Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway

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The Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway in East London connected the Royal Docks with the Great Eastern Railway.

1 History
2 Demise & redevelopment
3 Stations
4 References

[edit] History

The EC&TJR opened in 1846, from Stratford to Canning Town, to transport coal to the mouth of Bow Creek. A year later it was extended to North Woolwich via West Silvertown, allowing connections with the Woolwich Ferry; the same year it was taken over by the Eastern Counties Railway.

When the Royal Victoria Dock opened in 1855 the line between Canning Town and North Woolwich had to be equipped with a swingbridge over the entrance to the dock, which slowed down journey times. In response, the line was rerouted north of the dock, and a station at Custom House opened. The south loop remained in service for local factories and was renamed the Silvertown Tramway.

Several branches were opened in due course; in 1874 a branch running north-east to Beckton (not the current site of Beckton DLR station) to serve the gasworks there; in 1880, as the Royal Albert Dock opened, an extension to Gallions opened, running due east along the north edge of the dock, all the way to the shore of the River Thames on the far side of the dock. Both of these branches left the main line at Custom House. At the same time, the line was connected to the line to Palace Gates (Wood Green) in North London, and regular services between North Woolwich and Palace Gates operated.

Construction of the Royal Albert Dock also meant the line from Custom House to Silvertown was moved into a tunnel.

[edit] Demise & redevelopment

The lines to Beckton and Gallions closed after bomb damage during the Blitz and never reopened. The Palace Gates-North Woolwich line continued until 1963, when services were rerouted to Tottenham Hale, later terminating at Stratford. In 1979 the service was extended to run on the old North London Railway via Dalston Kingsland to Camden Road, and incorporated into what was then called the CrossTown LinkLine, today known as the North London Line.

Part of the line between Custom House and Gallions was later redeveloped as the Beckton branch of the Docklands Light Railway, while the Jubilee Line between Canning Town and Stratford also runs over the course of the EC&TJR.

With opening of the King George V branch of the DLR, the North London Line between Stratford and North Woolwich closed in December 2006. The stretch between Canning Town and Stratford will be converted to become the Stratford International branch of the DLR, while the line between Custom House and North Woolwich will remain closed permanently.