Victoria Park railway station (England)

The East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway (known as the North London Railway (NLR)) from 1853 was incorporated by Act of Parliament on 26 August 1846. It was empowered to construct a railway from the district of Poplar and the docks to Camden Town in north London.[4]

Passenger services started operating between Islington, Bow and Fenchurch Street station on 26 September 1850 with goods services to Poplar and the docks commencing on 1 January 1852.

The line between Victoria Park and Stratford was opened on 15 August 1854 by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) and the North London Railway began operating regular goods services early the following year. The passenger trains (towards Fenchurch Street/Stratford) had additional carriages which were detached at the junction and a second locomotive worked them though to Stratford. In the opposite direction the coaches were attached.

The first station was provided west of the junction with two platforms Although not quite complete the station opened temporarily to passengers on 29 May 1856 in conjunction with a special event celebrating the end of the Crimean War. Full opening was on 14 June 1856.

The North London Railway ran two return trains per day from Hampstead Road (later renamed Chalk Farm) via Victoria Park and Forest Gate Junctions to Tilbury which commenced on 1 July 1855 and finished 30 September. Congestion at Stratford made making these short lived services difficult and one was involved in an accident during this time at Stratford although a further attempt (as far as Barking) was made during September and October 1866 [5]

The practice of attaching and detaching carriages (now at the station) continued until a shuttle services was introduced from 1 January 1860.

This operational complexity as well as the growing popularity of Victoria Park, Hackney as a leisure destination saw a need to improve on the existing facilities and the second station situation south east of the original station (this is shown on the accompanying map) was opened 1 March 1866. Initially it had four platforms but the local used the westbound platform to terminate and originate and the east bound platform was used by the through trains to Barking. Once these ceased the platform, was rarely used and had been removed by 1895.[6]

The ECR became part of the Great Eastern Railway (GER) in 1862.

A shuttle service operated from the eastbound platform to Stratford Bridge station from 1 September 1866 and was operated by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) and North London Railway in alternate years up until 31 October 1874.[7]

After that operation was taken over by the GER and from 1 October 1895 services ran through to Canning Town and occasionally North Woolwich.

A footbridge linking the three platforms was opened on 24 February 1891 to support the existing subway. On 11 February 1899 a second entrance from Riseholme Street (to the Broad Street platform) was opened.[8]

The London & North Western Railway (LNWR) took over the working of the North London Railway under a common management arrangement on 1 February 1909 although the North London Railway continued to exist until 1922.[9]

During World War I the half hourly service was reduced to hourly and further cuts followed in 1921.

Following the Railways Act 1921, also known as the grouping act, operation of the station fell under the control of the London Midland & Scottish Railway. Trains formerly operated by the Great Eastern Railway were now operated by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).

LMS Sunday services to Poplar were withdrawn on 29 January 1940.[10]

On 20 March 1941 the station suffered some minor bomb damage from a German air raid.[11]

The LNER Sunday service to Canning Town was withdrawn on 31 March 1940 and withdrawal of the weekday service followed on 1 November 1942. With the interchange facility lost and declining passenger numbers the decision was taken to close Victoria Park station and closure took place on 8 November 1943.

The passenger service between Broad Street and Poplar (East India Road) was withdrawn due to bomb damage in May 1944 on the route during World War II and the fact that passenger numbers had been declining since the early part of the century. The line remained open to goods for the docks.

After closure the waiting room on the Broad Street platform became a base for the local Home Guard.[12]

The footbridge was demolished in 1950.

The station building from the first station which had been used as a pair of residential properties was demolished in 1958.

The platforms were demolished at some point in the early 1960s but the former station building survived until 1970 when it was demolished as part of the construction of the East Cross Route (formerly the A102(M) but now the A12) with a new railway viaduct on the Poplar line crossing the new road constructed c.1972 [13]

The track to Stratford was put into revived passenger use from 14 May 1979 (marketed as the Crosstown Linkline) and Hackney Wick station opened a short distance to the east on 12 May 1980.[14]

The Poplar line closed to all rail traffic on 3 October 1983 with the track being lifted during May 1984.[15]

Services on the North London Line have gone from strength to strength since the re-opening of the "Cross London Link" with electrification and services running between Richmond and North Woolwich (1985-2006) and Clapham Junction or Richmond to Stratford (the 2021 service), The line sees heavy freight usage being the only electrified route between the major east coast Port of Felixstowe and the West Coast Main Line. Nothing remains of the station today except the bottom floor of the 1961 signal box which houses electrical equipment.[16]