The Ups and Downs of the East London Line

From failed road tunnel to Overground, the tale of a lonely little line in the east.
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/jagohazzard
Patreon: / jagohazzard

[@shrikelet]

It's nice when a railway story has an ending that isn't "and today it is a bicycle path."

[@williamplatt1680]

Yes, better than another cycle-path.

[@Laurabeck329]

@@williamplatt1680 perheps a particularly twisted one?

[@blahqwe]

​@@williamplatt1680 Welcome to the future of cities William.

[@user-jt1jv8vl9r]

Better a cycle path that retains the old bridges and victorian buildings, (Google the Flitch Green: Bishop's Stortford to Braintree), than a housing estate. At least there is always the option to reinstate one day.

[@richardsawyer5428]

See my comment above.

[@General_Confusion]

We all just need a little love to make us what we are supposed to be.

[@dangerousandy]

Usually, railway tunnels end up being used as walkways/cycle-tracks after they’re abandoned. This is the exact opposite. A foot tunnel that is now used for a railway.

[@namenamename390]

Whitechapel station today is hilariously confusing. Underground trains run over Overground trains and Overground trains run under underground trains.

[@luxford60]

And it's still clear from the street that there were once two entirely separate stations with adjacent buildings. Also true of some of the District Line stations further west where they meet the Piccadilly Line of course.

[@chrimbo90]

Wombling free

[@JagoHazzard]

I want to cover the station in more detail - unfortunately, it’s hidden while Crossrail does its thing.

[@eattherich9215]

There is similar nonsense at Canada Water where you are invited to go down from the Jubilee line for the Overground.

[@Eliteerin]

@@eattherich9215 or canning town where you end up having to go up to go one way or down for the other

[@paulsengupta971]

When I was in university there in the late '80s, the East London Line was fantastic. It had all the old trains on it, complete with maps. It was like a time capsule. I really liked going on it, though watching the water running down the walls was a bit iffy.

[@bertspeggly4428]

I went on it a few times in the late fifties when we used to go exploring the docks. It was positively Dickensian, and as you say the water dripping down the walls at Wapping was quite spooky. I may have it wrong but i seem to remember the station at Shadwell as nothing more than a tin shack.

[@RobinHullBuilds]

My favourite memory on the East London line was an announcement by the driver one Sunday morning on my way to Shoreditch: “Great news! London Transport has approved the use of footstools on the East London Line. But, until they’re delivered, please remember to keep your feet off the seats!”

[@fetchstixRHD]

If I worked in transport, I would steal that bar and write it on one of the service information boards, in place of those inspirational messages haha

[@CaptainCalculus]

Wow Jago, you're pumping them out like sausages this week!

[@MercenaryPen]

just don't ask for the ingredients

[@JagoHazzard]

Thanks!

[@highpath4776]

@@MercenaryPen Some re-heated contents I think

[@JoseMorales-lw5nt]

#CaptainCalculus: Good to see TINTIN getting some love in the form of your profile picture! Always loved the animated series from HBO. That was my 1st introduction to the world of TinTin.😎🇵🇷🇺🇸📽🗽🦂

[@PlanetoftheDeaf]

A major controversy in the 1990s was London Underground's plan to repair and leakproof the tunnel by covering the inside with concrete, thus hiding the original brickwork completely. This eventually happened, but a section was left untreated at one end so that a section of the brickwork could still be seen

[@TheInselaffen]

The East London line is very much like Jago's channel; beer reviews failed, model railways failed, but given a little time and love he has found his feet. And hopefully he will see many more years of service.

[@highpath4776]

The model railways have a quaintness of their own.

[@skiesboi]

I have a friend living in Wapping, and used the overground regularly. It's an amazing line.

[@edwardoleyba3075]

Used to be my home station when I lived there in the 90’s. Just a few minutes walk away or, if it was a nice day, I’d take the longer walk up to Shadwell.

