User:Davidvaughanwells/sandbox

Great Eastern Railway (1873-1922)

The railway through the site of Seven Kings station was first built in 1839 by the Eastern Counties Railway as the first part of what was later to become the Great Eastern Main Line. Trains initially ran between Mile End and Romford.

By the 1860s, the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). Although they wished to amalgamate formally, they could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed.

As London grew, developers starting acquiring land to build new properties The GER realised that the two track main line was not enough to cope with the new suburban and longer distance traffic, and still provide a reliable service for the minor stations. The answer was a programme of quadrupling (providing two additional tracks) along the route and this work took place in phases. Seven Kings station was opened by the Great Eastern Railway on 1 March 1899 and was provided with four platforms although the local services called at the two northernmost platforms with the other two being used when they were not available. For a short period the station was the end of the new four track section with two tracks north to Romford. The four tracking was extended to a junction south of Romford in 1901.

Seven Kings West signal box was located south of the station between the two sets of running lines and later in 1903 controlled the line to the Fairlop Loop (see below). There was another signal box called Seven Kings East located on the up side east of the station.

In 1903 the GER opened a new line to the Hainault Loop and a three way, triangular junction was opened south of the station. The southern part of the triangle diverged at Ilford Carriage Sidings Junction and was used by regular passenger services. The northern leg of the junction was used by excursion traffic (to Epping Forest and goods trains. The triangle was also used to turn locomotives from Ilford engine shed which was located just south of Ilford Carriage Sidings Junction.

Table 298 of the Bradshaw's timetable guide of July 1922 shows Seven Kings to have a regular services of trains from Liverpool Street or Fenchurch Street. These trains terminated at Chadwell Heath, Romford or Gidea Park.

In 1923, the GER amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).

London and North Eastern Railway (1923 - 1947)

During this period local stopping trains were generally hauled by LNER Class N7 locomotives on trains of corridor type carriage stock.

A typical LNER Suburban train, GER section of the LNER (CJ Allen, Steel Highway, 1928)

Plans were drawn up in the 1930s to electrify the suburban lines from Liverpool Street to Shenfield at 1,500 V DC and work was started on implementing this. However, the outbreak of World War II, brought most of the project to a temporary halt and it was not until 1949 that the scheme was completed.

Seven Kings East Signal Box closed on 19 December 1943. The signal box at Seven Kings West was closed as part of the re-signalling (to colour light signals and electrification scheme on 7 August 1949. Responsibility for signalling trains through the area was taken over by a new signal box called Ilford Car Sheds.

The south part of the triangular junction was closed to passengers on 30 November 1947. The site was used for the new Ilford Depot which was to house the new Class 306 EMUs.

British Railways (1948 - 1994)

On January 1 1948, following nationalisation of the railways, Seen Kings became part of the British Railways Eastern Region. The electrification scheme and its associated works were finished and from February 1949 the Class 306 EMUs operated the service to steam timings with an accelerated all electric schedule being introduced in September 1949.

The 1500 DC electrification system was converted to 25/6.35 KV AC operation between 4 and 6 November 1960.

The northern leg of the triangular junction was closed on 17 March 1956 and the site then used for a further extension of Ilford depot.

In 1980 the first Class 315 EMUs were introduced to replace the Class 306s and were used on passenger trains serving Maryland.

A number of the platform buildings were demolished in the early 1980s.

The railway was sectorised in 1982 and Seven Kings and the trains calling at it became part of the London and South-East sector. On 10 June 1986 this was rebranded to become Network South East which was responsible for working services up to privatisation.

The privatisation era (1994 - present day)

In April 1994 Railtrack became responsible for the maintenance of the infrastructure. Railtrack was succeeded by Network Rail in 2002.

Between privatisation on 1 April 1994 and 4 January 1997 the station was operated by a non-privatised business unit. Since then passenger services calling at the station have been operated by the following franchises:

• First Great Eastern 5 January 1997 – 31 March 2004
• National Express East Anglia 1 April 2004 – 4 February 2012
• Abellio Greater Anglia between 5 February 2012– 30 May 2015
• MTR TFL Rail between 31 May 2015 and 23 May 2022 after which the line was rebranded as the Elizabeth Line who are the current operator.

Seven Kings railway station - view of platforms, Greater London, 2012 - geograph.org.uk - 3426031

In June 2017, new Class 345 trains began entering service in preparation for the opening of the Crossrail initially working between Liverpool Street and Shenfield.

The Class 315 trains were finally taken out of service in 2022. Through services to central London, Heathrow Airport and Reading started running on the Crossrail line (rebranded the Elizabeth line) on 22 November 2022.