London and Blackwall Railway
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Originally called the Commercial Railway, the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR) in east
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/London_Limehouse_Blackwall.jpg/220px-London_Limehouse_Blackwall.jpg)
It was authorised by an
The engineer of the line was intended to be John Rennie, but the project's City financiers favoured Robert Stephenson, believing that they would also benefit from the knowledge and wisdom of his respected father George. Although, because of the Act, Robert Stephenson had to follow Rennie's route and use the obscure track gauge of 5 ft 1⁄2 in (1,537 mm),[5][3] he was free to choose his own method of propulsion. Drawing on his experience with the Camden Incline on the London and Birmingham Railway he decided upon cable haulage from stationary steam engines.
The railway was on brick arches as far as the West India Docks, and then on an embankment before entering a shallow cutting near the Blackwall terminus at Brunswick Wharf. The station there had an iron-roofed shed, and offices designed in an Italianate style by William Tite.[6]
The line opened on 6 July 1840, and the company changed its name to the London and Blackwall Railway on completion of an extension to Fenchurch Street, just within the City boundary, in 1841. The line was converted to use steam locomotives in 1848, partly because wear on the rope proved greater than anticipated (a steel-wire replacement had been tried but this twisted and kinked ferociously) and partly in consequence of the intended 1849 extensions. [7]
A line from Stepney (now
By 1854 relations between the two companies had improved and the junction between the two lines was built and the LBER became part of the initial London Tilbury and Southend (LTSR) route to Fenchurch Street and the ECR started operating trains from Loughton into Fenchurch Street.[8][Note 1]
The LBER was joined to the new London, Tilbury and Southend Railway direct line from Barking at Gas Factory Junction in 1858.
In 1852 the
Withdrawal of services
In 1893 the Fenchurch Street–Stepney line was widened to four tracks, but by the turn of the century traffic to Blackwall and the Isle of Dogs was dropping. As an economy, railmotors acquired from the Great Western Railway were introduced in 1922 but nonetheless passenger services east of Stepney to North Greenwich and Blackwall were withdrawn on 3 May 1926 as a result of competition from trams.[Note 2][9][10]
John Betjeman (1906–1984), in his book First and Last Loves (published 1952), wrote of a journey on the L&BR (most likely in the years just before closure):
Those frequent and quite empty trains of the Blackwall Railway ran from a special platform at Fenchurch Street. I remember them. Like stagecoaches they rumbled past East End chimney pots, wharves and shipping stopping at empty black stations till they came to a final halt at Blackwall station...When one emerged there, there was nothing to see beyond it but a cobbled quay and a vast stretch of wind whipped water...[11]
The minor stations at Leman Street and Shadwell were closed in 1941 as wartime economy measures (as was Burdett Road opened on the Bow extension route in 1871). The junction at Stepney was disconnected in 1951, so that the only remaining access to the Blackwall Branch was from the LBER via the Limehouse Curve, and this was abandoned in 1963 (last train ran 5 November 1962). Access for occasional goods services to Blackwall and North Greenwich via the North London Railway at Poplar continued until 1968, but with the closure of the docks the line was abandoned, leaving only the Fenchurch Street–Stepney section of the original Blackwall branch still in use.[Note 3]
When the
Cable haulage
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Minories_stationLBR.jpg/308px-Minories_stationLBR.jpg)
As built the line was 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) long, with two bidirectional tracks operated independently of each other. At the opening only one track was complete and the other was not brought into use until one month later. Each track had a double length of
It was obviously dangerous to use the reverse method to pick up cars on journeys to the terminus, so all the cars were "pinned" to the cable at their respective stations and started simultaneously with the convoy departing from the terminus, the timing coordinated by an early example of the Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph. They arrived at the terminus at intervals and a new train gradually assembled itself, with the pair of cars from the far terminus becoming the lead pair for the return trip. The timetable was very simple: a train every 15 minutes.
