The Epping Ongar Railway: The Disused Tube Line You Can Ride
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 7 окт 2023
- Steaming through Essex on the Central Line.
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/jagohazzard
Patreon: / jagohazzard
Just Watching Trains (2nd channel): / @justwatchingtrains-ji4ps
Threads: www.threads.net/@jagohazzard
Instagram: jagohazzard?igs... 
Развлечения
I took severance from London Transport (buses) in 1992 and, in my last week I decided that, whilst I still had my staff pass I would ride parts of the system I'd never been to before. I went straight from work (at Fulwell bus garage) and eventually travelled out to Ongar. I'd intending having a wander around the town to see what was there but, on enquiring of the only staff member on the platform (the driver) what time was the last return train, he replied that: 'This is it'. That put an end to any exploring but, as as he noticed I was in LT (admittedly bus) uniform, the driver invited me to join him in the cab for the return journey to Epping. At North Weald we stopped and he instructed me to pull the lever I was leaning against and there was a rumbling sound. Then I was told to push it, with the same sound. Apparently I had opened and closed the doors. We also slowed to walking pace as we crossed the golf course because on the journey up he had spotted some half-decent balls on the line and, if they were still there, he was going to stop and retrieve them. He was out of luck as they'd gone. It was one of only three cab rides I've managed to blag my way into making on an 'Underground' train (one in the early 2000s on the 'automated' Central Line and one in Dortmund when exhibiting at the Intermodellbau model exhibition).
another shout out for Fulwell (i also left in '92} .
Wonderful little anecdotes like this make the original video even better. Thanks for sharing.
Oh, you've been along in the cab on the Dortmund underground? How did you manage that, may I ask? As a curious local resident.
Love the golf ball story, that's the sort of thing that makes up this fine island we live on (admittedly not a lot of people feel it's very fine atm but even if the next lot are total incompetents then it's a step upwards!!)
Epping Forest is a lovely part of the world, we used to visit my gran in chingford and go for a walk round this lovely lake. I grew up in Dartford, which wasn't so nice, but lots of the outskirts of greater London hide some real beauty spots I reckon.
I travelled on the line a couple of years before the end. I was the only passenger on the whole train. It was pouring down so I went into a cafe had coffee and cake and went back to the station. I was devastated when I spotted another passenger waiting on the platform how dare they trespass on my train.
I also travelled on it, though much closer to closure. There were a number of people on the service. One got off at North Weald, then a few got off at Ongar. The vast majority of us stayed on the train. We were all Underground nerds getting the journey in before the line closed.
I used to love that feeling when travelling the Underground very early morning or very late at night. Having the carriage to yourself and then looking either end and finding those empty too. Very cosy.
This reminds me of my favourite newspaper headline. After a fire destroyed the library the local paper went with "Book lack in Ongar".
My favourite thing I know about this line is that in 1976 a driver who was working with the cab door open because of the hot summer was attacked by a rabbit which got in at Blake Hall.
Not the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog?! A long way from home, wasn't he?
“Death waits in the dark, with nasty big teeth……..”
@@Krzyszczynski No, that was the rabbit that attacked Jimmy Carter. Still, very far from its usual haunts.
He probably thought it was just a harmless little bunny rabbit, and didn't bring his HHG to work that day.
When I grew up in Germany and started learning English, the textbook for the first couple of years featured some fictional people from Epping. During my first year of learning English, I moved to another place in Germany, and the grammar school I went to was in a city called Eppingen. Their twin city was (and I assume still is) Epping. I attended that school until I moved to the United States in 1986.
Fun fact. There's a plaque at Ongar station to commemorate the last journey of Father Thomas Byles. He went from ongar all the way to Southampton, to meet his end on the Titanic.
Fantastic video! I’m a volunteer on the EOR and regularly work in the ticket office at Ongar. I recognised some faces in the video! I’m so glad you were impressed with the line. I will be sure to show this video to as many of my colleagues as possible, including the society chairman. I hope you come and visit again soon!
To attract the Wild Jago, the trick seems to be to get some vintage rolling stock to show off (especially if it's vintage London Underground, but that's not entirely necessary; the wild Jago seems to also have a fondness for anything under steam), some quirkiness, some unusual records, and some general nerdiness.
