Epping - Ongar 125 + Lament

In Spring 1990 a special event was held on the then London Underground Central line route between Epping and Ongar, celebrating it being 125 years since the Great Eastern Railway (GER) opened a single track line between Loughton and Ongar, and this film is based on the festivities.

Built by the Eastern Counties Railway trains first reached Loughton in 1858, and the Ongar extension opened in 1865. London Transport Central line electric trains reached Loughton in 1948, Epping in 1949 and Ongar in 1957. However mainline freight trains were only withdrawn when the freight yards were closed in 1966 and mainline diesel trains in the mid 1970's (by which time very few mainline trains were still using this route).




The train used on in the special event was a 3-car 1960 Tube Stock unit which had been painted in the original 1938 Tube livery of grey roof, red body, cream window pillars and gilt 'London transport' fleetnames & car numbers. It comprised of 2x 1960 Tube Stock Cravens' Driving Motors (DM) plus a single 1938 Tube Stock Trailer (T) which had been specially modified to work with these DM's.

Footage includes a cab ride, lineside views, views taken at all stations (Epping, North Weald, Blake Hall - which by then was closed - and Ongar), inside the signal box at North Weald (which still retained its original GER levers) and the more modern signal box at Epping, where several trains are seen moving along the illuminated route display.

Against a backdrop of the train travelling through empty green fields there is also a comment about some of the railway routes in London which around the same time as this line was electrified were closed, despite them serving densely populated areas which suffer from much traffic congestion and air pollution. This includes both former LNER routes serving Alexandra Palace area, plus more. Some of these routes were originally intended to become part of the Northern Line. Some people may remember how the 1941 advertising slogan on the electrification to Mill Hill East of more for you' soon became no more for you', with the rest of the route to Edgware never reopening.

Only space prevented mentioning more lines, such as both GWR Uxbridge branches, the Staines branches, (all of which could have formed the bases for outer suburban links with Heathrow Airport) the LNWR Stanmore branch, etc... and also making a direct contrast with the Romford - Upminster and Greenford branches, which are still open, and the Wimbledon - West Croydon branch which is now part of the Croydon Tramlink.

Also seen at Epping are trains of 1962 and 1992 Tube Stock - the latter in 1994, a few months before the line closed. Oh and the local Parliamentary representative - who was also a Government Transport Minister - also gets a mention, it is almost unheard of that an MP would support the closure of a railway in his / her own constituency, but having done so rather than face his electorate again the Rt. Hon. Steve Norris retired from Parliament at the next general election.

Nowadays the line is owned by the 'Epping Ongar Railway' who would be delighted to welcome you at their website @ http://www.eorailway.co.uk/

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Ongar
• Epping
• Blake
• Hall
• North
• Weald
• railway
• train
• tube
• underground
• London
• subway
• Craven
• 1960
• stock
• EOR
• metro

[OldPrawnFace]

That red writing ruins the video.

[citytransportinfo]

@OldPrawnFace

Normally I use white but for this video decided upon 'Central Line red'.

I am sorry that you feel that way about it.

Simon

[OldPrawnFace]

@citytransportinfo It has nothing to do with the colour of the writing. The writing is just so big and clumsy that it obscures half the content for large sections of the video. Information such as this belongs in the footnotes, or in the case if youtube, in the description.

[citytransportinfo]

@OldPrawnFace I did try to highlight some features which almost certainly would have otherwise been missed, as I wonder how many people read the footnotes

I was concerned that a small font would not be readable - especially if the video was not watched full screen.

Simon

[kav816]

I went on this one,

yes in spring 1990.

i wore a yellow shirt, at that time.

there was a poster, that had a steam train, with a tube train beside it

[citytransportinfo]

@kav816

Did I film you?

[sct353]

This is great to see. I was on the red train that day going to Ongar and it was truly a memorable occasion. The train back to Epping was packed like the rush hour. I still have the photos I took that day somewhere. Just been walking near North Weald today and have seen the excellent restoration taking place there and harking back to 1973 when I first travelled on a 1962 stock train to Ongar in the days when an 11 year old could do such things on their own. Happy memories.

[rice3y]

the problem with ongar being closed is that when it shut down the reason given was nobody used it,which was true now though this whole area has been built right up and we totally need it to be running again something the powers that be seem to not understand,,thankfully though there are a group of individuals that are working solidly to restore some sort of service..

[rice3y]

@shyboyangelus nope its still there,,obviously after it was decommissioned in (i think) 1994 the electricity was turned off,, and despite petitions to get it reconnected and reopened (something tfl/whomever decided against) there are a group of people that are currently restoring the station and tracks as a steam railway...google EOR ~epping/ongar railway and you can see whats going on..sorry its vague but the info is on their website...hope this helps

[carl2017]

Oh no it doesn't. It's not that bad.

[shyboyangelus]

whats happening at ongar now?? , the tracks been bulldozed , is this the end???

[f1baker]

was the shot of the train at 5:56 filmed from the level crossing?

[bernie5470]

Excellent Video. Well filmed and informative. The minimal red writing did not bother me at all.

Don't listen to Old Prawn Face. Anoraks like him should get a life!

[hihat101]

@PESTinUK ok,  still its nice film footage anyway!

[PESTinUK]

@hihat101

I'm not sure that the one I have has even been made public.

It was made around 1980 by a driver called Bostock, and features a mixture of driver's eye views and distance filming across fields etc. I was given it by another driver.

[hihat101]

@PESTinUK would that be the video 125 central drivers eye view ?