Woodgrange Park railway station explained

Woodgrange Park
Symbol:overground
Manager:London Overground
Owner:Network Rail
Locale:Manor Park, London
Borough:London Borough of Newham
Gridref:TQ418853
Platforms:2
Fare Zone:3
Fare Zone 1:4
Railcode:WGR
Coordinates:51.5487°N 0.0454°W
Original:Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway
Years1:9 July 1894
Events1:Opened
Raillowexits:29,090
Raillowexits0506: 25,256
Railexits0607: 0.174
Railexits0708: 0.171
Railexits0809: 0.168
Railexits0910: 0.171
Railexits1011: 0.310
Railexits1112: 0.485
Railexits1213: 0.602
Railexits1314: 0.702
Railexits1415: 0.751
Railexits1516: 0.978
Railexits1617: 0.196
Railexits1718: 0.514 -->
Railexits1819: 0.765
Railexits1920: 0.629
Railexits2021: 0.454
Railexits2122: 0.732
Railexits2223: 0.776
Dft Category:E

Woodgrange Park is a railway station on Romford Road in Manor Park in the London Borough of Newham, east London. It is served by London Overground and is on the Gospel Oak to Barking line. It is located 12chain1chain down the line from ; it lies in Travelcard Zones 3 and 4. It has only limited station buildings and facilities.

Location

The station is on the Gospel Oak to Barking line, 1.75miles west of . Its National Location Code (NLC) is 7467. It stands on Romford Road, a short walk from station[1] with which Woodgrange Park has an official out-of-station interchange. However, the National Rail Timetable suggests interchanging one stop to the west, from to .[2]

History

Track was laid through the site in 1854 as part of the first section of the London, Tilbury and Southend line, from Forest Gate Junction on the Eastern Counties Railway to Barking.[3] The LT&SR opened a more direct route from Barking to Fenchurch Street on 11 March 1858 so its trains could avoid the congested station at Stratford. After that the line was used by a small number of Liverpool Street to Barking services operated by the Eastern Counties Railway and after 1862 the Great Eastern Railway. A few goods trains also used this route.

In 1894 the Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway opened a new railway to Tottenham, beginning at a junction just north of the station site. This railway was a joint venture between the Midland Railway and London, Tilbury and Southend line. The station was opened on 9 July 1894 and on opening was served by trains from the new line as well as the few GER Liverpool Street – Barking services.[4] A few services were routed to East Ham via the East Ham loop but the majority went onto to Barking (with a small number continuing to Southend).

Some goods sidings were opened on the Barking end of the station and these acted as exchange sidings between Midland Railway and LT&SR trains as well as serving local businesses. In connection with this facility a short spur line (known as the East Ham Loop) to was opened in 1894 and this allowed LTSR goods trains from the London (Fenchurch Street) direction to access the exchange sidings.[5] [4]

The exchange sidings lasted until 1909 when a new facility between Woodgrange Park and Barking was opened as Woodgrange Park and Barking Goods Yard (which acted as the exchange point between the Great Eastern and LTSR) were congested. The whole of this area was remodelled 1905–1909 as part of the quadrupling from Bromley to Barking and the electrification and extension of District Line services. By 1916 the goods sidings at Woodgrange Park were reduced to coal traffic only and continued in this role until closure whilst the former exchange sidings were used for engineering traffic.[6]

Following the 1921 Railways Act Woodgrange Park became a London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) station. In 1948 the station was taken over by British Railways following nationalisation. The spur from East Ham closed in 1958 when the few remaining T&FG services were diverted to Barking and its closure was part of the scheme to separate the LTS and District Line into two distinct railways. The engineering sidings closed 27 June 1964 and the station coal yard closed 7 December 1964.[7] During 1964 the street level station buildings were demolished and replaced by a new structure and the platform buildings were demolished and replaced by shelters c1976. At this time the station was little used.

The section from Forest Gate Junction through the station to Barking was electrified in 1962 as part of the LT&SR modernisation and electrification scheme, and was used by a limited number of c2c services (which do not stop at Woodgrange Park) and by regular freight trains.[8]

The station was closed between October 2016 and February 2017 whilst the rest of the Gospel Oak to Barking line was fully electrified. Electric London Overground trains (Class 710) began servicing the station from 2019.[9] [10]

Design

It is a station with limited facilities; the ticket office was demolished in the late 1990s, and the space used for a small cycle rack. Staff operate from a container-sized portable office. Recently a number of self-service touch-screen ticket machines have been added, which accept coins, credit cards and notes. Oyster card validators have also been installed. The station was briefly equipped with APTIS equipment in 1988/89.

Services

All services at Woodgrange Park are operated by London Overground using EMUs.

The typical off-peak service is four trains per hour in each direction between and . During the late evenings, the service is reduced to three trains per hour in each direction.[11]

Connections

London Buses routes 25, 86, 425 and night routes N25 and N86 serve the station.[12]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Woodgrange Park Railway Station. Google Maps.
  2. Web site: Timetable. National Rail. 46. https://web.archive.org/web/20091122133609/http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/eNRT/Dec07/Commercial%20Information.pdf. 22 November 2009.
  3. Web site: A Short History of the Line. Barking – Gospel Oak Rail User Group.
  4. Book: Kay . Peter . The London Tilbury & Southend Railway Volume 7 . 2019 . Peter Kay . Wivenhoe,UK . 978-1-899890-51-4 . 555.
  5. Book: Borley, H.V.. Chronology of London Railways. 20.
  6. Book: Kay . Peter . The London Tilbury & Southend Railway Volume 7 . 2019 . Peter Kay . Wivenhoe,UK . 978-1-899890-51-4 . 550–566.
  7. Book: Kay . Peter . The London Tilbury & Southend Railway Volume 7 . 2019 . Peter Kay . Wivenhoe,UK . 978-1-899890-51-4 . 559.
  8. Web site: Woodgrange Park Railway Station. Mapio.net. 25 May 2016.
  9. News: Gelder . Sam . New Overground trains for Gospel Oak to Barking line delayed... by three months. Islington Gazette . 28 May 2018.
  10. Web site: Gospel Oak to Barking electrification works to be complete in time for arrival of new double-length electric trains . Network Rail Media Centre.
  11. Web site: London Overground Timetable: Gospel Oak to Barking. Transport for London. 1 January 2024.
  12. Web site: Buses from Manor Park. 21 May 2022. TfL. 20 May 2022.