[@BarryAllenMagic]

East London Line! 😍 Oh you absolute LEGEND young Hazzard! 👍

[@Peasmouldia]

Access to South London wouldn't have been a high priority for the residents of the East end... Tera incognita... "There be dragons!!". Thanks JH.

[@michaeljames4904]

ikr? So short-sighted. Particularly wiping that spur to Liverpool Street, given how much Cockney “barrow boy” types would come to dominate City staffing in the late 70s, through the 80s and 90s -before being replaced by college drones managing Excel spreadsheets. Would’ve been an ideal commuter route. I wonder how much the decision to decouple the mainline connections into the southern counties, at New Cross and New Cross Gate, was the result of East Enders no longer taking their summer holidays working in the fields picking hops. The only vacations they’d ever got for generations.

[@Peasmouldia]

@@michaeljames4904 Believe it or not, "Hopping" was still a thing in my youth. Most went by coach from the East End. People in my street still kept a hopping pot hanging from the back wall, used to prepare communal meals. The accomodation hadn't improved even in the late sixties. Corrugated iron huts mostly. So, in fact, I did know what the Elephant and castle was, and had actually seen the Old Kent Road by the time I was 5 years old! Ta.

[@michaeljames4904]

@@terrymurphy2032 ...when all was right with the world

[@grahambridge7642]

St Mary's curve initially closed to passenger traffic only. It stayed open for stock transfers to/from Neasden until the line was taken over by London Overground.

[@tuckwatsellers]

And football specials for Millwall.

[@michaeljames4904]

Oh superb. I’ve always peered desperately outside the window whenever running through Rotherhithe/Wapping, to try and catch some glimpse of the Brunels great achievement _(Brunel, de la Billiére, Farage... those Huguenot families and their disproportionate effect on English life, eh?)..._ coming hot on the heels of the last episode this is the ideal coda.

[@aliendon73]

The St. Mary's curve may have been closed to passenger traffic, but the tracks were not removed completely until 2006. It was a loop used for engineering train and rolling stock, as a way to get trains onto the East London line. I have walked this section many times over the years I had worked on the underground and I have even been inside the disued St. Mary's station.

[@CaseysTrains]

It seems like every corner on this channel I turn, I always run into Watkin and Forbes having a slap fight with each other.

[@highpath4776]

Imagine if they had co-operated what a difference the network would have.

[@JagoHazzard]

And I’ve barely even touched on their antics outside London.

[@iankemp1131]

We ended up with lots of duplicate lines all over the South East. But the curious thing is that a lot of them are rather useful nowadays. It was said that the Southern Railway had several hundred different possible route combinations from London to Dover - very useful in WW2 if bombs blocked the line. Now they mainly carry commuters. Even the ridiculous SER Chatham Central branch (closed 1911) has a legacy - the new bridge they built over the Medway now carries the traffic from the original LCDR line. And the LCDR foundations now carry the road bridge.

[@caileanshields4545]

2:37 They may officially be classified as A1s (no relation to THOSE A1s) & most may refer to them as Terriers, but my inner child will always react the same way when I see one: 'Stepney!' Good timing with this as ever cracking vid, Jago; finally got around to watching the Thames Tunnel vid last night lol

[@highpath4776]

I have done a small amount of work on Sutton's motion.

[@johnlewis9158]

Years ago the best way to get from south of the river to Stepney was through the Rotherhithe tunnel on the 82 bus. Later on with the demise of the 82 we poor unfortunates who were sent to devils island AKA Tilbury had to hitch a lift through the tunnel every day to catch a train from Stepney east to Tilbury

[@michaeljames4904]

3:13 During the period discussed, the charitable Victorian educational establishment for destitute boys, pictured, _immediately to the right of Whitechapel station (red brick, gothic lintels),_ is where the Coroner’s Inquests for the “Jack the Ripper” murders took place.

