Ongar railway station
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| Ongar | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | Chipping Ongar |
| Local authority | Epping Forest (district) |
| History | |
| Opened by | Eastern Counties Railway |
| Platforms | 1 |
| Key dates | Opened 1865 (Central line) Closed 1994 (Central line) Reopened 2004 (EOR) Closed every winter |
Ongar tube station is a closed London Underground station in the town of Chipping Ongar, Essex. Until its closure in 1994, it was the easternmost point of the Central line and, from 1961 until its closure in 1994 it held the distinction of being the London Underground station furthest from Central London.[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
The station was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway on 24 April 1865,[2] serving principally as a goods station taking agricultural produce from the nearby farms into central London. On 29 September 1949, London Underground services took over the operation of the station from British Railways when services were extended from Loughton.[2]
Although the rest of the branch was electrified by London Underground before operations were taken over from British Railways, trains on the section north of Epping continued to be hauled by steam locomotives as a separate shuttle service. The service was operated with British Railways for the Underground until 1957, when the line was electrified. A shortage of power prevented the Epping to Ongar section being fully integrated into the line and it continued to operate as a shuttle service.[3]
The entire Epping to Ongar branch was a single track line with one passing place at North Weald station, although this loop was taken out of service in 1976. Before the loop was taken out of use, two trains were able to use the branch; however, these were limited to four cars in length because of limitation on the available traction current. The service decreased to one train after the southbound track at North Weald was lifted. It was therefore never suitable for heavy use, and the line was reportedly never profitable. For much of its latter years, the service only operated during Monday to Friday peak hours, and London Transport closed Blake Hall station, the least used on the entire system, in 1981. The line itself continued in use and there was a brief re-introduction of all day services in 1990. However, a system wide cost-cutting exercise saw the service return to peak hours soon afterwards, with an even more skeletal service than before. The line was under threat of closure for many years, and it was finally closed on 30 September 1994. The station and the line are now in the ownership of a private company, the Epping Ongar Railway Ltd, who, at time of purchase, publicly stated their intention to run commuter services once again, but the claimed lack of platform availability at London Underground's Epping station at the west end of the line has to date proven an insuperable obstacle to any commuter service provision. The Epping Ongar Railway Volunteer Rail Society run heritage trains on Sundays over the former Epping and Ongar line.
[edit] Future
The future of Ongar station is uncertain. Epping Forest District Council has had meetings over the possile future of the station they are as follows:
- A re-extension of the Central line from Epping via North Weald, if this happened the branch would be doubled tracked and would no-longer be a branch and all service which would normally terminate at Epping would now terminate at Ongar.
- A another version of the re-extension of the Central line, however this time the branch would remain single tracked and would remain a branch.
- A guided bus way from Epping Station to Ongar was to be a possibility but this has been dropped.
- A very long term proposal is that if the Chelsea-Hackney line (a planed new London Underground line) goes ahead and takes over the Epping branch of the Central line then a extension to Stansted Airport would be more possible as the new line would be able to handle demand, the extension would travel over the Epping-Ongar branch and then up to Stansted Airport via Harlow and Bishop's Stortford.
- To keep the branch as a heritage line. (This is unfavorable)
- To build the branch to National Rail standards and run between Epping and Ongar but there problems with platform availability at Epping as due to Central line demand from Epping had dramatically increased in the last 10 years and is still growing, the Central line now uses both platforms.
All these proposals are on the long term agenda list however Epping Forest Council have expressed that the branch will not remain at heritage line forever.
[edit] Online petition
On the 11 June 2008 a online petition to the government was launched to reopen Ongar and North Weald tube station. The deadline for signing up is December 11 2008. The petition is online at [1]
[edit] Other information
The sand drag at the very end of the rails — intended to help slow trains that overshot the stopping mark — was said to be home to a breed of harmless scorpion and featured in an episode of the BBC's Wildlife on One. However, this is now commonly believed to have been a hoax, initiated by the Station Foreman[citation needed] at the time.[4]
Although the station is no longer owned by London Underground, all distances on the network are still measured from Ongar.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Before 1961, the Metropolitan line's north-western terminus at Aylesbury was the most distant. After Ongar's closure, the most distant is the Metropolitan line's Chesham
- ^ a b Central Line, Dates. Clive's Underground Line Guides. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
- ^ Central Line, History. Clive's Underground Line Guides. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
- ^ Epping Ongar Railway History - Ongar station
- ^ Introduction - Kilometrage. Clive's Underground Line Guides. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
[edit] External links
- London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
- Epping Ongar Railway's official website
- Epping–Ongar Line (part 1)
- Epping–Ongar Line (part 2)
 Heritage railways |
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| North Weald | Epping Ongar Railway | Terminus | ||
| Disused Railways | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preceding station |  London Underground |
Following station | ||
|
towards Epping
|
Central line | Terminus | ||
|
towards Epping
|
Central line | |||
