow and Broad Street. The bridge was extended and a westerly entrance to the footbridge opened. This entrance was literally a "hole in the wall" and was flanked by the premises of the Far Famed Cake Company (which became part of Lyons group). [2]
The brick built station building was typical of the other stations on the line, but smaller and the architecture not as grand. It had a flat roof and the entrance was off the footbridge. The south facing side of the building had three windows and the building contained the ticket office, station masters office and there was a single wooden staircase down to the platform. Ticket collection took place in a covered wooden building at the bottom of the stairs and two wooden buildings were sited on the platform with cast iron columns supported an awning covering this area. Beneath the stairs was a porters room.
A signal box opened the same time as the station and was located north of the station between the two running lines. [3]
The East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway (from 1853 known as the North London Railway (NLR)) was incorporated by Act of Parliament on 26 August 1846. It was empowered to construct a railway from the district of Poplar and the docks to Camden Town in north London. [4] The railway's headquarters and locomotive works were initially in Bow.
Services started running on 26 September 1850 but South Bromley station was not built and the trains (initially from Islington) ran to Bow and then via Gas Factory Junction to Fenchurch Street as the NLR did not have a central London terminus. The line through the South Bromley site opened to goods traffic only on 1 January 1852. [5] That changed in 1865 when the NLR opened Broad Street and constructed a new station at Poplar East India Dock Road. However, it was not until 1 September 1884 that South Bromley opened. By this time some NLR trains had been extended from Poplar to the Great Eastern Railway (GER) station at Blackwall giving connections to the Thames steamers.
In 1906 the London County Council erected a footbridge over the south end of the station (although there was no access to the station).
The London & North Western Railway (LNWR) took over the working of the North London Railway under a common management arrangement on 1 February 1909 although the North London Railway continued to exist until 1922. [6]
1913 saw a fire damage part of the station and although this was initially attributed to local suffragettes the case was never proven.. [7]
Following the Railways Act 1921, also known as the grouping act, operation of the station fell under the control of the London Midland & Scottish Railway.
Sunday services to Poplar were withdrawn on 29 January 1940. [8]
Although the fact that bomb damage was responsible for the closure of Poplar East India Road on the line, there is no firm evidence that this was the case at South Bromley. Whilst rail historian H V Borley did state it was damaged and passengers had to be "led across the track by a flagman" as a result of damage to the station building, author J E Connor states there is no pictorial evidence to confirm this. Just to the south Poplar East India Road was badly damaged as were Bow and Old Ford and this all contributed to the decision to withdraw an increasingly unremunerative service. [9]
The railway itself did not close completely and remained open to freight but this declined through the following decades.
No firm date for the demolition of the station buildings but Connor suggests it was between March 1947 and July 1948. [10]
The signal box lasted longer being closed on 25 September 1954. Matching the decline of the London Docks, freight traffic continued to decline through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Closure of the line through the site to all rail traffic occurred on 3 October 1983 with the track being lifted during May 1984. [11]
After closure, the remains of the platform was demolished and work started on building the Docklands Light Railway. Although no station was provided in the area initially, Langdon Park DLR station opened in 2007 was built just north of the South Bromley site. Nothing remains of the old station although the 1906 LCC footbridge existed until 1972 when it was replaced. [12]
Bromley, commonly known as Bromley-by-Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London.
Custom House is a railway station on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) – on which it is branded Custom House for ExCeL – and on the Elizabeth line, by the Royal Docks, in Custom House in the London Borough of Newham, London, England. It is situated in Travelcard Zone 3. It takes its name from the old Custom House, which formerly stood nearby, and ExCeL London which it serves.
Broad Street was a major terminal station in the City of London, adjacent to Liverpool Street station. It served as the main terminus of the North London Railway (NLR) network, running from 1865 to 1986. During its lifetime, it catered for mainly local suburban services around London, and over time struggled to compete with other modes of transport, leading to its closure.
Bromley-by-Bow is a London Underground station located on the Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach Road in the Bromley-by-Bow area of London, United Kingdom. The station is below the Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach Road and lies between Bow Road and West Ham stations on the District and Hammersmith & City lines, and is in both Travelcard Zones 2 and 3.
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 central London to many of London's docks. It was operational from 1840 until 1926 and 1968, 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. Another branch was opened in 1871, the Millwall Extension Railway.
