Blake Hall | |
---|---|
Location | Greensted |
Local authority | Epping Forest |
Owner | Great Eastern Railway |
Number of platforms | 1 |
Key dates | |
24 April 1865 | Opened |
2 November 1981 | Closed |
Replaced by | None |
Other information | |
Coordinates | 51°42′43″N0°12′11″E / 51.7120213°N 0.2030285°E |
London transportportal |
Blake Hall is a disused former station on the London Underground in the civil parish of Stanford Rivers, and south from the village of Bobbingworth in Essex. It was latterly on the Central line, between North Weald and Ongar, but was originally served by the Epping to Ongar shuttle service branch line. [1] [2]
It was opened in 1865 and named after Blake Hall, a country house located a mile or so to the northeast and inhabited by the Capel-Cure family of substantial local land-owners. The station was closed in 1981.
Blake Hall station was opened by the Great Eastern Railway on 24 April 1865, [3] serving principally as a goods yard carrying agricultural produce from the nearby farms into London. [4] Steam locomotives operated by British Railways for the Underground ran a shuttle service from Epping to Ongar, stopping at Blake Hall, from 1949 until 1957, when the line was electrified and taken over by the Underground's Central line. [5] On 18 April 1966 the goods yard was closed and Blake Hall became a dedicated passenger station. On 17 October 1966, Sunday services were withdrawn. [6]
Blake Hall became reputed as the least-used station on the entire Underground network [ citation needed ]. Fare subsidies provided on the rest of the system were not provided on this part of the line because local government agencies for Essex and London failed to agree on their respective public transport responsibilities, and Blake Hall station was located a considerable distance from any substantial settlement. By the time the last train ran on 31 October 1981, [7] the station was reported to have only 17 passengers per day. It was permanently closed on 2 November 1981. [8] The Epping to Ongar branch line was closed 13 years later, on 30 September 1994. [9]
Blake Hall's station building has since been converted into a private home [2] and the line passing the station site is now privately owned and operated as a heritage railway by the Epping Ongar Railway. The platform was demolished after closure and reinstated in May 2012 but this is for aesthetic purposes only, and the station remains closed. [10] Additionally, the rebuilt platforms are much shorter in length than they originally were. [11]
The Central line is a London Underground line that runs through central London, from Epping, Essex, in the north-east to Ealing Broadway and West Ruislip in west London. Printed in red on the Tube map, the line serves 49 stations over 46 miles (74 km), making it the longest line on the Underground. It is one of only two lines on the Underground network to cross the Greater London boundary, the other being the Metropolitan line. One of London's deep-level railways traversing narrow tunnels, Central line trains are smaller than those on British main lines.
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North Weald railway station is on the Epping Ongar Railway, a heritage railway, located in North Weald, Essex.
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The Epping Ongar Railway is a heritage railway in south-west Essex, England, run by a small number of paid staff and a team of volunteers. It was the final section of the Great Eastern Railway branch line, later the London Underground's Central line from Loughton via Epping to Ongar, with intermediate stations at North Weald and Blake Hall. The line was closed by London Underground in 1994 and sold in 1998. It reopened between 2004 and 2007 as a preserved railway, offering a volunteer-run Class 117 DMU service between Ongar and Coopersale. A change of ownership in 2007 led to the line being closed for restoration to a heritage steam railway, which opened on 25 May 2012.
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Cranley Gardens railway station was a station in the Muswell Hill area of north London. It was located between Highgate and Muswell Hill stations, at the junction of Muswell Hill Road and Cranley Gardens. Nothing remains of the station today and its site is now occupied by housing and a school. In the 1930s, plans were made to electrify the line and transfer the mainline service to London Underground's Northern line, but these were abandoned after the Second World War. The station closed for passengers in 1954 and for goods in 1957.
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Historical railways | ||||
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North Weald Line and station open | Great Eastern Railway Loughton-Ongar | Ongar Line and station open | ||
Preceding station | London Underground | Following station | ||
North Weald towards Epping | Central line Epping-Ongar branch | Ongar Terminus |