Freedom Pass Project – Update

Last week saw two trips out on the rails in variable weather. The first was just a hop down to Stratford for some freight…

…This shot wasn’t possible a couple of months back because there was a very large Buddleia in the way but Network Rail have clearly done some maintenance work since I last visited😎👍

That was last Tuesday. Shopping on Wednesday means no trip out but on Thursday I went hunting for a couple of wanted termini. The day started out with a bus trip to New Southgate. While waiting for a train to Highbury and Islington I was able to get one of the surviving Intercity 225 trains passing through…

At Highbury & Islington I spent a while waiting for freight and caught this Class 59 heading west…

…One of the morning commuters followed my photographic lead and decided to film it on his smart-phone – I have no idea why and I doubt that he did either🤣

Then I was off on a train to Shadwell. Not that I need Shadwell for a terminus. It was just that TfL, God blessum, recommended that as the best place to change to catch a train to New Cross. I was mystified as I could change at any of the stations between Dalston Junction and Surrey Quays but decided to go along with their plan. I felt it a worthwhile experience as I have never got off at Shadwell on what was once known as the East London Line and there is some history to tell.

In my early years as a train enthusiast the line was a truncated version of its original route. As the ‘East London Branch’ of London underground’s Metropolitan Line, it served stations between Shoreditch and New Cross. I never got around to visiting it back then.

Back in 1825 work began on a tunnel under the Thames between Rotherhithe and Wapping – a project that would take 18 years to complete. It was a marvel of engineering carried out by the Brunel’s – Father Marc and Isambard his Son. At the time it was probably the first tunnel to have been constructed under a navigable river. Initially the tunnel was used for carriages and pedestrians but after a honeymoon period it declined into a passage of ill repute.

At the end of the 1860’s, railways companies to the south and east of London were looking for a way to connect across Thames like the ones rival companies to the west of London enjoyed. Six railway companies grouped together to form the East London Railway Company with a view to connecting lines in Kent to the city via the Metropolitan and District Railways. The line used the Brunel’s Thames Tunnel and completed the connections using cut & cover techniques.

Shadwell is one of the cut & cover stations and sits a short distance north of the Wapping entrance to the Thames Tunnel. Wapping was the deepest point on the tunnel and is also the deepest point on the current line – you can tell that from this shot of Shadwell station with a train approaching up the grade…

…In the foreground there are a mess of beams above the platforms. This is a reminder that the line was initially built in the steam era. The smoke had to have somewhere to escape and this ‘hole to the sky’ was it.

I mentioned that, when I was younger, the East London Line was truncated. That is no longer the case. In 2007, with the long since closure of Broad Street, that part of the North London Line was redirected to connect with the remnants of the East London Railway and that is how I can now travel from Highbury & Islington to New Cross, West Croydon and Crystal Palace. I can also go to Clapham Junction – via east or west London… The wonders of the London Overground! That’s a complicated piece of history skimped over – I suggest reading about the Thames Tunnel and The East London Railway on Wikipedia if you want a fuller understanding.

Back to my purpose – we’re out to clear New Cross off our termini list and that’s what we did. Here’s 378255 at New cross after arrival…

…The weather was taking a turn for the worse at this point. Here’s what you get when you’re facing the brewing storm with the sun behind you…

…Strange lighting😅

New Cross provided an opportunity to take a train into Cannon Street – the last of the major southern termini that was eluding me for my project, so I boarded a train back there via London Bridge. Here’s an archive shot taken in better weather…

By now it was late-lunch time but I really didn’t fancy popping outside and getting very wet in short order🙄 So I hopped on the District & Circle Line across to Blackfriars where I was able to get a baguette without braving the persistent downpour. I need Blackfriars as a terminating point as well – usually I’m just passing through, though I have shared shots from this station in the past! On this occasion I took one of the starting Sevenoaks services out to Denmark Hill. I got a lucky freight shot to complete my day out when 66799 rolled downgrade through the station…

…while I waited for a London Overground train to Clapham Junction. By this time the storm was just a memory etched in the grey dampness.

From Clapham Junction I had a simple run home via Gospel Oak and Upper Holloway to complete another successful trip. I’ve talked about some of the history in this post but we should always remember that the whole railway network is steeped in history and there’s always more to discover.😎👍