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North London Railway

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This article is about the historic railway. For the future franchise, see North London Railway (franchise)
The North London Railway (known as the East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway until 1853) was a railway that opened in 1850 and connected the north of London to the East and West India Docks. Its headquarters and locomotive works were situated at Bow.

Contents

History

The NLR initially ran trains from Camden to Poplar, and from there via the London and Blackwall Railway onto Fenchurch Street station. This arrangement lasted until 1865, when an extension from Dalston Junction to Broad Street was opened; Broad Street became the main terminus, and the Poplar line became a branch.

In the meantime, the line had been extended westwards to Primrose Hill in 1851 to join the London and North Western Railway. In 1858 the line was extended along the North and South West Junction Railway from Willesden Junction down to Richmond. An additional bypass line from Camden to Willesden Junction via Gospel Oak and West Hampstead opened in 1860. Meanwhile, at the eastern end, a spur line connecting the NLR to Stratford from Victoria Park opened in 1854 but was not used by passenger services.

The NLR was taken over by the LNWR in December 1908, though the NLR remained a separate operation with its own Board of Governors. The Broad Street to Richmond and Kew services were electrified in 1916, responsibility for which was with the LNWR, which also half-owned Broad Street station.

The line from Dalston Junction to Poplar was heavily damaged during the blitz as was the Bow workshop. Passenger service from Broad Street to Poplar via Victoria Park and Bow was not reinstated at the end of the war. The section from Broad Street to Dalston Junction was closed on 30 June 1986.

Present-day

In 1979 the line between Richmond and Dalston via Gospel Oak, plus the spur line to Stratford, was joined with the former Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway to form what is known today as the North London Line. The line between Willesden Junction and Camden via Primrose Hill is now served by Watford DC Line trains out of Euston, although Primrose Hill station itself has been closed.

The Docklands Light Railway follows the path of the long-disused North London Railway from Bow Church to Poplar, while the East London Line Extension (currently under construction) will take over the abandoned stretch between Dalston and Shoreditch.

Stock

Among the first locomotives bought by the railway from outside contractors were five 0-4-2 saddle tanks. After that, all were constructed at Bow, none having a cab. The works also had a sizeable wagon repair shop. When the railway was merged into the LMS it was the smallest of fifteen workshops. It not only repaired NLR locomotives but, from 1927 those from the former LTSR.

In the 1930s the works developed and manufactured the Hudd automatic control system for the LTSR, which later on led to a British Railways team from the national headquarters setting up in Bow to develop BR's standard Automatic Warning System.

In 1956 the workshop was repaired diesel-electric locomotives for the motive power depot at Devons Road (the first to become all-diesel). After a while it was receiving locos in the morning and turning them round by the evening, which initially confused the statistical returns since locos were entering and leaving the works on the same day. The works closed down in 1960.

Stations

Richmond to Willesden Junction (joined NLR 1856):

Willesden Junction to Camden via Primrose Hill (opened 1851-2):

Willesden Junction to Camden via West Hampstead & Gospel Oak (opened 1860):

Camden Road to Dalston (opened 1850):

Branch to Broad Street (opened 1865, closed 1986):

Branch to Poplar (opend 1850, closed to passengers 1944):

At Poplar, the line connected to Millwall Junction, allowing goods trains to run to Blackwall and the East India Docks), or along the Millwall Extension Railway, which served the West India Docks.

 

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