Vintage station paraphernalia also seems to work, but in a pinch replicas would do. Some benches harkening back to the station's early years might help, especially if you throw on some kind of 'Ongar in the Early Days' thing. Not just running the steam loco and such, but like, get the station cafe (or stand-up one on the platform for the day) serving 'vintage' railway meals out of the early 20th century era.
(Heck, that sounds like something I'd wanna see if I wasn't broke and on the wrong side of the Atlantic Ocean.)
Nice video about a local place to me. There was a colony of scorpions living in the trap by the buffer stops at one point, legend had it that they had arrived in a consignment of bananas and settled there. In fact it was the station master or signaller that placed them deliberately.
It was also in the news a few years back as it had been used to make a different sort of video, which wasn’t well received by the locals.
Cheers Jago, you are the shuttle to my branch line.
This is a very pleasant surprise. Some years ago I had been watching another video from Jago which mentioned (I think) Earl's Court. I wrote a comment mentioning that I had once been in a very old tube carriage going from Earl's Court to one station city-wards (I forget which it was), which stopped there for some time and (to my surprise) then returned to Earl's Court. Somebody replied to my post explaining that I had happened to get onto an Olympia shuttle. I asked about Olympia and said I thought I should see that next time when I got to London, to which my correspondent answered "Oh no, do something better. Visit the Epping-Ongar Railway!" and told me how to get there. Well, this summer I did! I went to Shenfield by the Elizabeth Line and got to ride on a Routemaster and this cute steam train. It was delightful, and if the person who told me about EOR is reading this: Thank you very much for your tip, I loved it!
They are fund raising to cross the bridge and reconnect to Epping station one day, they had to buy the land up to the bridge first which they succeeded in doing a few years back, so one day you might be able to go back and travel the entire line Jago .
I vaguely recall riding this line many years ago, in fact very long ago, in the days when North Weald was home to the predecessors of the Red Arrows, the Black Arrows and their Hawker Hunters. I also remember watching a horse and trap delivering milk as I stood on the bridge over the line at Loughton.
The Hunter that sadly crashed a few years ago was based at North Weald
A piece of New York/Brooklyn transit trivia! The ultimate Zero point for all the Elevated lines of the BRT/BMT is from a point that no longer exists! That station was the Park Row,and it was on the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge! And to make things even more crazy,there was another chaining Zero point located from another non-existent station- Broadway Ferry,which was located on the Brooklyn end of the Brooklyn Bridge! A remnant of that chaining is found on the A[IND],subway line to the Rockaways,and it was part of the original Fulton Street Elevated,that went over both to both terminals at one time or another! It's an extremely complicated history,suffice it to say,you can add another oddity and trivia point,to a now,sideline in Elevated/Subway history! Oh,yes,that Epping-Ongar line is really beautiful! And have fun guessing what a London Transport milk train would look like,lol!! Anyhow,Jago,you do find things interesting in the extremities of London,and environs!! Thank you 😇 😊!! Thank you 😇 😊!
Around 1982 or 83 I I was living in Crouch End and working as a casual labourer. I went to Epping, changing at Onger. I then walked to Britain's oldest wooden church at Greensted; and got aggressively questioned by police in cars twice; the second pair at least radioed in to confirm that I had already answered all the impertinent questions the other pair had asked. It was annoying then, but Now-a-days I could have stolen the whole church and nobody would stop me.
As a GER fan, I’m waiting for the Epping and Ongar to have their F5 new build completed. Hopefully it’ll boost their popularity.
I've tried to keep up with the progress with the E&O project. Here's wishing all the best for progress!
I volunteer at the EOR with the steam department, and its lovely to see a proper video, thanks for posting.
Nice shots of the GWR Prairie tank L150 in London Transport red livery. It was overhauled at a workshop in the Forest of Dean, which coincidentally also overhauled and fully restored LSWR T3 4-4-0 No. 563 which returned to public service on the Swanage Railway on the day this video was released! (8 October 2023) 130 years old, first time it has steamed for 75 years, and it looks a picture! It was in the NRM at York for many years and also in two of the live Railway Children productions (Toronto 2011 and Kings Cross 2014-2017). It will be working regular trains there during October half term week.
