Buckhurst Hill tube station

Buckhurst Hill is a London Underground station, just outside of London, in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is served by the Central Line and is between Woodford and Loughton.

History

The station opened on 22 August 1856 as part of the Eastern Counties Railway branch from London to Loughton. It originally had staggered platforms, with the main buildings on the down side (tracks heading away from London). The 1856 station house survives to the south of the present platforms, but most of the present station dates from 1892, when the entrance was moved to Victoria Road. By this date the station formed part of the Great Eastern Railway which was, from 1923, to become part of the London & North Eastern Railway. The 1856 station house was condemned in 2006 as the rocket conifers in its garden had not been maintained.

The station was transferred to London Underground ownership as part of the "New Works Programme 1935/1940" scheme that saw the electrification of the branch to form part of the Central line. This occurred on 21 November 1948. The station maintains its late Victorian ambience to a surprising extent. There are disused exit/entrances to the south of the station, that date from the transfer to the Underground, to Lower Queens Road and Queens Road. These exits were closed permanently in the 1980s.

There is a second Central Line station in Buckhurst Hill at Roding Valley, on the Hainault Loop.

For the purposes of fare charging it is in Zone 5; as of 2007 it is the only station on the eastern portion of the Central Line in that zone.

External links

* [http://citytransport.info/BuckhurstHill.htm http://citytransport.info/BuckhurstHill.htm] - Photographs of the Victorian era station platforms, shelters and waiting rooms.

Gallery

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