[@Nosregni]

Just behind Whitechapel station, where the new entrance will be, is where the Ripper killed his first ever victim!

[@bobfountain2959]

There’s a thought a Jago video with his own inimitable take on Jack the Ripper.

[@andyjay729]

@@bobfountain2959 Yeah, I'd like to see his theory on Jack's identity.

[@iankemp1131]

@@andyjay729 It was the train driver! The location is a dead giveaway.

[@starrgazer1000]

I used this line in the 1970's a lot at week-ends as I used to work as a pianist in the New Cross Inn. The trains were of very old stock on that line and they were almost square in design. At Wapping water leaked in and one could always hear and visibly see the trickle of water through the wall at the far end of the platform from the Thames. For over 90 years it was pumped out with an electric pump. It could have been plugged but it was thought that if it was then pressure would build up and more water would cascade into the station with catastrophic results.The line had a poor service and trains irregular. It also had a very spooky feel when travelling on that section of line. There was always a smell of extreme dampness, dank and even sea weed. I read some years ago on the history of Whitechapel that dead bodies were transported by special train from St Mary's Hospital late at night. If Jago could elaborate on that then that would be interesting and with his vast and enthusiastic knowledge he could offer an opinion. Peter London UK

[@EssexWolf1993]

What I would say though is that the line did have a sort of spooky and atmospheric character to it, when it was part of the Tube. 1938 tube stock even ran on the line for a couple of years in the mid 1970s! D78 stock also ran the service from 1985-87, while the A60/62 stock trains were being converted to One person operation.

[@simonwinter8839]

I remember riding on it as a child and 1926 stock was on it.

[@sheltie777]

I agree with this comment. I used to go to Goldsmith's College at New Cross from 1975 to 1977, and the trains on this line looked so squat and unusual compared to those on most other lines. At the time I wondered if the tunnels were too low to allow anything larger to run, but I now see that this was not the case. Anyway, thanks JH for a simply Wapping tale.

[@coastaku1954]

I'm absolutely fascinated with this line for the sole reason that it was once a full on Underground line all the way up till 2007!

[@RogersRamblings]

Standing on the original Shoreditch platform and looking past the stop blocks one could see trains heading into and out of Liverpool Street on the GE main line. In some ways a pity the connection wasn't reinstated.

[@crayzmarc]

No Old Kent Road footage? Criminal 🤣🤣🤣 Really liked this one having travelled on the East London Line circa 2005 and thinking then what a strange little line it was. It was good to have clarification of when it actually closed and had searched for this in other KZbin videos and didn't find a clear answer. Thanks for all your work and the tremendously good job you do. Your cockney tale could of done with some rhyming slang. 🙏❤️

[@highpath4776]

An 'Isolated Oddity' and 'The Poor Relation ' 'Turned Orange'. Are you describing my life again?

[@andyknott8148]

Always wondered where the name "Terrier" came from, just thought small and tenacious, now I know.

[@frglee]

They make a barking puffing sound under load. As they still work on the Bluebell, Kent & East Sussex and Isle of Wight heritage lines you can hear this for yourself.

[@highpath4776]

@@frglee changed a bit when they had the air pumps fitted ?

[@chrimbo90]

A week earlier and you could’ve made a passable link with the line returning from the dead 😉 The East(er) London Line I’m here all week

[@simonwinter8839]

Chris Hart. You could be in serious need of Christian aid. I also am here all week and so alone!!

[@highpath4776]

@@simonwinter8839 I'm here, all weak.

[@simonwinter8839]

@@highpath4776 weak,got it !!

[@1963TOMB]

The East London Line was the first underground line to get the current London Underground wide radio system operational: each line had its own system prior to this. Six months after getting it all working it became part of London Overground!!!! Still have good memories of hopping on and off the trains in the middle of the night switching between old and (then) new radio units in New Cross Depot during trials.