It’s always nice to hear RUclipsrs getting recognised 👏🏽
I didn't think jago ever showed his face so idk how they did
@@oldtechnobodycaresabout His face has been seen, just not on any video on his own channel 😉
@@oldtechnobodycaresabout Jay Foreman's videos about the Tube maps, Jago plays the part of Harry Beck in those two videos.
@@Sim0nTrains he's also been on ITV news
@@CarolineFord1 I didn't knew that
It always annoys me that I never took the chance to travel on this before it originally closed. At least I didn't make the same mistake with Angel Road station, which I used on its last day!
Yay! I was born in Ongar, before it became fashionable and filled to the brim with poncy shops... 🤣
When was that? I lived just outside Ongar from 89 to 95 and could never find anywhere to buy a poncy when I needed one!
@@johnf5817 You obviously never looked old enough
😂🤣😅
@@johnf5817 I was born in '77, going to Chipping Ongar Prrimary School. I moved to London in '99
A friend of mine worked for London Transport (I think) in the late 70s or 80s and occasionally had to visit the line of maintenance of the signs and lighting etc. He had to tell the driver that he needed to get off at Blake Hall otherwise it would not stop. When he was finished he would have to wave an Epping bound train down.
Love the heritage bus replacement service. Long may they remain. 👏👏👍😀
John Betjeman wanted to be the Station Master at Blake Hall because there was so little work to do there.
After the station officially closed, the train still stopped there if requested. So LU demolished the platform apparently.
Wonderful video, Mr. Hazzard! Thank you! (You threatened this one ages ago. I have waited patiently.) I only ever travelled this line twice. Both occasions were in the 1970's and upon both journeys I used Blake Hall! Blake Hall was a short walk from England's oldest wooden church which was my reason for going. Obviously, not many other people were into wooden churches!
Ha ha, yes, I too visited Greensted in 1975 and wandered on from there to Blake Hall. But it was a bank holiday so of course the station was closed. At least I got a good look at it. It was a toss-up whether to slog on to Ongar (and maybe miss the last train back) or beat a strategic retreat to North Weald. Caution won.
Shame it was never fully integrated. Its incomplete state means that the ever important _Enfield to Shenfield_ route remains untapped.
Can you elucidate please?
Jason Statham vs Chatham House Rule.
Enfield to Eton might associated with Underground late running services.
@@landtimforgot I think you are detracting from Mr. Hazzard's very interesting subject matter by spewing forth utter bollocks.
Mornington Crescent!
A good point! As a Denizen of Enfield, a rail link to Shenfield - or even Epping - across the Lea Valley to intercept the Central line and Cross/Purp/Liz line (cf Geoff Marshall..) would be of great help - who wants to go down to Stratford to go East by train from outer North London
Then go West to Potters Bar and St Albans and on to Watford. Viola! Who needs the M25?
I went there for the first time this year and I was very impressed and hope to go back very soon
This is a lovely railway and a great one for the kids. They do a Santa Express train at Christmas and North Weald becomes the North Pole!
I lived in Leyton until 1995 and always wanted to visit this part of what was the Central Line. Thanks for posting this.
Hello Jago, thank you for this Tale from the Tube and a chance to see the Ongar-Epping line as it is today. Being as Ongar is the Zero point, and deserves something (slightly) appropriate. “To begin at the beginning. It is a spring, moonless night in a small town …” A small town called Ongar from where all distances are measured. Now that’s special.
I don't understand what the zero point means. Many google searches mention that it's the zero point and all distances measured from here. Does that mean the distance between london bridge and waterloo on the jubilee equals the distance from Ongar to London bridge - the Distance to Waterloo via some trigonometry, or something?
@@PianoKwanMan If you ride most railways, there will be numbered posts every quarter mile. These give the distance from some notable point. It's for identification rather than measurement. Post 36 on the old Great Western main line for example is close to Reading station. It is of course 36 miles from Paddington. Similarly there is a 50 mile post near Swindon. There is also a 50 mile post after Hungerford on the Westbury Branch which is nowhere near the Swindon mile post. I haven't actually seen a physical quarter mile post on the London Underground but if they exist then they will show the distance to Ongar. I have no idea what route they use to come up with a distance but that's not important providing it is well defined. The point is that if you say Post 27 II Cockfosters Branch Piccadilly Line, then you will define a precise 440 yard stretch of track
I think this is a great subject for another video. Why should there be only one zero point, and why would it it be be relevant for anywhere on the Victoria Line for example?
