london transport museum friends news

The Epping – Ongar
Railway : Its History And
Its Future
This is a summary, by Richard Meads, of the
talk given to the Friends’ meeting on 31 st
January 2011, by Simon Hannay, General
Manager of the Epping-Ongar Railway.
The Epping – Ongar branch is one of the few parts of the
Underground to have suffered the fate of losing its service, with
closure taking place on 30 th September 1994. But now, it has
the greatest chance of a successful revival, with exciting plans
to turn it into a heritage railway. When re-opened, it will not
only be London‟s nearest heritage line, but will have the
advantage of being easily accessible by tube.
Simon outlined the history of the line, the works currently under
way to secure re-opening and the railway‟s longer-term plans
for the future. He is clearly very enthusiastic about the project,
having risen from being a volunteer to the full-time role of
managing the work to re-open the line.
Briefly on the history, the line was opened by the Great Eastern
Railway in 1865 and, thankfully, all of the original station
buildings are still in place and being restored back to their
original layouts and colours. The line owed its existence to the
belief that there was the potential for goods traffic to serve the
community in this rural part of Essex – particularly agricultural
and coal traffic. Milk churns featured in a number of Simon‟s
photographs! But initial plans to extend the line to Dunmow
were abandoned and passenger traffic never really developed,
partly as a result of green belt policies, with the line being
destined to remain the tail-end of a long branch.
Incorporation of the branch into the Central Line in 1949
initially saw a steam shuttle service, with electrification „on
the cheap‟ taking place in 1957. But the area beyond Epping
remained rural, and the slow journey time from Ongar meant
the line could never compete with faster Great Eastern main
line services. So, facilities were gradually reduced and, in 1981,
the service was cut to peak times only, with Blake Hall closed.
Against this background, it was hardly surprising that the line
closed completely 13 years later.
After closure, the branch was sold to Pilot Developments and,
following a further change of ownership, the line has now been
saved for preservation, albeit with the sale of the goods yard at
Ongar for housing development, as part of the deal to secure
the operational railway. Some initial services were operated but,
over the last three years, the aim has been to invest in the
infrastructure to give a firm basis for long-term heritage
operation over the line. The aim in the immediate future is to
concentrate on the North Weald - Ongar section, with a „route
339‟ heritage bus providing a connection to the Central Line at
Epping. Work completed or in hand includes:
Track renovation, with additional track and points installed
to allow the operation of both diesel and steam trains.
Lowering of the track through both North Weald and Ongar
platforms, to allow the use of full size rolling stock, and
enabling step-free access to all platforms.
Restoration of the GER latticework footbridge previously
recovered from Woodford, for re-use at North Weald.
Provision of new layouts, including run round loops, bay
platforms and sidings, at North Weald and Ongar.
New signalling to facilitate the operation of more trains.
Restoration of stations to original colours.
Underground 1962 stock at Ongar.
(EOR Museum Collection)
North Weald in steam days. (EOR Museum Collection)
The GER
signal box
at Ongar.
(Simon
Hannay)
Ongar station today, with an authentic GER look. (Andrew Cook)
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