Power was provided by eight marine steam engines from Maudslay, Sons and Field, providing for four in use and four in maintenance. The Minories winding house had four at 110 horsepower (82 kW) but the engines at Blackwall were only at 75 horsepower (56 kW) as the overall gradient of the line fell from the west, where it was built on brick arches, to the east.
The line was converted to use steam locomotives in 1848, partly because wear on the rope proved greater than anticipated (a steel-wire replacement had been tried but this twisted and kinked ferociously) and partly in consequence of the intended 1849 extensions. A light roof over the line was provided where it passed near to timber stores or shipping, because of the anticipated fire risk from locomotive sparks. It then became possible to travel directly between intermediate stations, without a detour by way of a terminus.
Stations
The stations were:
Station Opened Closed Notes Fenchurch Street 1854 [i] Minories (resited) 1841 1853 Minories (original) 1840 1841 Site used for Tower Gateway in 1987 Leman Street 1877 1941 Cannon Street Road 1842 1848 Shadwell1840 1941 Stepney 1840 [i] 1923 renamed Stepney East, 1987 renamed Limehouse Limehouse1840 1926 not to be confused with the above West India Docks 1840 1926 Millwall Junction 1871 1926 Poplar 1840 1926 on a different site to Poplar DLR station Blackwall 1840 1926 on a different site to Blackwall DLR station
Branch to Bow from Stepney, called the London and Blackwall Extension Railway (opened 1849, joint-operated with the Eastern Counties Railway):
- Burdett Road (opened 1871, closed 1941)
- Bromley and Bow (1849–1850)
- Bow Road first station (1876–1892) then closed and replaced by second station to provide interchange with Bow (North London Railway station) and on site of original Bromley and Bow station (opened 1892, closed 1949)
- Victoria Park or Bowstations)
Branch to North Greenwich from Millwall Junction, called the Millwall Extension Railway:
- South Dock (opened 1871, closed 1926)
- Millwall Docks (opened 1871, closed 1926)
- North Greenwich (opened 1871, closed 1926; not to be confused with North Greenwich Underground station)
Notes
- ^ The LBER and ECR were partners in the LTSR
- ^ The Blackwall branch was meant to close on 30 June but the 1926 United Kingdom general strike saw this brought forward.
- ^ Freight services to this area of the dock continued up until 3 October 1983 via the North London route via Bow. The track was lifted the following year and later re-opened as part of the Docklands Light Railway
References
- ^ Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. London: Guild Publishing. p. 144. CN 8983.
- ^ a b Timbs, John (11 July 1840). "The London and Blackwall Railway". The Literary World. 3 (68). London: G. Berger: 225. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
- ^ a b "Docklands Light Railway—Journey Through History Tower Gateway to West India Quay" (PDF). Docklands Light Railway. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-7110-3346-7.
- ^ ISBN 9781445621876.
- ^ "Blackwall Railway". The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal. 3: 213–. 1840.
- ^ "Robertson, Andrew (March 1848) "Blackwall Railway Machinery"". The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal New York: Wiley & Putnam 11. 1848.
- ISBN 1-901706-20-6.
- ^ "Docklands Light Railway—Journey Through History West India Quay to island Gardens" (PDF). Docklands Light Railway. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ISBN 1-85414-209-7.
- ^ King, Bill. "Leman Street, London". Great Eastern Journal. 113: 126.
- ^ Robertson (1848: 83)
- OCLC 2899105.
- ^ Timbs, John, ed. (11 July 1840). "The London and Blackwall Railway". The Literary World. London: George Berger: 1.
Bibliography
- Gordon, W. J. (1910). Our Home Railways. Vol. 2. London: Frederick Warne & Co.
- Jackson, Alan A. (1978). London's Local Railways. Jackson, VT: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7479-6.
- Robertson, Andrew John (1848). "Blackwall railway machinery". The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal. 11 (March 1848). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons: 83. Retrieved 30 November 2007.
Further reading
- OCLC 833076248.