[@fetchstixRHD]

Interesting that, seeing as it was known they’d close it, is there a reason why they bothered with the replacement radio system? There’s probably a perfectly sensible reason I’m missing(!)

[@1963TOMB]

@@fetchstixRHD I think it was contractual: can't get paid if the job is not done! i.e. when the contract was drawn up it was not known the the East London Line would become part of London Overground. It was also thought that a short line such as the ELL would be a good test bed prior to commissioning the other lines - the Waterloo and City line was not considered for trials due to the complexity of the system in respect to other lines at Waterloo and Bank.

[@EthanAfro707]

5 things to love about Jago Hazzard: 1. Informative 2. Trains 3. Not always Tube in "Tales from the Tube" 4. Can't seem to take a breath 5. Dad puns You're great. How did i not find out about your channel just 3 months ago??

[@dodgydruid]

My late father started his rail career at North Kent Jnc, on the night of the disaster he ran all the way down the line as all signalboxes were turned to red and power cut off one of the first few arrivals at the destruction there, he very nearly quit BR after all that chaos and never got any support from BR other than some time off "to recover" but to be fair when he mentally broke down in the sixties they were pretty understanding and when he was able to work they moved him out of London to Sole St box where he worked the boxes up and down the Kent lines til the late 70's where he got D grade relief at Elmers End and back to London we went lol

[@MrGreatplum]

So that’s why they are called Terriers! Great video; I worked in London briefly in the mid 2000s and on my daily commute watched the work at new cross for the overground - I must take a trip on it at some point

[@AndrewG1989]

If London Broad Street still exist then the East London Line would of had a spur from Hoxton and Shoreditch with a elevated viaduct being built then dive down to terminate at Broad Street. And the East London Line should extend one stop south from Norwood Junction to East Croydon. And a new Overground station in Millwall called New Bermondsey which the line goes over Surrey Canal Road and is called South London Line to Clapham Junction. And would of had a terminus at Surrey Quays.

[@highpath4776]

The ELL should run through Crystal Palace to Clapham Junction, then via the flyunders to the WLL.

[@AndrewG1989]

@@highpath4776 True.

[@fenlinescouser3898]

@@highpath4776 OK Your trains can run that way but dibs mine go Peckham Rye, Clapham Junction, Barnes, Key Bridge, Brentford and Southall. I've had my orange crayon out and coloured in the route. From Southall? Express to Mornington Crescent of course.

[@AndrewG1989]

Indeed

[@saintofselhurst]

Love a Jago video!

[@stevejones3635]

Thank you for that Jago - I remember waiting at Wapping station on many a cold morning to go to school and eventually to work throughout the late 70s and early 90's. It was very run down and damp and all you heard was the sound of running water, which often convinced us that the Thames was about to pour in as any moment. I recall they had two lifts, which it still does, but were manually operated by a member of staff, so usually only one of lifts were in action. We would often race the lift by using the stairs (we were a lot younger and fitter then!) There was no dot matrix next train board and there was a sense of excitement when you could see the lights of the train at Rotherhithe station. It was the life line for people of Wapping at time with just one very sporadic bus service in and off the island, long before it became a "lovely" place to live.

[@susiewickham9990]

Do you remember when the east London line had old metropolitan line trains running on it. I used to use the line to get to the old Shoreditch station where I was living at the time. Sweet memori3s 🥰

[@paulsengupta971]

They even had the old maps in them.

[@1anhunter1]

It is an art to be able to tell the story of the East London line in 7 minutes. Well done, Jago.

[@ianmoseley9910]

I used to use the old Shoreditch station in the 1970s - past the buffers you could still see the lines going towards Liverpool Street. Someone told me that that that link was used for troop trains in WW2. I also got to walk through the tunnel during the conversion to Overground standards.

[@frglee]

I remember the East London Line back in the 70s using old deep tube stock trains but with only 4 or 5 (?) coaches. I can also remember it seeming very run down then, almost semi-derelict and dirty with some long gaps in services at the two southern termini.

