London, Tilbury and Southend Railway

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London, Tilbury & Southend Line

Legend MOD Pig's Bay Shoeburyness 39m 40ch  Shoeburyness carriage sidings Thorpe Bay 37m 73ch  Southend East 36m 49ch  Southend Central 35m 55ch  Westcliff 34m 66ch  Chalkwell 33m 69ch  Leigh-on-Sea 32m 43ch  Benfleet For Canvey Island 29m 11ch  Pitsea Jn 26m 52ch  Milepost Change 26m 42ch  Pitsea 26m 42ch and 32m 37ch  Basildon 24m 26ch  Laindon 22m 69ch  Thameshaven Port Stanford-le-Hope 27m 13ch  East Tilbury 25m 07ch  Low Street Closed 1967 Gravesend Ferry Freight Terminal Tilbury Riverside Tilbury Town For Bus Link 21m 48ch  to Gravesend Ferry West Horndon 19m 15ch  19m 66ch  Grays West Thurrock Junction Chafford Hundred For Lakeside Centre Ockendon M25 motorway Upminster Depot (LUL) Purfleet 15m 78ch  ex-link to branch line Upminster 15m 20ch  Romford to Upminster Line Upminster Bridge Hornchurch 13m 56ch (LTS) Elm Park 12m 50ch  Rainham Dagenham East 11m 25ch (LTS) Dagenham Heathway 10m 45ch  Dagenham Dock Becontree 9m 48ch (LTS) Upney Barking 7m 42ch  Gospel Oak to Barking Line East Ham EMU depot East Ham 6m 35ch (LTS) Upton Park 5m 28ch (LTS) Plaistow 4m 45ch (LTS) 4m 07ch  West Ham Jubilee line Bromley-by-Bow 3m 18ch (LTS) DLR Gas Factory Junction to GEML H&C and District lines from the City Closed 1941 Burdett Road L&BR (now DLR) Limehouse 1m 58ch   Shadwell Closed 1941 ELL Shadwell Cannon Street Road Closed 1848 Leman Street Closed 1941 Minories/Tower Gateway Closed 1853/Opened 1987 Fenchurch Street ( Tower Hill) 0m 00ch ( Tower Gateway) DLR to Bank

The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) is an English railway line linking Fenchurch Street station in the City of London with East London and the entire length of the northern Thames Gateway area of Essex. It is known as the Thameside Route by Network Rail. ^[1] Train services on the line are currently operated by c2c. The main route from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness via Basildon is 40 miles (64 km). The fastest timetabled journey time from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness is one hour. The name also refers to the British railway company which originally built the line in 1854, which was a joint venture between the London and Blackwall Railway and the Eastern Counties Railway.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Construction 1.2 Operation and development 1.3 Modernisation 1.4 Ownership and management 1.5 Boat trains 2 Route 2.1 Main line 2.2 Barking to Pitsea via Rainham loop 2.3 Upminster to Grays branch 3 Diversion 4 Preservation 5 References

[edit] History

[edit] Construction

The LT&SR initially linked London's Fenchurch Street and Bishopsgate stations with Tilbury via Stratford, Barking and Grays. By 1856 the line had been extended to Southend. In 1858 a more direct route from Fenchurch Street to Barking via Plaistow and East Ham was opened and service from Bishopsgate was withdrawn. The line was extended to Shoeburyness in 1884. Between 1885 and 1888 a new shorter route between Barking and Pitsea via Upminster was constructed and between 1892 and 1893 a single line branch was constructed from Romford to Grays via Upminster.

[edit] Operation and development

In 1912 the railway was bought by the Midland Railway (MR) from under the noses of the nearby Great Eastern Railway (GER). The line was known for its use of 4-4-2 tank engines which were later displaced by 2-6-4Ts after it had been absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923.

The LMS constructed by 1932, and then managed, the line and stations of what is now a section of the London Underground from Barking to Upminster with services operated by the District Line from the outset; the LMS already managed all stations from Stepney Green to Barking inclusive. (Several of the now District Line stations still have LTSR in the roundels of the canopy supports, and a number of decommissioned platforms still remain on the mainline side.) The LMS in turn was nationalised in 1948 into British Railways (BR) and in 1949 the line was transferred to the Eastern Region. In 1958 an accident at Dagenham East caused the loss of 10 lives.

The line was electrified at 25 kV AC, using overhead wires in 1962 and passenger service was withdrawn from Bromley, Plaistow, Upton Park, East Ham, Becontree, Dagenham and Hornchurch so trains could run fast from Fenchurch Street to Upminster calling only at Stepney East and Barking. The stopping service of the London Underground District Line remained to serve intermediate stations. At the same time the Romford to Upminster section became physically disconnected from the rest of the line and the separation of the District Line and LTSR services was complete, although tickets continue to be fully interchangeable.

In 1974 a station was opened to serve the new town of Basildon and in 1986 the route was transferred to the Network SouthEast sector of British Rail. During this time the line began to suffer from crumbling infrastructure and limited investment despite its intensive passenger operations. The press picked up on this and it become widely known as the "misery line".

On privatisation, Prism Rail took over operations and marketed the route as LTS Rail. When Prism were bought out by National Express Group the line was rebranded as c2c and the route was given the investment needed to replace rolling stock with new Class 357 Electrostar units and upgrade the infrastructure of the route. In 1995 a station was built at Chafford Hundred to serve the new community there and Lakeside Shopping Centre and in 1999 platforms were constructed at West Ham to provide interchange with the Jubilee Line Extension.

