Notes: Millwall Dock station was staffed by GER but like South Dock it issued its own tickets. The buildings and platform were of timber construction, sited on asn embankment jutting out over East Ferry Road. Some documents refer to the station as Millwall Dock (Glengall Road) but this name appeared in timetables or on tickets.

The station was sited on an embankment jutting out over East Ferry Road just south of Glengall Road on the site of the Docklands Light Railway's Crossharbour Station It was extended and partly rebuilt in 1888–90 and 1892. Millwall Docks was the only station on the branch with a freight service which was handled by a small goods depot south of the station.  The goods

NOTE: Some web sites state that the station was on the north of Glengall Road and use a map from the Walkers Pocket Atlas & Guide to London which shows the wrong position for the station. It is clearly marked on Ordnance Survey maps on the south side of Glengall Road. The map below has been alterted to show the correct position.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MILLWALL EXTENSION RAILWAY
In 1863, the London and Blackwall Railway Company proposed a line across the Isle of Dogs from a junction at Limehouse. The proposed route would cross the western entrances to the West India Docks running south to serve new industries at Millwall, terminating on the north bank of the Thames at Cubitt Town from where there was a ferry to Greenwich.

The proposed line was vigorously opposed by the East and West India Dock Company and rejected by Parliament in 1864 because of the adverse effect it would have on the docks.

The Great Eastern Railway took a long lease on the London & Blackwall line in 1864 and revived the scheme for a branch line across the Isle of Dogs following the successful Bill for the construction of the Millwall Docks. The East and West India Dock Company were still reluctant to allow the railway to pass through their estate and suggested an alternative

A further Bill was submitted to Parliament and the railway companies were forced to amend their proposals to accommodate the dock company, agreeing to build either a tunnel under the docks or a line on their east side, which the dock company would build and control with the right to exclude passengers and locomotives, to reduce fire risks.

The Millwall Extension Railway Bill was passed on 19 June 1865 but apart from the junction with the Blackwall line at Poplar, nothing was done as a number of factories that the line was intending to serve went out of business following the financial crash of 1866. The GER lost interest in the line and the raising of capital was left to the London and Blackwall

The branch was laid with light rails opening on 18th December 1871 between a new junction station on the London & Blackwall line called Millwall Junction and Millwall Docks station with an intermediate station at South Dockwithin the East & West India Docks. This section of the line opened for freight and a workmen's service was also provided. Work on the remainder of

Initially steam traction was not allowed through the docks because of the weak timber and the close proximity of wood yards. Initially, tram cars were horse drawn between Millwall Junction and the southern boundary of the Millwall Docks from where a steam locomotive hauled the cars to the terminus at North Greenwich.

The GER built a new pier at North Greenwich and in 1974 ancient rights to carry passengers were transferred to the GER with through tickets to South Greenwich available from Fenchurch Street. This service continued until the London County Council opened a pedestrian subway under the river at Greenwich on 4th August 1902. With the opening of

Through locomotive haulage on the branch finally started on the 23rd August 1880 after bridges had been strengthened and three small 2-4-0 ST locomotives had been acquired. At this time, the working of the branch was taken over by the Millwall Dock Company with a 15-minute service from 7 a.m. In November 1922, the Port of London Authority, as successor to the dock companies after 1909 replaced the existing steam engines which ex-GWR rail motors and to facilitate these, a number of bridges had to be further strengthened.

The line had never proved popular with passengers and had been steadily in decline except when Millwall Rovers Football club were playing at home, on these days the tiny locomotives often pulled five crowded coaches. This seasonal traffic was however lost when the club moved south of the river to New Cross in 1910. During WW1 the service was reduced to two

In December 1982 Government approval was given for the Docklands Light Railway which would utilise the London & Blackwall line between Minories and Poplar. The DLR opened on 31st August 1987. Initially the DLR consisted of three branches with their termini at Tower Gateway, Stratford and Island Gardens. The Island Gardens branch turned south at Poplar running through the Canary Wharf development joining the old North Greenwich alignment at Crossharbour close to the site of the old Millwall Docks Station from where to DLR followed the course of the Millwall Extension Railway across the Millwall viaduct to Island Gardens which was built roughly on the site of the former North Greenwich terminus.

Shortly after the DLR opened, Lewisham Council commissioned a feasibility study of extending the DLR under the Thames to Lewisham. The line was eventually authorised, its proposed alignment left the original DLR route south of Crossharbour dropping down to a new a street level station at Mudchute, from where the new line would be built by cut and cover

Mudchute and Island Gardens stations closed on 11th January 1999 and the Lewisham extension opened on 20th November 1999, the Millwall viaduct having lost its train service for the second time. It can still be seen today in Millwall Park and is the only tangible evidence of the Millwall Extension Railway.

Sources: The London & Blackwall Railway by Geoffrey Body & Robert. E. Eastleigh. Trans-Rail Publications 1964.
British History Online web site - University of London
Stepney's Own Railway - A history of the London & Blackwall System by J.E.Connor, Connor & Butler 1984 & 1987 ISBN 0 947699 02 3.
London's Local Railways by Alan A Jackson - David & Charles 1978 ISBN0 7153 7479 6

Tickets from Michael Stewart & Jim Connor, route map drawn by Alan Young

For other stations on the Millwall Extension Railway click on the station name:
Millwall Junction, South Dock & North Greenwich