[@BarryAllenMagic]

Ahhhhh......those beautiful 1938 red stock trains. You had to jump down into them at Shadwell as the platform was so high!

[@channelsixtysix066]

Jago, the warmer weather is coming. You know what that means.... yes that's right, legs.

[@blenderfox]

I remember studying at Mile End and sometimes changing trains a Whitechapel (District/H+C) for almost the entire time I was studying there (4 years), the East London Line Platforms (Overground hadn't come round yet) were sealed off. They opened briefly, then closed again.

[@paulsengupta971]

Another ex-Queen Mary student? :-)

[@blenderfox]

@@paulsengupta971 Yep :)

[@denisoleary5302]

Hi Jago, by coincidece I was there today. Rotherithe to Wapping. I think they should light that section so the public could see it.

[@DarrenBates]

Are you a teacher Jago? That "failed... failed... kinda failed" at the end reminded me of what a teacher would say to me!

[@simonwinter8839]

Darren Bates. Jago may or not be a teacher but your teacher recognised that you were a failure and like the previous respondent I will also see myself out.

[@DarrenBates]

@@simonwinter8839 it was a joke!

[@simonwinter8839]

@@DarrenBates My response was also a joke but clearly I'm a failure of a comedian.

[@andrewgwilliam4831]

This thread is clearly a failure all round. See me afterwards.

[@LondonAndy70]

Great video. I managed to walk through the tunnel when it was closed for engineering works many years ago - a once in a lifetime experience!

[@hyperdistortion2]

You might say the Thames Tunnel was a Wapping achievement? ... I’ll see myself out. Great second part to the previous video!

[@jaakkomantyjarvi7515]

I think the phrase you're looking for is "I'll get me coat".

[@hairyairey]

@@jaakkomantyjarvi7515 Maybe I'll get my (tunnelling) shield?"

[@makkari1]

@@jaakkomantyjarvi7515 I know someone whose jokes are so bad he just says, "Coat!"

[@WilliamHBaird-eq2hp]

Another Cool episode Jago!

[@imstuman]

I saw Shadwell on the map and I automatically said it with a Welsh accent.

[@simonwinter8839]

imstuman. Yes lots of people (apparently) mistake an Asian accent for Welsh. It's just a joke ,no racism intended.

[@Nosregni]

@imstuman Absolutely

[@IanTindale]

Shadwell, they said - go for it! I went for it. It had gone.

[@fenlinescouser3898]

But then I always imagine Bedwyn to be in the Welsh valleys.

[@AtheistOrphan]

@@IanTindale - I remember Siadwell, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿but what was the programme?

[@robertweissman4850]

Jago - Excellent video ~ all of the expected wisdom, wit, words and wonderful illustrations! This one reminded me of how, decades ago, when the East London line was a neglected sad thing, I was with a fellow railway enthusiast pal at Rotherhithe. A north-bound train stopped, and the motorman flung open his door, saying “I know you’re a couple of railway nutters, so jump in!” And so we rode in his cab under the Thames to Wapping! Some memories stay with you.

[@jovanweismiller7114]

Good Morning, Jago!

[@Lasko395]

Drove over this rail network from 2011 to 2016 and can say its an extremely interesting and historical railway. Great video

[@BexEdmondson]

oh so THAT'S what that is!! I live about a minute's walk away from the smoke vent at 2:53 and I've always wondered my the overground needed special vents!

[@paultidd9332]

Thank you for producing the sequel so quickly. I have for many years been a regular traveler to Hoxton (a new railway station) and you also answer here why Shoreditch was moved. I have more recently travelled to Surrey Quays a few times, through said tunnel, on my visits to London. So this is nicely putting the jigsaw puzzle of the railway infrastructure within in this area together for me - thank you 🙏

[@highpath4776]

Shoreditch High Street would have been in the wrong place for connection to the North London Route, alas.