[edit] Modernisation

During the early 1990s proposals were put forward to convert the whole line into a guided busway, however these plans were quickly dismissed when British Rail announced a complete re-signalling of the line. Over the years the LTS had been used in an almost experimental fashion and contained a whole host of different signalling systems (e.g. geographical, WESTPAC and relay interlockings). In 1995 work got underway to replace everything from signals, point machines to whole junctions.

The main contractor for the work was GEC Alsthom who provided a Mark 3 Solid State Interlocking (SSI) system with SEMA providing the IECC element. Main line running signals all became 4 aspect colour lights (replacing searchlight signals amongst others), all point machines were replaced with HW2000 machines and the whole line had a complete fibre optic network installed. All level crossings were renewed with full barriers to be CCTV controlled by a designated workstation at Upminster.

The main line between Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness was also bi-directionally signalled (with 3 aspect signalling) along most parts, with the bi-directional section alternating from one track to the other between certain stations, to provide maximum flexibility for continuing operations should disruption occur.

The line was re-born over the Easter weekend 1996 when all the signal boxes from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness were switched out and control was transferred to Upminster IECC. This was later followed over the 1996 August bank holiday when Upminster took control from the remaining boxes on the Tilbury Loop.

[edit] Ownership and management

Year	Ownership	Management
Pre-grouping and grouping
1854	Eastern Counties Railway, London and Blackwall Railway
1912	Midland Railway
1923	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Nationalisation
1948	British Rail
1949		Eastern Region
1986		Network SouthEast
Privatisation
1996	Railtrack	LTS Rail (Prism Rail)
2000		LTS Rail (National Express)
2002	Network Rail	c2c (National Express)

[edit] Boat trains

Historically, boat trains operated between St Pancras railway station and Tilbury Riverside railway station. These services reduced as Tilbury declined as a passenger terminal and Tilbury Riverside station finally closed in 1993. A ferry service to Gravesend continues to operate with train services from Fenchurch Street railway station and a bus service from Tilbury Town railway station timed to connect.

[edit] Route

[edit] Main line

Station	Borough	Zone
London Fenchurch Street	City of London	1
Limehouse	Tower Hamlets	2
West Ham	Newham	3
Barking	Barking & Dagenham	4
Upminster	Havering	6
West Horndon	Brentwood
Laindon	Basildon
Basildon	Basildon
Pitsea	Basildon
Benfleet	Castle Point
Leigh on Sea	Southend-on-Sea
Chalkwell	Southend-on-Sea
Westcliff	Southend-on-Sea
Southend Central	Southend-on-Sea
Southend East	Southend-on-Sea
Thorpe Bay	Southend-on-Sea
Shoeburyness	Southend-on-Sea

[edit] Barking to Pitsea via Rainham loop

Station	Borough	Zone
Barking	Barking & Dagenham	4
Dagenham Dock	Barking & Dagenham	5
Rainham	Havering	6
Purfleet	Thurrock
Grays	Thurrock
Tilbury Town	Thurrock
East Tilbury	Thurrock
Stanford-le-Hope	Thurrock
Pitsea	Basildon

[edit] Upminster to Grays branch

Station	Borough	Zone
Upminster	Havering	6
Ockendon	Thurrock
Chafford Hundred	Thurrock
Grays	Thurrock

[edit] Diversion

Trains can be diverted at Barking to call at Stratford and Liverpool Street, because of engineering work or other problems. Trains diverted at Barking, having passed Stratford, can also rejoin the main line before Limehouse (avoiding West Ham) and continue to Fenchurch Street. This diversionary route is less often used and consists of a short section of single track at Bow. Until May 2007, a limited regular evening service operated from Liverpool Street. As of May 2007, all through services now start and terminate at Fenchurch Street with two short shuttle services operating each weekday evening between Liverpool Street and Barking calling only at Stratford.^[2]

[edit] Preservation

Of the original LTS, 4-4-2T number 80 survives at Bressingham Steam Museum in Norfolk. An ex-LT&S BR Std (80079) is preserved on the Severn Valley Railway in Shropshire. Another ex LTS locomotive BR 42500 is the sole remaining member of the 36 3 cylinder 2-6-4 tank engines built by the LMS in the 1930s for the London Tilbury and Southend line. It is preserved in working order in LMS livery at the National Railway Museum in York.

[edit] References

1. ^ Network Rail - Route 6 North London Line and Thameside Business Plan (2006)
2. ^ c2c - Timetable changes from Sunday 20 May 2007. May 2007.

v • d • e Railway lines in the East of England: InterCity lines: East Coast Main Line • Great Eastern Main Line Main lines: Cambridge-King's Lynn "Fen" Line • Cambridge-Norwich "Breckland" Line • Colchester-Clacton "Sunshine Coast" Line • Ely-Peterborough Line • Hitchin-Cambridge Line • Ipswich-Ely Line • London, Tilbury & Southend Line • Manningtree-Harwich "Mayflower" Line • Thameslink • West Anglia Main Line Commuter lines: Chingford Branch Line • Hertford East Branch Line • Hertford Loop Line • Lea Valley Lines • Marston Vale Line • Northern City Line • Romford-Upminster Line • Shenfield-Southend Victoria Line • Witham-Braintree Line Rural lines: Cambridge-Ipswich Line • Crouch Valley Line • East Suffolk Line • Grantham-Skegness Line • Ipswich-Felixstowe Line • Marks Tey-Sudbury "Gainsborough" Line • Norwich-Sheringham "Bittern" Line • Peterborough-Lincoln Line • Thorpe le Soken-Walton "Sunshine Coast" Line • Norwich-Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft "Wherry" Lines • St Albans Branch Line