Station Name: NORTH WOOLWICH

[Source: Nick Catford]

Date opened: 14.6.1847
Location: North side of Pier Road (formerly junction of Stanley Road and High Street)
Company on opening: Eastern Counties Railway
Date closed to passengers: 9.12.2006
Date closed completely: 9.12.2006
Company on closing: Silverlink Trains
Present state: The station is currently extant - there is a proposal to use the station as part of a heritage line. The down platform and station building are open to the public as the North Woolwich Old Station Museum. The up platform is currently closed but will be brought back into use. The bay platform is in industrial premises to the north of the station - these are due to close in 2007 and the site will be redeveloped. The goods yard has been largely cleared, part of it is reserved for use by Crossrail while the London Rail Heritage Centre hope to develop part of it as their training school and service facility. The old ECR/LNER pier is still extant on the opposite side of Stanley Road (marked Steamboat Pier on the 2nd map below). Although the structure is sound the decking is in a dangerous condition with some boards missing and the small building at the north end of the pier is dilapidated, within it there is a small booking office. The pier and building are not accessible. Click here for pictures.
County: London
OS Grid Ref: TQ433798
Date of visit: 1.12.2006, 9.12.2006, 10.12.2006, 17.12.2006 & 24.12.2006

Notes: North Woolwich Station was in an isolated position on the north bank of the Thames opposite the market and military town of Woolwich on the south bank of the Thames. It was provided to serve Woolwich via a ferry operated by the Eastern Counties Railway. The surrounding area remained undeveloped for some years until the arrival of the docks brought industry and prosperity to the area.

In 1854 the station was rebuilt with new platforms and a new building slightly to the south of the original terminus. The original station layout is shown on the map below. A new station building replaced the earlier wooden structure and was sited where the turntable is shown. At this time the station was provided with three platform faces, two of which ended in a small turntable
in front of the station building. The goods yard was sited on the south side of the station.

The station was severely damaged during a German air raid on 7th September 1940 at the start of the London blitz on the docks. The platform canopies were largely destroyed and subsequently removed and a train standing in the station was damaged.

During the 1960's the goods yard was rationalized being reduced to a coal depot on 25.2.1963. The goods service was eventually withdrawn on 7th December 1970 by which time the goods yard had been reduced to a public delivery siding.. With the introduction of single line operation on 25th August 1969 only one platform was required and the track was
lifted into the former down platform. In 1979 during the refurbishment of the North Woolwich line the 1854 building was taken out of use and a new smaller roadside building was built a little to the south. The track was re-laid into the old up platform which was now brought back into use and track into the up platform was lifted.

The old station building and down (northern) platform were acquired by the Passmore Edwards Trust and after renovation the Old Station Museum was opened by the Queen Mother in November 1984.

The station closed temporarily on 29th May 1994 during the construction of the Jubilee Line (which doesn't serve North Woolwich) reopening on 29.10.1995.

With closure of the station in 2006 the museum will continue to open at weekends January - November and will eventually be handed over to London Rail Heritage Centre who are planning to introduce a heritage rail service into North Woolwich.

Click here for a numbered limited edition commemorative brochure produced by the North Woolwich Old Station Museum for people travelling on the last train on 19th December 2006

BRIEF HISTORY OF STRATFORD - NORTH WOOLWICH LINE
In 1833 a railway line was proposed from Limehouse, to the north bank of the Thames opposite Woolwich. Nothing came of this scheme but in 1842, George Parker Bidder put forward a proposal to link the Eastern Counties Railway at Stratford with the Thames to enable seaborne coal to be distributed throughout East Anglia.


The original station layout. The station was rebuilt in 1854 with the station building sited where the turntable is shown.

Bidder's scheme was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1844 as the Eastern Counties & Thames Junction Railway, with powers for a line from Stratford to a terminus on the Thames near the mouth of Bow Creek. It was opened between Stratford and Barking Road on 29th April, 1846 and was purchased by the E.C.R. in August of that year.

Meanwhile, in 1845, an Act had been obtained for the North Woolwich Railway, which was to extend the Thames Junction line to a point on the river opposite Woolwich.

Despite opposition from the Board of Trade the bill was passed as the line would provide access to Woolwich and its arsenal which at that date was without a railway connection.