Way back our Scout group travelled Epping->Ongar on the Tube. Even as a trainee train nerd it was the most abysmal train journey ever.
As an ex Central Line Guard, & then Motorman, in the 80's & 90's I well remember trips on this part of the line - especially drivers hitting pheasants on the way to Ongar & then stopping to pick up the dead bird on the way back to Epping.
It was quite usual for guards operated the doors from the leading car - which was totally against the rules. Then they'd joined the "motorman" in the cab (it was always a motorman in control of an underground train back in the 80's - unless you were on the the Victoria Line, in which case they were an "Operator")
I often took a train from Epping to Ongar or back & only had 2 passengers onboard. So no surprise the line closed.
One thing not mentioned in the video is how the M11 bridge over the railway, build in about 1973, was built to "Tube Stock" gauge & the how the track there had to be lowered by about 3 ft before standard gauge stock would fit under it. If I remember rightly this was done as an "exercise" for the army.
My paternal grandparents lived in Chipping Ongar, and I went to Epping with my Nan a few times in the 1970's. We went on the train, as the bus took ages.
I believe Blake Hall station only existed, as the line ran over land owned by the incumbent of Blake Hall, who let the line be built if a station for his staff was built as well - It's right in the sticks, so low passenger numbers were a guarantee.
As well as the airfield at North Weald, there is also a fascinating Victoria fort/redoubt/whatever right near the station.
I lived in Epping as a child/ teenager, and often caught the train from Epping to Blake Hall to fish (successfully) the farm pond a few hundred yards up the road from the station. Very happy memories!
A great upload. A few interesting facts... the electrical equipment used on the line came from the Alexandra Palace branch (which had been fully equipped before the 2nd World War started)! As you know that line wasn't juiced up because of the Green Belt (in London???) but the equipment went out to leafy Essex instead.... stupidity regarding public transport has been around for decades! And the last Underground train from Ongar wasn't in the early hours as the service was peaks only, so it was around 19.00ish time...... The preserved line got it's major upgrade in 2007 as the line's owner had sold Blue Triangle Buses (who i worked for at the time) to Go-Ahead for a very large sum, part of which was invested in the line... thanks Go-Ahead!
The heritage railway and the heritage rail replacement bus service. As a Londoner....love that joke. 😆
There is another piece of disused track, I know of, that has been put back into use, it's a branch line route in Croydon, which is being used by the Croydon tram system.
North Weald has an annual air show, at the old airfield.
I love watching the Railcam UK feed of Epping Tube station, watching for the train that will move first, which is recorded near the signal cabin. 😁
The fact that the was a voltage drop on the line, just shows how bad London Underground's financial support was at that time, and we all know where that lead.
It led to a surplus of a's. 😀
North Weald airfield is quite busy. It is the base of the Essex air ambulance and the museum is well worth a visit. I spent a fortnight there testing the landing and take-off performance of a particular model of aircraft on "unimproved" runways.
@@hb1338 It was used by the RAF in the Second World War, used as part of the Battle of Britain airfields, but I'm sure you know that. The disused line, now used by the Croydon trams, goes along, next to a park in Morden, that used to be another RAF Battle of Britain airfield, Morden Hall Park.
I remember the Air Shows at RAF North Weald, which included the Red Arrows, also the Vulcan Bomber landing there & when Pop Star Gary Numan did a fly pass!
The “ZERO POINT” for mileage measurements for exact identification of stations? Thanks for sharing that nifty pice of pub trivia!! 🍻 (Gorgeous countryside!!)
My great grandad used to work at Ongar station for the Eastern Railway, I've seen a lovely photo of him in the signal box in very much the style of the era. I think this was in the days when they used to supply housing for the staff too. I keep meaning to go and have a look myself.
I had a ride on the Epping to Ongar extension on it last month on the London Underground in September 1994. Very few passengers so it's a wonder it lasted so long really. The trains were 4 car 1962 stock in the final years.
An interesting fact is that Ongar goods yard is the only place in Britain where scorpions live in the wild. How they got there no-one actually knows but it can be assumed that they escaped from a parcel there.
