Notes: An Act of Parliament passed in 1836 authorised the building
of the Eastern Counties Railway between London and Great Yarmouth.
The London section of the Eastern Counties Railway opened in June
1839 from a temporary terminus at Mile End to a temporary station
at Romford. The following summer the line was extend to a permanent
terminus at Shoreditch. The line was also extended into East Anglia,
reaching Colchester in March 1843. Shoreditch Station was renamed
Bishopsgate on 27th July 1846.
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The company never reached its Great Yarmouth destination; the
Eastern Counties merged with other lines to form the Great Eastern
Railway in 1862. Initially the Great Eastern used Fenchurch Street
as its City terminus but this lacked the capacity to deal with
increasing suburban traffic so a new city site was selected adjacent
to the North London Railway's |
Broad Street Station facing on to
Liverpool Street. In order to reach the new terminus a new line
diverged on the north side of the viaduct into Bishopsgate curving
round under Bishopsgate and into the new terminus at Liverpool
Street.
To accommodate Bishopsgate's passengers, new low level platforms
were constructed at Bishopsgate, one underneath the existing station
and the other on the south side of the old terminus. Following
the opening of Liverpool Street, Bishopsgate Station was closed
on 1st November 1875 although some trains still used the station
until 1879. Bishopsgate was rebuilt as a two level goods station
remaining in use until destroyed by fire on 5th December 1964.
The goods station has now been partially demolished to make way
for the East London Line extension (now London Overground) which now incorporate a new
Shoreditch High Street station on the site.
Ticket from Michael Stewart |