Blake Hall tube station

Blake Hall

Location
Place	Greensted
Local authority	Epping Forest
History
Opened by	Eastern Counties Railway
Platforms	1
Key dates	Opened 24 April 1865 Closed 2 November 1981
Replaced by	none

View westward, towards Epping in 1961

Blake Hall station is a disused station in Essex, formerly on the Central Line of the London Underground between North Weald and Ongar. It was named after Blake Hall, a country house located a mile or so to the north east of the station in the village of Bobbingworth, and inhabited by a family of substantial local land owners. The station was built as part of the landlord's agreement to build a railway through his land.

History

The station was first opened by the Eastern Counties Railway on 1 April 1865, serving principally as a goods station taking agricultural produce from the nearby farms into central London. Steam locomotives operated by British Railways for the Underground ran a shuttle service from Epping to Ongar (stopping at Blake Hall) from 1949 to 1957, when the line was electrified and taken over by the Underground's Central Line. On 18 April 1966 the goods yard was closed.

The station subsequently became known as the least used on the entire Underground (fare subsidies provided on the rest of the Underground system were not provided on this part of the line because local government agencies for Essex and London failed to agree on their respective public transport responsibilities, and Blake Hall station was located a considerable distance from any substantial settlement). By the time it was closed on 31 October 1981, the station was reported to have only six passengers a day. The entire Epping to Ongar branch was closed 13 years later, on 30 September 1994. The station building still exists but has since been converted into a private home.

The small coal depot at the western end of the station was closed in the early 1960s, soon after the line's electrification, and the passenger platform has now also been demolished.

Epping Ongar Railway

The line passing the station site is now private, run as a heritage railway by the Epping Ongar Railway.

See also

• List of former and unopened London Underground stations

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Brown, Joe (November 2006). London Railway Atlas. Hersham, UK: Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7110-3137-1. 0611/3. 
• Bruce, J. Graeme; Croome, Desmond F. (2006) [1996]. The Central Line (2nd ed.). Harrow, London: Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-297-6. 
• Croome, Desmond F. and A.A. Jackson. Rails through the Clay. Harrow, UK: Capital Transport Publishing, 1981. ISBN 1-85414-151-1.
• Day, John R.; Reed, John (2005) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground (9th ed.). Harrow, London: Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-289-5. 
• Demuth, Tim (2003). The Spread of London's Underground. Harrow, London: Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-266-6. 
• Hardy, Brian, ed. (March 2011). "How it used to be - freight on The Underground 50 years ago". Underground News (London Underground Railway Society) (591). ISSN 0306-8617. 
• Horne, M.A.C. A Short History of the Central Line. London Transport/Douglas Rose & Nebulous Books, 1987. ISBN 0-85329-055-5.
• Lee, Charles Edward (May 1970). Seventy Years of the Central. Westminster, London: London Transport. ISBN 0-85329-013-X. 570/1111/RP/5M. 
• Menear, L. London Underground Stations: a social and architectural study. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK: Midas, 1983. ISBN 0-85936-124-1.

External links

Media related to Blake Hall tube station at Wikimedia Commons

• Lyons, James (20 January 2007). "Epping Ongar Railway History - Blake Hall Station". Epping Ongar Railway History. http://www.eohistory.bravehost.com/chat.html. Retrieved 22 May 2011. 
• Skinner, Paul (2011). "Epping Ongar Railway". http://www.eorailway.co.uk/. Retrieved 22 May 2011.  Epping Ongar Railway's Official Website

	Disused railways
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
North Weald towards Epping		Central line Epping-Ongar branch		Ongar Terminus