The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the East and West India Docks further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fell into disuse but were later revived as part of the Docklands Light Railway, and London Overground's East London Line. The company was originally called the East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway (E&WID&BJR) from its start in 1850, until 1853. in 1909 it entered into an agreement with the London and North Western Railway which introduced common management, and the NLR was taken over completely by the LNWR in 1922. The LNWR itself became part of the LMS from the start of 1923. The railways were nationalised in 1948 and most LMS lines, including the North London route, then came under the control of the London Midland Region of British Railways.
Bow Road is a closed railway station in Bow, East London, that was opened in 1876 on the Bow Curve branch line by the Great Eastern Railway (GER).
Primrose Hill was a railway station in Chalk Farm, in the London Borough of Camden, opened by the North London Railway as Hampstead Road in 1855. It was named Chalk Farm from 1862 until 1950, when it was given its final name. From the 1860s to 1915, it was linked with a formerly separate station opened by the London and North Western Railway in 1852. The station closed in 1992, and the platform buildings and canopies were removed in 2008.
Shoreditch was a railway station on the North London Railway (NLR) in Shoreditch, London, that was in use from 1865 to 1940. It was situated on a viaduct between Haggerston and Broad Street stations. It should not be confused with Shoreditch Underground station (1869–2006) on the London Underground, situated about half a mile further south. It was also not the first main line railway station to possess the Shoreditch name; Bishopsgate (1840–1875) was originally given that name.
Dalston Junction is an inter-modal rail and bus transport interchange in Dalston, London. It is located at the crossroads of Dalston Lane, Kingsland Road and Balls Pond Road. The station served by London Overground East London line and is in Zone 2. The station is located in a short section of cut and cover tunnel north of the Kingsland Viaduct.
Bow was a railway station in Bow, east London, that was opened in 1850 by the East & West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway, which was later renamed the North London Railway (NLR). The station was situated between Old Ford and South Bromley, and was located on the north side of Bow Road, close to the second Bow Road station which was open from 1892 to 1949. A covered footway connected the two stations between 1892 and 1917.
Victoria Park was a railway station near Victoria Park, east London, that was on the North London Railway (NLR) which opened in September 1850 to Bow and to the London Docks in January 1852.
Old Ford was a railway station in Old Ford, north of Bow, in east London. The railway through the site was opened on 26 September 1850 by the East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway which was renamed in 1853 as the North London Railway (NLR), It was not until 1 July 1867 that Old Ford station opened. It was situated between Victoria Park and Bow, and was located on Old Ford Road, east of the junction with Lefevre Road.
Haggerston is a station on the East London line in Haggerston within the London Borough of Hackney, Greater London. The station is located on the Kingsland Viaduct at the junction of Arbutus Street and Frederick Terrace, near Kingsland Road. The main entrance is in Lee Street. The station was built as part of the East London line extension served by National Rail London Overground under the control of the London Rail division of Transport for London, however there is no standard red National Rail "double arrow" logo signage located at the station, instead only the Overground roundel. The next station north is Dalston Junction and the next station south is Hoxton. It is in Travelcard Zone 2.
Poplar was a railway station located on the East India Dock Road in Poplar, London. It was opened in 1866 by the North London Railway. It was the southern passenger terminus of the NLR, although goods trains ran on to connect to the London and Blackwall Railway (LBR) for the East India Docks or to the LBR's Millwall Extension Railway for the West India Docks.
Blackwall was a railway station in Blackwall, London, that served as the eastern terminus of the Commercial Railway. It was located on the south side of the East India Docks, near the shore of the River Thames, 3 miles 43 chains (5.7 km) down-line from the western terminus at Fenchurch Street.
Poplar was a railway station in Poplar, London, that was opened in 1840 by the Commercial Railway and was situated between Millwall Junction and Blackwall, 3 miles 16 chains (5.1 km) down-line from Fenchurch Street. It was closed in 1926, at which time it was owned by the London and North Eastern Railway.
Burdett Road is a disused railway station located in Bow Common, east London. It was opened in 1871 by the Great Eastern Railway and closed in 1941.
Gallions was the name of two distinct railway stations that adjoined the River Thames by Gallions Reach in Beckton, east London.
The City Branch was a short spur of the North London Line allowing direct access from the east-west main route of the North London Railway to the terminus at Broad Street in the City of London.
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | North London Railway (Poplar branch) | Poplar |