I remember an interesting documentary on Scorpions many years ago where they actually watched scorpions crossing the platform at Ongar. For ref, they are/were about 3cm long and their stinger wouldnt penetrate your skin - just in case you come across one.
Actually scorpions also live on the sea walls at Tilbury. I saw it on BBC's Coast.
Not true. They also live in Sheerness Docks in Kent and have been featured in at least one TV wildlife program.
@@kevinm3586
Ah yes but, Sheerness isn't "wild" its quite nice realy 😂
Some rather large spiders live or lived in Sheerness Docks when I worked there, they came off the banana boats... and of course global warming must help.🙂
Thank you for this, it brought back memories of being onboard the last, and crowded, train out of Ongar. Aldwych closed on the same day, so fans had to choose one or the other.
I drove a Class 25 on this line 10 years ago. It was a great experience!
It's interesting that although the line has mostly been restored to a 'big railway' appearance, there are still a few items left from its years as an Underground line - like the fog repeater signal which appears a couple of times. Nice to see carriages in British Rail blue and grey, too. That's a historic livery now!
Thank you for another great video, Jago. I must admit this line is one of my favourites. I managed to get a ride on it in its last week of operation under London Underground control (though I didn’t get much of a view of the lovely woodland and countryside on that trip as it was early on a September evening and was almost completely dark!) -have made a few visits since EOR operation.
Not long before LU closed the line a number of trips were made by an eight car 1992 stock train. Not completely sure why but partly to see if it was possible and to see how the train performed under the lower voltage at the Ongar end. Dad drove on a couple of these trips and on one occasion he drove the train all the way from Ongar platform to West Ruislip platform before putting the train away in Ruislip Depot. Although not confirmed, he’s pretty sure this is the only time an 8-car ‘92 has ever been driven from Ongar to West Ruislip (or an 8-car train of any stock for that matter)!
Whenever I visit my parents for christmas, me and my dad always go to the Epping-Ongar railway, the sight of it is delightful to see, even just a simple ride up and down to and from Ongar is lovely; and the gift shop gave me my favourite coffee mug, a GWR resealable one so hell yeah
As somebody who lives at the other end of the Central Line, I remember it running out to Epping and then with that funny extension to Ongar. I had no idea it had closed (but it doesn't surprise me)!
Grew up in North Weald and have been waiting years for you to do this! It really is a great railway and your video more than does it justice. Great stuff 😀
As a plus for getting the trains back to Epping, for once the right of way is still there, even the tracks. Suspect the main issue would be TfL not wanting anyone messing with the timetable.
I have used the heritage railway,after the Central Line Service Ceased,a couple of years before the pandemic-I found it a very enjoyable experience !!!
I love when a heritage line could be used for practical reasons.
I would love to see the two services meet.
I had a grand day out when I went to the Epping-Ongar Railway. The trip on the Central Line to Epping, the vintage bus ride through Epping itself and then the steam train ride on the railway made for a superb 3-in-1 experience.
The chaps in the signal box at North Weald really are nuts. I am very grateful that nearly 10 years ago now on a visit they completely unprompted took me and two friends in to the box to show us round, as well as down amongst the trains parked up.
Interesting piece of trivia I remember reading about the EOR: when doing the track work to reopen the line, they had to lower the track bed under the bridge where the M11 motorway crosses over. When that bridge was at some point re-built during the line's days as a tube line, it provided enough clearance for tube stock, but not for mainline trains!
I only used it one when in LT service. That was when I was ib Post Office telecoms and had a visit to th eold Ongar Radio Station. I visited agaon during a beer festival there and the highlight was th eappearance of the preserved "Captialcard" advertising bus, this had a DMS bus front (THM 515M), a tube train car section in the middle and a copy (?) of a class 321 EMU (321434-P) at the rear all on a Daimler bus chassis. A good day out!!
I went on the Epping to Ongar Railway in August while I was on vacation. I gotta say, it was quite relaxing compared to the chaos of central London.
Also, I can’t believe I visited the railway before Jago did, even though I don’t even live in the UK.
I love the style of station building used by the Great Eastern at Ongar and North Weald - great to see trains still running between them.
