IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Charter Avenue, ILFORD, IG2 7AA

The Great Eastern Railway built their Woodford and Ilford Branch through here and opened it in 1903. With the taking over of most of the branch by London Underground after the Second World War and with the opening of the new Central Line underground route between Newbury Park and Leytonstone in 1947, passenger services were withdrawn from this section. Freight services continued to 1956, and the track was lifted shortly afterwards. Today this section, with the rear gardens of the houses in Charter Avenue to the left, has been converted to allotments. This is the view from Image

Looking north up Charter Avenue from the junction with Benton Road

The bridge on the summit used to carry Benton Road over the former Great Eastern Railway's Woodford and Ilford branch. However the railway has long since been demolished and only this bridge and two other similar ones in the area remain as reminders.

A parapet of the apparently intact but partly buried bridge taking Vicarage Lane over the course of the GER Fairlop loop line. The southern end of this was abandoned when the rest of the line was connected to an extension of the Central Line and became part of it.

The Fairlop Loop left the Great Eastern main line roughly in the middle of what is now Ilford Depot, and ran north to loop around to join the Loughton - Epping - Ongar line. The first mile was abandoned when the rest of the line became part of the Central tube line - the tube coming to the surface south of Newbury Park station. There are three road over-bridges on the abandoned part, all seemingly in similar condition to this one - structurally intact but partly buried. This carries Vicarage Lane, the others, Benton Road and Wards Road. The building on the far side of the bridge is on the site of the north junction of the triangular connection to the main line and is part of the residential redevelopment of the site of the former Plessey Company, which occupied the land on the south side of Vicarage Lane from this bridge westwards to the junction with Ley Street and latterly used the junction site as a car park.

Near the junction with Ley Street. I've never seen anything like this before. I have no idea what kind of tree they are.

Vicarage Lane Allotments North is on the other side of the road but further west.

C19 terraced housing built in this style is very characteristic of what used to be sometimes called 'suburban Essex' and what are now the London Boroughs of Newham, Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Barking.