Bidder's scheme was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1844 as the Eastern Counties & Thames Junction Railway, with powers for a line from Stratford to a terminus on the Thames near the mouth of Bow Creek. It was opened between Stratford and Barking Road on 29th April, 1846 and was purchased by the E.C.R. in August of that year.

Meanwhile, in 1845, an Act had been obtained for the North Woolwich Railway, which was to extend the Thames Junction line to a point on the river opposite Woolwich. Despite opposition from the Board of Trade the bill was passed as the line would provide access to Woolwich and its arsenal which at that date was without a railway connection.

After completion, the North Woolwich Railway was bought by the E.C.R. in 1847 and the 21 mile line was opened on 14th June, 1847, together with a curve to the main line at Stratford, enabling through trains to be run between the Eastern Counties terminus at Shoreditch and North Woolwich. There were two intermediate stations at Stratford Bridge (later Stratford Market) and Barking Road (later Canning Town).

The branch quickly proved popular and an hourly service was established between Shoreditch and North Woolwich where two steam ferries, owned by the railway, provided the connection to Woolwich itself.

The line was extended northwards to a junction with the North London Railway at Victoria Park on 15th August 1854, to accommodate these trains; a new station was opened at Stratford Low Level. On 31st March 1858, the London Tilbury & Southend Railway opened a loop to the North Woolwich line at Abbey Mills providing a route into Fenchurch Street.

In 1849 the South Eastern Railway opened their line to Woolwich resulting in a huge loss in revenue to the North Woolwich line. In an attempt to gain revenue there was some development around the remote North Woolwich terminus. Silver & Company established a factory adjacent to the line and prospered to such an extent that the locality became known as Silvertown.

In 1850 the Victoria Dock Company was authorised by Act of Parliament to construct a dock east of Bow Creek and immediately north of the railway. The entrance to the dock cut across the railway and to avoid disruption to traffic the North Woolwich branch was diverted around the north side of the dock, to rejoin the original line about three-quarters of a mile
west of the terminus. A station was opened on the new line at Custom House. The original line was retained to provide railway connections to the numerous factories which sprang up along the river bank crossing the entrance to Victoria Dock by a swing bridge; it was known as the Silvertown Tramway.

Victoria Dock opened in 1855 and was an immediate success with its direct connection to the Great Eastern Railway. The district surrounding the railway quickly prospered with new stations opening at Tidal Basin and Silvertown. In 1862 the E.C.R. merged with other lines to form the Great Eastern Railway.

In 1874 the Beckton gasworks company opened a single-line branch from Custom House to their works and in 1880, another branch was opened from Custom House to a terminus at Gallions close to the dock basin where the P. & O. liners berthed.

In 1864, the Victoria Dock passed to the London & St. Katherine Dock Company, which, in 1880, opened the Albert Dock as an easterly extension of the Victoria; it was joined to the latter by a short cut. It was again necessary to divert the North Woolwich line and an 1875 Act gave the dock company powers to divert the loop line through a tunnel under the cut between the two docks.

The original line was retained as the high-level route owned by the dock company but in the event of the tunnel becoming impassable through any cause, the Great Eastern had the right to use the original route free of charge until the tunnel was again fit for use.

In 1872 the Great Eastern Railway opened a new line from Bethnel Green to Stoke Newington and Lower Edmonton with a branch from this line at Seven Sisters opening to Palace Gates in 1878. On 1st January 1880 a new spur was opened allowing a new service to be established between Stratford and Palace Gates, this service later ran through to North Woolwich.



Both the Gallions and the Beckton branches were closed to passengers on September 7, 1940. Tidal Basin Station was closed to all traffic from 15th August 15 1943 after it was damaged by enemy action. Freight traffic to and from the docks was also affected inevitably by the war. In the early war years labour and equipment were transferred from London to other ports, but in 1944 preparations for D-Day put a heavy strain on the railways feeding the London docks.

After the war passenger numbers were in decline with commuters finding the busses and trolley buses more convenient; freight traffic was initially less affected but road haulage was beginning to make significant inroads. Passenger trains continued to run between Palace Gates and North Woolwich with short workings to and from Stratford Low Level. Stratford Market Station closed
in in 1957 and weekend services were withdrawn shortly afterwards. The service between North Woolwich and Palace Gates was withdrawn in 1963 and by the mid 1960's freight traffic had dwindled away to almost nothing and one by one the local goods depots were closed with the final blow coming in the late 1960s with the rapid decline of their docks.