[@Meagain921]

I find that your historical vids are endlessly fascinating. Thank you.

[@TheShadman47]

The good old Old Metropolitan Line. I remember it well from when I travelled from our school sports ground in Grove Park to home: Grove Park to New Cross, New Cross to Whitechapel and Whitechapel to Upney. Thanks for posting.

[@GeorgeChoy]

The rise, fall and rise again of the East London line.

[@brianartillery]

I do love that you can still see the portals, and a good way into Brunel's original tunnel from the end of the platforms at Wapping Station.

[@fratercontenduntocculta8161]

I love how all these videos connect together just like stations on a map.

[@mattegan3439]

Glad you managed to get the optical illusion of trains pulling in on the north bound platform at Wapping. It looks like the train is descending into the station.

[@RS-pb2se]

Yep the East London Line has amazingly been successfully in recent years. Pity the London Overground train repaints are ghastly.

[@highpath4776]

What colour should they be. I thought the black window frames had some kind of meaning - or less washing than the white ones !

[@armorer94]

Always amusing. Thanks again.

[@JamesCampbellPhD]

The overground is a very useful line(s). Have you considered checking out the abandoned tunnel in Sydenham Hill woods? It was for one of the lines that ran to Crystal Palace

[@markellis6413]

This line really is a case of what comes around goes around. Trains from both Addiscombe and Croydon used to run over it to Liverpool Street. Now trains from Croydon use it again... If BML2/Thameslink 2 ever come to pass, I wonder what effect they may have on the ELL..

[@strongislanduk]

The Terrier train photo is from East Southsea branch line! I've got quite a collection of photos, maps and more.

[@divarachelenvy]

ups and downs indeed..

[@bjmorley]

I didn't even realise that's where A1/A1Xs got their name from! I always presumed it was cos they were small and reliable!

[@2H80vids]

It took a while but the East London Line is finally doing what it was built to do. As usual; give folks a decent train service and they will use it.👍👌😁

[@lawrencegt2229]

The origins of the London Underground, the rivalries, failed projects explosions etc. would make a great Sunday evening BBC drama - an Onedin line with wheels instead of waves, if you will. Cheerio.

[@nlemecfc]

Excellent story, a line I've always been fascinated by from a distance, to join up the dots and cross the t(hame)s was very welcome.

[@katehumm1]

I studied at Goldsmiths between 2003-2006 so used the as-then East London Line (tube) frequently. I recall it being ramshackle and falling apart - the trackwork was in such poor condition I remember one of my friends actually being thrown out of his bouncy A-stock seat straight onto the floor! When I visited after the Overground had taken over it was like night and day. Nice track, nice trains, and fantastically refurbished stations. It certainly lost its character though - ticket gates had replaced the hawkers selling used travelcards at New X Gate (damn!) and Shadwell station no longer seemed like a place where you could be stabbed at any moment.

[@mike_ctid_taylor]

Same for me but from 1984-87

[@shaunwest3612]

Great video jago, very interesting, loving the old photos, great it's found some use😀👌👍

[@DaraM73]

I worked on the line up to Newcross when it was derelict and being refurbished in the ‘90’s. Tough graft.

[@Bungle2010]

Derelict? What....?

[@terezar880]

Such a wholesome ending, I definitely need more of those these days (and a bit of love too, let's be real)

[@ricktownend9144]

Another great video - again, just shows what a great asset the Overground has become for London. BTW, lovely pic of the F-stock at 4:46 - I never saw them on the line (though there was a period when it was run by G/H/K clerestory stock). F-stock were an intriguing mix of art deco elegance, and austerity - shame no one thought of preserving a unit. They'd make a good subject for a video - except that I don't think anyone filmed ever them!

[@biglads4tw]

I remember using it a few times in the late 80s. It was rather different then.

