North Woolwich railway station

North Woolwich

Location
Place	North Woolwich
Local authority	Newham
History
Opened by	Eastern Counties Railway
Platforms	1 (originally 2)
Key dates	Opened 14 June 1847 Closed 9 December 2006

North Woolwich railway station in North Woolwich in east London was the eastern terminus of the North London Line. It was in Travelcard Zone 3. The next station was Silvertown.

History

The station opened on 14 June 1847 as the southern terminus of the Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway from Stratford. The service was later extended beyond Stratford to Palace Gates. In 1963 diesel traction replaced steam and the service was cut back to Stratford with peak-hour trains to Tottenham Hale. The route became an extension of the North London Line in 1979. From the 1980s only one track of the double track line was used through the Connaught Tunnel under the Royal Docks and on to North Woolwich where the station building and a platform were closed and replaced by minimalist entrance and passenger shelter on the south side. In 1985 the line from North Woolwich was electrified on the third rail system with the service running round inner north London to Richmond (a route part third rail and part overhead wire).

From 1984 to 2008 the original station buildings and one disused platform served as the North Woolwich Old Station Museum dedicated to the history of the Great Eastern Railway.

The station and the line to Stratford closed on 9 December 2006 to allow conversion of the North London Line between Stratford and Canning Town to a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) line. At closure the station was served by Silverlink Trains. King George V DLR station which opened in December 2005 on the extension from Canning Town gives a replacement service to the North Woolwich area.

Dual-voltage unit 313113 waiting to work the 14:37 service to Richmond a few days before the station closed.

A picture of the then less well used North Woolwich station in the year 2001.

Future

Crossrail is approved to re-use the Connaught Tunnel and nearby NLL route by 2018, with a new tunnel under the Thames near the site of North Woolwich station.

This has thwarted two earlier schemes for using the fragment of railway near the station which had been seen as having no viable railway use:

• The North Woolwich Old Station Museum mentioned above, which has now closed.
• The Royal Docks Heritage Railway for a new museum at the site with a heritage railway.

External links

• Royal Docks Heritage Railway Ltd
• London's Abandoned Stations - North Woolwich

Preceding station		Disused Railways		Following station
Silvertown		Silverlink North London Line		Terminus