I’ll admit, I’ve always been delighted by the Epping-Ongar Railway ever since I first learned of it years ago as a boy, but one does wonder why London Transport chose to keep this route instead of the one between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace; more people in North London than rural Essex, after all. Also, it does speak of how cash-strapped they were that they couldn’t afford just one more electrical substation at Ongar
edit - meant Finsbury Park when I said Highgate previously
Substation transformers are very expensive.
@@simontay4851 Dad?
They never really wanted it that much. It took them from 1949 to 1957 to take it over after they electrified to Epping, and replace the residual steam shuttle service. It was retained due to lack of alternative transport which didn't apply to the Finsbury Park-Highgate-Ally Pally line, although if that had survived longer it would surely have been a useful link today (more logically as an alternative Piccadilly northern outlet rather than a continuation of the line from Moorgate as originally planned). And as you say, it really was electrified on the cheap. Rock bottom in fact, just the conductor rails. I travelled from Blake Hall in its last days in 1982 (cycling from Harlow) and still have the ticket.
@@iankemp1131 I agree that the branch from Finsbury Park to Highgate would make an excellent second northern Piccadilly line route, balancing the two (or three, if you count Heathrow T4 and T5 as separate) termini in the west. Is Muswell Hill+Alexandra Palace really possible? - if not, it could extend from Highgate to Mill Hill East and hopefully Mill Hill Broadway, doing a similar job as the Victoria line does so successfully when it turns NE after Finsbury Park.
Nice video by the way, Jago
It was a real shame that the line to Alexandra Palace was abandoned. The Muswell Hill area is quite densely populated and most of the infrastructure was in place. I can't remember if the conductor rails had been laid as I was quite young at the time, but I am sure that I saw the usual London Transport station signs on Highgate surface level station.
I did make the mistake of parking at Ongar once in order to go to Roding Valley and it was a very long return trip.
Great video Jago 😊 a little fact regarding Blake Hall station. When London Transport closed the station in 1981 the very few passengers would ask the motorman to stop the train and allow them to alight. Well..... London Transport didnt like that...... so what did they do ?. They removed the plaform coping stones, what spoilsports 😮
My wife and I travelled over the line while it was being electrified. The powerrails were in along most of the line but it was still GE tanks and wooden coaches.
It's good to see a use for this line going forward, to ease local annoyance. Remember you can't look back in Ongar
This is a nice video of what i think of as London's steam railway. Hopefully full interchange at Epping will come.
As for getting to see a wild Jago, well, that's more of a win than being Stationmaster at Blake Hall, as John Betjeman aspired to
We have done this railway a few times. Never knowingly spotted a wild Jago, but still a good day out.
Great vid, been waiting for you to do this little very local line to me. I'm a regular down there for their ale train days and have started volunteers on the bar too.
The line and The London Bus Company are owned by the same chap, he's very much a bus man but its excellent he invested in the line. The 339 service is also a fully timetabled public service so anbody has hop on for the £2 fare, some carry on through Ongar to Shenfield mainline.
Isn't that the guy who owned EnsignBus?
Yes. Very nice chap@@Suprahampton
@@Suprahampton no, different chap. EO Railway guy used to own Blue Triangle but sold to GoAhead.
Happy memories for me. I lived in Ongar for six months in the 1970 as a student on placement at the research station that belonged to May & Baker (another name from the past). I often took the underground from Ongar to Epping and then changed trains to go into central London at weekends.
I do quite find it funny that this section of the tube closed on the same day the Aldwych on the Piccadilly line closed
I wouldn't be surprised if the underground made a single application to parliament to close both routes
Remember going to Ongar back in my student days in 1976 - staying in a research / hostel somewhere near the Roding river. Was there to examine the insect / invertebrate fauna. Remember finding a glow-worm by the side of a dark lane on the way back from the pub one night! And also an elephants head hawk moth in the woods! After that I escaped from Biology!
Really interesting video on this formr section of the Central Line. Thanks Jago. Having never had the opportunity to travel between North Weald and Ongar, this makes it more of an objective to try this heritage line. I only travelled the Hainault loop for the first time last month (September 2023)!
Hi Jago. I was one of the bus drivers on the day you filmed this, although I seem to have missed you and you missed me!
I only know this because as you passed Blake Hall, you catch a glimpse of my motorhome.
As I live in Cornwall, I only get up to Epping once or twice a year but it's always a highlight of my year.