[@DBIVUK]

There was also the massive controversy in the 1990s over 'shotcreting' the Thames Tunnel to make it stronger, and the 1995-98 closure of the line while it was done.

[@y2keef]

I'm starting to think you are more into DPD vans than trains these days, enjoy playing spot the van in your videos!

[@JagoHazzard]

They’re after me!

[@izzieb]

@@JagoHazzard They've been trying to deliver a package to you for 4 years now Jago. Just accept it and let their suffering end!

[@andrewgwilliam4831]

Damned subliminal advertising. 😡

[@peteryoung4957]

Good news that the tunnel turned out to be a great success in the end. Another great video.

[@JagoHazzard]

Thanks!

[@UTubeThePatient]

Even before its renaissance, I loved it and the fact that it had proper tall stock (like the cut-and-cover lines) and not habitually overcrowded.

[@nutsnproud6932]

One of the terriers, "Stepney" is on the Bluebell Railway, Sussex County, UK.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

And now you know why a locomotive from a railway south of the Thames is named after a place north of the river.

[@JagoHazzard]

As is Fenchurch.

[@highpath4776]

@@JagoHazzard Sutton I think is at Spa Valley. K&SER should have one too.

[@theeastendwanderer8277]

Great video :) I always refer to this part of the overground as the "party line" due to it linking two nightlife centres, Shoreditch and New Cross. You alway meet interesting people on this section of the Overground.

[@seanmurphy5770]

The reason you do not have any footage of the 'Old Kent Road Station' is because it was demolished in 2002,however you can still the location with the original arches under the bridge/viaduct on the New Cross Road/Old Kent Road at number 866.

[@stevesalvage1089]

Surprising there are many cut off spurs and connections , great information here ! Thanks jago !

[@mudslide-md2uz]

In the early 90s when I first worked on The London Under Ground, I installed a lot of cable post between Surrey Quays and New Cross with S&E. Later years , maintain tunnel telephone line.

[@geoffreyhansen8543]

Interesting video Jago!

[@jdcreswell440]

very good today

[@andyh444]

I used to live in Wapping when they were working on the line in the late 90s. At the time it was easier for work to walk to Shadwell DLR and go to Tower Gateway or Bank, depending on the job at the time. Very convenient, but I didn't really use the East London line until I moved to Surrey Quays. Lots of fond memories 😊

[@cmw3737]

The Jubilee link at Canada Water seemed like the breath of new life it needed

[@robertkemp9023]

What a great story. Looking forward to giving it a try, inspired by your video.

[@kieran770]

I don't live in London nor do I have a clue what you're talking about but I'm addicted to you channel 😂

[@hartstukken]

Damn this train line and me have more in common than me and my parents

[@rob4b]

I used the Silverlink from Hackney to Silver town when it closed it only went to Stratford. I never understood why this closed it was such a convenient line and I remember seeing passenger numbers starting to grow.

[@roberthill6216]

To become part of crossrail, I think.

[@rob4b]

@@roberthill6216 Crossrail, well they could have easily integrated the line and upgraded it. The last leg of the line had lots of interchanges. Someone told me they ripped up what was left of the line from Stratford to North Woolwich just 10 years ago surely not but what do I know.

[@roberthill6216]

@@rob4b I think part of the route is used by the DLR, but, Jago would be the man to ask about that! I live in Blackpool, but, have a keen interest in railways. I'm actually looking forward to crossrail opening, as I would like to go through the tunnel at one of the dock entrances, not 100% sure of it's name, but, it is near to customs house. I think....

[@iankemp1131]

It was taken over by the Docklands Light Railway. That enabled them to run direct services from London and extend under the river from North Woolwich to Woolwich Arsenal. The frequency is much better than the old BR service. You can still travel from Stratford to North Woolwich but it often requires a change at Canning Town. Some parts of the old line have been bypassed, e.g. to get closer to London City Airport.

