Garden at Highams Park station

Image: © Marathon Taken: 11 Mar 2015

Passenger trains were extended from Shernhall Street station in Walthamstow to serve the Chingford terminus in Bull Lane (now King's Road) over a single track which opened on 17th November 1873. The station, opened here as Hale End on the same date, was a somewhat temporary structure. In 1878, it was given a second platform. For some years the wooden station at Hale End was the quietest on the Chingford line, although some pleasure traffic came here after Highams Park and its lake were added to the public area of Epping Forest in 1891. To mark this event the station was renamed Highams Park (Hale End) on 1st October 1894. During the 1890s some terraced housing was built to the south and west of the station, and with the construction of more houses, traffic at the station slowly increased so that in 1900 it was rebuilt in more substantial form. Further development followed to the east of the line so that by 1908 there were 5,000 new residents around the station. In 1922, Highams Park was described as "a busy station for residential traffic of a good class". The line was electrified from 1960 and a full electric service started on 18th June 1962. This view from the Liverpool Street bound platform looks in the direction of Chingford, with the small garden to cheer up the waiting passengers.

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