The goods service was withdrawn from North Woolwich in 1970 and the passenger service was expected to follow with the line east of Custom house being reduced to single track. A reprieve came at the end of the 1970's when the GLC joined forces with British Rail to revitalize the North Woolwich line by extending the service from Stratford over the freight only North London line to Dalston Junction.

The line between Stratford and Dalston Junction had not seen a passenger service since 1943. New stations at Hackney Wick & Hackney Central were provided and all the stations between Stratford & North Woolwich were rebuilt. At North Woolwich this included the closure of the 1854 Grade II listed building. A new entrance building was provided on the south side of the line and the track re-laid into the southern platform
to serve it. A new station provided at West Ham for interchange with the District Line.

The old station building and down (northern) platform were acquired by the Passmore Edwards Trust and after renovation the Old Station Museum was opened by the Queen Mother in November 1984. In May 1985 the line between North Woolwich and Dalston was electrified with a new service introduced between North Woolwich and Richmond with the resumption a full weekend service.

The section between Custom House and North Woolwich was closed completely as both North Woolwich and Silvertown stations are within 300 yards of existing DLR stations.

Despite this huge investment in the North Woolwich Line its future was not secure. With the expansion of the Docklands Light Railway the line between Stratford Low Level was closed on 9th December 2006. The section between Royal Victoria and Stratford has been handed over to the DLR and will be rebuilt as an extension to the DLR between Royal Victoria and Stratford International, due to open in 2010.

Souvenir ticket for the last train on 10.12.2006

There are proposals to hand much of this section of the line over to Crossrail who will incorporate it into their route but construction is unlikely to begin until at least 2013. In the meantime the Old Station Museum at North Woolwich is due to be cleared of its exhibits and archive and the Grade II listed building will be handed over to The London Rail Heritage Centre who are proposing to run a heritage rail service between North Woolwich and Custom House and a rail school until the land is required. This will include the building a new servicing facility on part of the former goods yard.

Click here to see Silverlink closure poster
Tickets from Michael Stewart

Sources:

To see the other stations on the Stratford Low Level - North Woolwich line click on the station name: Stratford Low Level, Stratford Market, West Ham, Canning Town (2nd), Canning Town (3rd), Tidal Basin
& Silvertown


See also Gallions & Beckton branch lines & North Woolwich Pier
Click here for pictures of North Woolwich line including Connaught Tunnel


North Woolwich Station by August 1912
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection



1869 1:2,500 OS map showing the original layout of the station with a turntable at
the end of the platform.

1896 1:1,056 OS town plan. Further sidings have been added.

1916 1:2,500 OS map. Additional sidings have been added the steam boat pier has been built, conveniently sited opposite the station,

1958 1:2,500 OS map. The turntable has been removed,


North Woolwich Station in the 1930's
Photo from North Woolwich Old Station Museum



North Woolwich Station on 8th September 1940 showing air raid damage
Photo from North Woolwich Old Station Museum


North Woolwich Station and goods yard in the late 1950's
Photo from North Woolwich Old Station Museum


British Rail (S.R., S.W. Division) Crosstown IV Repeat railtour at North Woolwich station
on 11 March 1978.
Photo by Nigel Lester


North Woolwich Station from the roof of an adjacent tower block in April 1979. The goods yard to the right of the station is in the process of being cleared.
Photo by Nick Catford

North Woolwich Station in the 1970's - by this date the 1854 building was in poor condition
Photo from North Woolwich Old Station Museum


The final advertised train waiting to depart from North Woolwich at 23.37
on Saturday 9th December 2006
P
hoto by Nick Catford


An unadvertised 'special' left North Woolwich at 12.57 on Sunday 10th December carrying Silverlink personnel, invited guests and 50 members of the public. The smoke from the first of three detonators can be seen under the wheels as the train leaves the station.
Photo by Nick Catford


Looking north west towards North Woolwich station in 2021. The 1854 building has been boarded up for many years and although shabby it still appears to be in reasonable condition. Track appears to be in place alongside the platform. The later platforms and station building which were used until closure of the line in 2006 have been demolished.
Photo by Stephen Gallichan

Click here for more pictures of North Woolwich Station

 

 

 

[Source: Nick Catford]


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