[@antonydicesare4632]

Top class again jago

[@nmpls]

When i went to Goldsmiths I used the East London Line quite a bit (it was still a tube line, not over ground then); however, in many cases it turned out to be faster to just catch a train to London Bridge than use the east london line.

[@BibtheBoulder]

Sounds like your average marriage: "For so long it was a failure until it was given a little love".....

[@Jules_Diplopia]

Fascinating.

[@mister19stick]

splendid.

[@elizabethspedding1975]

Thanks, that was very interesting.🚆

[@harryturner8701]

That ending was quite sweet 😭😭😭

[@iankemp1131]

If the Rev. W. Awdry were writing this he'd say, "Then you'll become a Really Useful Railway". To me, the Overground circle is a triumph for the planners; not only does it carry several million passengers a day, it keeps them out of overcrowded central London lines and stations. The West London likewise has finally achieved its purpose. Just think how crowded the tubes would be without the Overground and Thameslink. All we need now is Crossrail ...

[@AnnabelSmyth]

The line was closed for several years in the 1980s or 1990s, not sure which, as the tunnel needed urgent work and of course was not getting priority funding. There was talk that it would never reopen.... but it did!

[@davidbosher8377]

Until 1981, this was never known as the GOBLIN, it was the Kentish Town to Barking line until trains were diverted in that year from Junction Road junction to Gospel Oak along a line that had originally closed in 1925, not 1926 and for which a new bay platform had to be built at Gospel Oak station. This section of line originally supported a service from Gospel Oak to Chingford, travelling via South Tottenham, then the original section of the Tottenham & Hampstead Junction line to the Lea Valley line (which also formed part of the Palace Gates to North Woolwich service until 1963) and then via the Coppermill spur onto the Chingford line. Further east, Woodgrange Park to Barking did not open in 1894 with the rest of the Tottenham & Forest Gate Railway, this section was opened from Forest Gate junction on the GER main line to Tilbury in 1854 with the first stage of what became the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway although 1894 was the year Woodgrange Park station opened after the TFGR had made its connection there. GER trains continued to provide a shuttle service from Liverpool Street to Barking until 1918, which is rather remarkable in surviving the First World War only to be discontinued at the end of it. However, the connection between Forest Gate junction and Woodgrange Park, while still much used for freight to and from Thames Gateway, is occasionally used by diverted C2C trains at Barking from Fenchurch Street to Liverpool Street, late at night and sometimes at weekends when necessary and at those times these diverted trains also serve Stratford (but not Woodgrange Park), giving a fast direct service between Barking and Stratford which at most other times is not available (and is also a lot quicker than the bus between those places). Back at the western end, there was talk several years ago of reopening Junction Road station with a new pedestrian subway connection to the nearby Tufnell Park station on the LU Northern Line but that was discarded almost at the same time as it was proposed. With new housing in the vicinity of Junction Road and at Hornsey Road and St. Anns Road too, these stations would be ripe for reopening now. The entrance to St. Anns Road actually stood on Seven Sisters Road and was a newsagents for very many years and was only demolished a few years ago. I can remember riding on this line in the 1960s, the eastern stretch is the most interesting with lots of underbridges betwen Blackhorse Road and Walthamstow Queen's Road (or plain Walthamstow as it then was) and then the dramatic incline east from Walthamstow that lifts the line from basement level up to the long viaduct of 386 arches that takes the line through Leyton Midland Road, Leytonstone High Road and Wanstead Park stations. Leytonstone High Road had been rebuilt in the late 1950s but the original Blackhorse Road, Walthamstow Queen's Road, Leyton Midland Road and Wanstead Park still had their wooden platform buildings with serrated canopies into the 1970s, much more atmospheric than the ghastly bus-stop style shelters that have disfigured the stations ever since, even at Leytonstone High Road where its 1950s buildings have also been replaced. Kind regards, David, Crouch End, N8

[@teecefamilykent]

Brilliant video sir!