please empty your brain below
Buckhurst Hill - wondered if you have any dates for the last use of the line there by steam? - I remember seeing the odd steam loco go through in what must have been 1954/5 but can't find any info. Just curious.

Rob Gullen | 05.10.22 - 7:46 a.m. | #

I take it you're being mischievous again.

So, stations like Ealing Broadway, Paddington and Wimbledon never had a main line opened earlier, but Stratford did.

It's fair enough to exclude entirely separate stations though, like Balham and Vauxhall.

Still Anon | 05.10.22 - 8:01 a.m. | #

Now that Thameslink is on the Tube Map, the oldest station of all on that map is Deptford, which opened in February 1836 as a temporary terminus of the London & Greenwich Railway (the other temporary terminus at Spa Road closed in 1915).

The line opened through to Greenwich later the same year, but that station was relocated in 1840, meaning that Stratford beats it to the title of oldest DLR station

Timbo | 05.10.22 - 8:08 a.m. | #

Leyton Station Junction to Loughton Junction is indeed the oldest part of railway still used by LU trains, but *not* Loughton station, which was moved in 1865 onto the new line to Ongar. The site of the first station was about 600 yards north; you can still walk the line, through car parks and Station rd. The booking office was on the site of a nightclub called Aurum and the turntable and coal wharf on what's now the lawn in front of St Mary's Church.

Chrispy | 05.10.22 - 8:15 a.m. | #

Loughton station only opened on its present site in 1865. The 1856 station was a terminus located on a now closed spur on the High Road.

Nigel | 05.10.22 - 8:16 a.m. | #

When opened in 1856, Buckhurst Hill had staggered platforms north and south of the Queen's Road level crossing. Today's Epping-bound platform and station building are 1890s rebuilds; the original 1856 building and low platform survive to the south of the former level crossing. The current London-bound platform and at least some of the buildings on it are from 1856.

Alan S | 05.10.22 - 8:19 a.m. | #

Rob - the last use of the Leyton-Loughton line by steam was in about 1960/61, shortly before steam was removed from Stratford shed. Locos were J15s on goods trains, and until 1957, F5s between Stratford and Epping sheds.
BTW, Buckhurst Hill station was moved in 1892. Only the up platform (1) is partly on the site of the 1856 station

Chrispy | 05.10.22 - 8:21 a.m. | #

Loughton removed and Ealing Broadway added, thanks.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 05.10.22 - 8:23 a.m. | #

Still Anon -good point about Ealing Broadway, as the Central Line (but not the District) used an extension of the GWR's 1838 station

Paddington and Wimbledon also both opened in 1838, but they did not relocate to their present sites until 1854 and 1889 respectively.

Timbo | 05.10.22 - 8:24 a.m. | #

The current Canning Town is the third version dating from 1995, replacing the 1888 version north of Barking Road which closed in 1994, it appears that the current station is closer to the original 1847 site which was also south of Barking Road.

How far away does the new station need to be to claim its predecessor's history?

Still Anon | 05.10.22 - 9:49 a.m. | #

I'd say those 1856 stations (or most of them) are most deserving. A passenger from that time would still recognise them in a way that isn't the case for the later ones.

Andrew S | 05.10.22 - 10:40 a.m. | #

New Cross Gate, 1839. For a possibly separate was-a-tube-but-isn't-now list.

HTFB | 05.10.22 - 10:56 a.m. | #

Looks like someone needs to amend that Wikipedia list to add the opening of the main line at Ealing Broadway in 1838. It is mentioned elsewhere.

Just a few days until the 70th anniversary of the awful triple train crash at Harrow and Wealdstone. Some US medical staff from RAF South Ruslip played an important role in the immediate aftermath. Some video here (2LT Abbie Sweetwine at 1:10)

Andrew | 05.10.22 - 11:07 a.m. | #

Barking is (mis-)managed by c2c (aka Italian State Railways), not NR.

Kim | 05.10.22 - 11:46 a.m. | #

I think Harrow & Wealdstone is still the 1st stop out of Euston!

Cornish Cockney | 05.10.22 - 1:26 p.m. | #

London Bridge opened in 1836 and now has some tube platforms, so I'd say that's the oldest underground station by this definition.

Lmm | 05.10.22 - 2:05 p.m. | #

Whether a station at date X is "the same" station as a station at date Y is ultimately undecideable. It can change some of it's qualities (position, name, ownership, who runs it etc), and still be generally regarded as the same station. Or not. No one definition fits all purposes. It's like the ship of Theseus. Your definition here is as good as any.

Malcolm of Kent | 05.10.22 - 6:08 p.m. | #

Chrispy - thanks for the response - I started at Buckhurst Hill County High School in 1958 and used to walk back and forth over the bridge in Palmerston Road/Roding Lane every day. The odd steam loco passing was "a thing" - with the wonderful, nostalgic aroma of smoke!

Rob Gullen | 06.10.22 - 7:53 a.m. | #

Agree with Andrew S. There would be bits for an 1856 returnee to recognise at Buckhurst Hill, Woodford, and Snaresbrook, and s/he could still wait for a train on the same spot. Nothing pre WW2 at Leytonstone, though.

Rob - the place to observe ancient locos right up to 1960 was the footbridge at the end of Algers Rd, but appreciate your route to school didn't go near that.

Chrispy | 06.10.22 - 8:43 a.m. | #

Chrispy - I lived on the High Road, just S of the Bald Faced Stag PH so Algers Road was a "foreign country" to me!!
One of the steam loco highlights of my childhood was riding on the footplate from Liverpool Street to Chingford on a steam hauled train (my Grandmother knew the driver!) - the mind boggles at that nowadays :-)

Rob Gullen | 06.10.22 - 1:49 p.m. | #











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