A foggy morning on the Central line near Grange Hill station

Image: © Marathon Taken: 25 Jan 2017

Construction of the line from Ilford through Hainault and Chigwell to join the Epping and Ongar line at Woodford started in 1900, although powers had been obtained as early as 1846. The stations were built to high standards. Passenger and local freight operations started on 1st May 1903 when Grange Hill station opened. At first the service worked from either Fenchurch Street or Liverpool Street and then back both ways round the loop. Everything was done to prepare for heavy passenger traffic, misplaced optimism being shown by the stations which all had substantial buildings and long platforms. Patronage remained very low until the building boom of the late 1920s and early 1930s when almost all the land between the eastern bank of the River Roding and the Hainault Loop was filled with small houses up to a point well north of Barkingside. Eventually pressure from commuters in the new houses and the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board led to the proposal to extend the Central London line from its then terminus at Liverpool Street to Stratford and on to Leyton to join the Loughton line. At Leytonstone the new Tube would be made under Eastern Avenue as far as Newbury Park where the Underground would take over services on the Hainault Loop. Work was well underway from October 1936 when they stopped in 1940 because of the War. Plessey used the tunnels during the War for the manufacture of aircraft components, but after the War work began again and the first Tube trains were operated between Leytonstone and Newbury Park from Sunday 14th December 1947. LNER steam ran for the last time on Saturday 29th November 1947. Hainault was reached by Underground trains on 31st May 1948 and Woodford via Grange Hill on 21st November1948 when Grange Hill was first served by Central line trains. The connection between Newbury Park and the main line east of Ilford was disconnected on 17th March 1956. Much of the old track was filled to ground level to provide allotments. However, much of the uncovered land adjacent to the loop is in the London Green Belt which prevented large-scale building and any chance of increasing passenger numbers.To the east of the Central line there are almost no houses between Newbury Park and Hainault and to the north of the line between Hainault and Roding Valley, hence patronage of the line has never been as high as predicted. There has even been talk of closure over the years but the fact that there is the large Central line depot between Hainault and Grange Hill made this operationally impossible. This was a freezing day where the early fog would eventually clear to mist but it remained bitterly cold. This view is from Manor Road bridge. The next station in this direction is Chigwell. Just ahead disappearing into the fog is the 240 metre long Grange Hill Tunnel.

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