
Travelling by road through rural Essex, on route from Epping Tube station to the small town of Ongar, it’s incredible to think that some of the villages you pass on the way were once part of the London Underground network.
Prior to 1994, the Central line ran further than Epping, on a branch line that terminated at Ongar, via stations at North Weald and Blake Hall. The disused tracks at the beginning of the branch line can still clearly be seen today from the platforms at Epping.

But while this portion of the route is overgrown and rusty, the rest of the branch further ahead is owned and operated by the Epping Ongar Railway (EOR); an organisation first created in 2004 that has worked tirelessly to preserve the line, and to re-introduce heritage passenger services.
I was recently invited to Ongar station by EOR’s General Manager for a rare, private tour of the station and its sidings, ahead of the railway’s grand re-opening on May 25. The opening weekend of the new season coincides with the 150th anniversary of the Great Eastern Railway being formed, and will see the return of steam along the route for the first time since 1957.

The line to Ongar was opened in 1865 by the Eastern Counties Railway, which later became part of the Great Eastern Railway. After the Central line was extended to Epping as part of the post-war New Works Programme, ownership of the line from Epping to Ongar switched from British Rail to London Underground, who electrified the line as far as Epping.
The rest of the route to Ongar continued to be steam operated, although it was eventually electrified in 1957. The branch was only ever really used as a limited shuttle service however (similar to the disused branch line between Acton Town and South Acton), which explains why Tube maps from that era tend to show the Epping to Ongar stretch as separated from the rest of the line.

Low passenger numbers meant that the branch became increasingly hard to financially justify, and by 1981 the little-used Blake Hall station had closed for good. The rest of the line managed to hold on for another decade, before finally closing in 1994. It lay disused for years, until being purchased by the EOR and restored to its former glory.
For me, the visit to Ongar was chance to see a disused tube station that I’d read about many times but had never been to visit. The aim is to include it in an updated edition of the book, along with North Weald. Although trains running along the EOR still pass through Blake Hall, the platforms have been removed and the station building has since been converted to a private dwelling.
What struck me most was just how much effort has gone into making the restoration work look as authentic as possible. Thanks almost entirely to a team of passionate and skilled volunteers, the attention to detail is incredible, and when you step inside the station and onto the platforms, you genuinely feel as though you are stepping back in time.


Much of the restoration works involves painstaking research and the hunting down of original features and fittings. The restored signal box levers for instance were reclaimed after a railway enthusiast contacted the EOR to inform them that he had them sitting in his garden.

Other items have been re-used from elsewhere, and then restored to make them match how the originals at Ongar would have looked. The most impressive example of this is the signal box itself, which was inherited from Spellbrook, but has since been re-painted and restored to look as though it’s the original one from Ongar.

Other items have been sourced from elsewhere and put to good use, including track and platform edging from the disused Custom House station (covered in Do Not Alight Here: Walk 11), and a ticket booth that once sat on the platforms at Hammersmith tube station.
In addition to the station buildings and platforms, visiting the Ongar site also meant I got to explore the huge selection of rolling stock housed there, including several old carriages, wagons, and steam engines:





It was a fascinating visit, and I’m looking forward to returning once the railway is back open. Many thanks to the EOR team for arranging the tour and for showing us around!
See the Do Not Alight Here Flickr page for more photos from the visit. The stations at Ongar and North Weald will be included in the 2nd Edition of the book (release date TBC).
The Epping Ongar Railway re-opens to the public on Friday, May 25, with regular services running every weekend after that, and every day during the Olympics. Tickets can be booked here. I will also hopefully be making an appearance there for a book signing session later this summer. More details to follow soon.
Please Note: My trip to the EOR was a rare, private visit that was organised and permitted by the General Manager. Apart from when the station is open for visitors, the site is patrolled at all times by security staff and guard dogs.
All photos used courtesy of Do Not Alight Here photographer Louise Trueman.