Ongar railway station

Ongar
Location
Place	Chipping Ongar
Area	Epping Forest
Coordinates	51°42′32″N 0°14′34″E / 51.7089°N 0.2428°E / 51.7089; 0.2428Coordinates: 51°42′32″N 0°14′34″E / 51.7089°N 0.2428°E / 51.7089; 0.2428
Grid reference	TL550034
Operations
Original company	Great Eastern Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Operated by	Epping Ongar Railway
Platforms	1
History
24 April 1865 (1865-04-24)	Station opened
25 September 1949	Transferred to LT Central Line
18 November 1957	Electrified
18 April 1966	Goods yard closed[1]
30 September 1994	Station closed
November 2004	Reopened in preservation
Stations on heritage railways in the United Kingdom
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UK Railways portal

9 March 1957, Ongar station still served with steam traction

Ongar tube station is a former London Underground station in the town of Chipping Ongar, Essex. Until its closure in 1994, it was the easternmost point of the Central line, and from 1961 until closure, it held the distinction of being the London Underground station farthest from Central London.^[2]

History

The station was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway on 24 April 1865,^[3] serving principally as a goods station taking agricultural produce from the nearby farms into central London. On 29 September 1949, London Underground services took over the operation of the station from British Railways when services were extended from Loughton.^[3]

Although the rest of the branch was electrified by London Underground before operations were taken over from British Railways, trains on the section north of Epping continued to be hauled by steam locomotives as a separate shuttle service. The service was operated by British Railways for the Underground until 18 November 1957, when the line was electrified and electric trains took over from steam.^[4] A shortage of power prevented the Epping to Ongar section being fully integrated into the line and it continued to operate as a shuttle service.^[5]

The entire Epping to Ongar branch was a single track line with one passing place at North Weald station, although this loop was taken out of service in 1976. Until then two trains could use the branch, although they were limited to four cars in length because of the restriction on the available traction current. The service was reduced to one train after the southbound track at North Weald was lifted. It was therefore never suitable for heavy use, and the line was reportedly never profitable. For much of its latter years, the service only operated during Monday to Friday peak hours, and London Transport closed Blake Hall station, the least used on the entire system, in 1981. The line itself continued in use and there was a brief re-introduction of all day services in 1990. However, a system wide cost-cutting exercise saw the service return to peak hours soon afterward, with an even more skeletal service than before. The line was under threat of closure for many years, and it was finally closed on 30 September 1994.

Epping Ongar Railway

Main article: Epping Ongar Railway

The station and the line are now in the ownership of a private company, the Epping Ongar Railway Ltd who, at time of purchase, publicly stated their intention to run commuter services again, but the claimed lack of platform availability at London Underground's Epping station at the west end of the line has to date proven an insuperable obstacle to this. The Epping Ongar Railway Volunteer Rail Society ran heritage trains on Sundays over the former Epping and Ongar line from 2004 until 2007.^[6]

Ongar station, with the sign of the present operator, Epping Ongar Railway (EOR)

Ongar Station, as with the rest of the 6.5 mile branch reaching to the outskirts of Epping station, is currently undergoing significant improvement and infrastructure works. These are designed with the long term future of the branch and to enable the use of locomotive hauled trains (hauled by steam and diesel locomotives), all in keeping with its use as a heritage railway. The station itself has been extensively restored by the teams of volunteers, with all the rooms being restored to their original layouts, opening up bricked up doorways and windows, and restoring the station back to Great Eastern Railway colours (believed to be the only original operational GER station in its original colours). Within the station the former Parcel's Office will be a museum and educational display. In addition an original GER signalbox (originally from Spelbrook) has been rescued and placed to replace the original signalbox which was demolished by LU in the 1980's, and the platform is being improved to facilitate access.

Other information

The sand drag at the very end of the rails — intended to help slow trains that overshot the stopping mark — was said to be home to a breed of harmless scorpion and featured in a 1979 episode of the BBC's Wildlife on One. They had been released there by the station foreman who was a keeper of exotic pets.^[7]

Although the station is no longer owned by London Underground, all distances on the network are still measured from Ongar.^[8]

The Royal Navy's Tigerfish torpedo was known as Project ONGAR during development.^[9] It was named after the station as the engineers hoped their new weapon would be "...the end of the line for torpedo development".

See also

• List of former and unopened London Underground stations

References

Notes

1. ^ Hardy 2011, pp. 175-183.
2. ^ Before 1961, the Metropolitan line's north-western terminus at Aylesbury was the most distant. After Ongar's closure, the most distant is the Metropolitan line's Chesham
3. ^ ^{a b} Feather, Clive (31 March 2011). "Central Line, Dates". Clive's Underground Line Guides. http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/central.html#dates. Retrieved 18 March 2008. 
4. ^ Lee 1970, p. 31.
5. ^ Feather, Clive (31 March 2011). "Central Line, History". Clive's Underground Line Guides. http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/central.html#history. Retrieved 18 March 2008. 
6. ^ Skinner, Paul (2011). "Epping Ongar Railway". http://www.eorailway.co.uk/. Retrieved 5 July 2010. 
7. ^ Lyons, James (20 January 2007). "Epping Ongar Railway History - Ongar station". http://www.eohistory.bravehost.com/few.html. Retrieved 22 May 2011. 
8. ^ Feather, Clive (2 April 2011). "Introduction - Kilometrage". Clive's Underground Line Guides. http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/intro.html. Retrieved 22 May 2011. 
9. ^ Public Record Office ADM 290/289

Bibliography

• Hardy, Brian, ed (March 2011). "How it used to be - freight on The Underground 50 years ago". Underground News (London Underground Railway Society) (591): 175–183. ISSN 0306-8617. 
• Lee, Charles Edward (1970). Seventy Years of the Central. London: London Transport. ISBN 0-85329-013-X. 

External links

• Feather, Clive. "Central Line". Clive's Underground Line Guides. http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/central.html. Retrieved 18 March 2008. 
• Lyons, James (20 January 2007). "Epping Ongar Railway History". Epping Ongar Railway History. http://www.eohistory.bravehost.com/index.html. Retrieved 22 May 2011. 
• Skinner, Paul (2011). "Epping Ongar Railway". http://www.eorailway.co.uk/. Retrieved 5 July 2010.  Epping Ongar Railway's Official Website
• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Ongar station when operated by the London and North Eastern Railway, 1935
  • View of platform, 1980
• London's Abandoned Tube Stations - Ongar station
• London's Abandoned Tube Stations - Epping to Ongar branch

Preceding station	Heritage railways			Following station
North Weald		Epping Ongar Railway		Terminus
	Disused railways
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Blake Hall towards Epping		Central line Epping-Ongar branch		Terminus