Hi, Eppinger here. I know somebody who actually used to use Blake Hall tube station a fair bit. Crazy, right?! Apparently the people who lived there requested to have a station there. Also, the leader of Pink Floyd apparently used to have planes at North Weald airfield!! I am so glad you finally did this railway!!!
Yes, Blake Hall was built because the local landowner wanted a station when the GER originally built the branch in the 19th century. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. Nearest village was about a mile away. It was the closest station to Greensted-juxta-Ongar with its unique wooden Saxon church - worth a quick visit on your way to Ongar.
@@iankemp1131: you probably know that Blake Hall station is now a private house. My dream is to buy an old station house and watch the trains pass by my windows.
Gary Numan used to have his stunt plane there.
@@eattherich9215 Poet Laureate John Betjeman once said he wanted to become stationmaster at Blake Hall. (It was an April Fool gag.)
After the Epping to Ongar line was closed, it still ran once a year to take passengers to the North Weald airshow.
That ta k locomotive is really cool. I wouldn't mind seeing a video dedicated to them. From New England, CHEERIO!
Nice video. I have visited the Epping Ongar Railway a few times over the years, including one occasion when they were running a former Met Line loco with restored Met Line carriages.
I’d like to visit this one day - thanks for showing us around, Jago 👍🏻
Nice little video, a reminder I'll have to visit the E&O again when I 'm down south sometime.
About 45 years back, on a sunny Spring day, I remember travelling with a friend to Ongar on the tube from South Ken just for a looksee of one of the extremities of the tube system. I don't think there were more than a dozen passengers on the tube train from Epping. I remember the last bit was all open countryside. There didn't seem much in Ongar to see, so we decided to take a little circular walk through some woods, by a stream, under a railway bridge then back round to the village. Within a short time, we were back on the tube train heading back. Nice enough countryside, I guess, but not very exciting really.
I was a guard on the Central Line when the E/O section was closed. I never got to work that section in service because I was based at White City, and the E/O was worked by Loughton or Leytonstone based crews.
Great video! The only time I ever used this line was 21st June 1986 on the launch of Network Southeast during their "Network day". £3 to travel wherever you wanted, so that's what me and my mate did. We spent the day travelling around the network just for the sake of it. Naturally, we had to do Ongar being on the furthest reaches of the tube map.
I remember reading an article that Ongar (like neighbouring Harlow) was considered to be a New Town, and if that had happened, Ongar Station would have been completely rebuilt with 4 platforms - think Uxbridge or the like, I guess. Apparently the water supply was only sufficient for either Ongar or Harlow, and they chose Harlow. Ongar was always a little too rural for a commuter railway, but my guess is that if they had doubled the line to North Weald, that would have made more sense - green belt or no green belt, that seems to have grown somewhat over the years.
Ah, The Epping Fryer, a well stocked bar and excellent fish and chips served at Ongar for the return journey to North Weald highly recommended yum!
A great video Jago, on a brilliant and friendly heritage railway! Well worth a visit..
Old enough to have travelled the line a few times. I once spent a whole morning sitting at Ongar station doing research for a friend's university thesis - something about timetables and comparative studies. He's been a transport guru ever since so I suppose it was worth it!
I spent a number odd days on the EOR on a number of visits to the UK, including my 75th birthday last October.
A wonderful line and a great group who run it. Including the bus guys.
Did you see the memorial on Ongar Platform to the RC Parish Priest, who departed there in early April 1912 to visit the USA, he never arrived and spent his last hours of his life giving absolution to the other passengers of the Titanic, waiting for his & their ultimate fate!
Thank you for this, I look forward to being there for their pre-Christmas runs.
the penny dropped with the mention of trains picking up milk...
milk runs.
something I'd always thought, until now, was descriptive of a milkman's route,
but I had only ever heard in reference to trains.
thanks for making the connection (if you'll pardon the pun. which I'm sure you will).
In my youth (a long time ago) I used to explore the Underground a great deal - often while bunking off school. I alwayshad a soft spot for the Epping to Ongar section and am still pleased that I actually visited Blake Hall on one occasion. I seeem to recall that the way out was along a muddy footpath across a field to the road.
You definitely saved the most interesting bit for last with that tidbit on the system zero point. If there's enough material for a video I'd be interested to hear more about that. I love learning about zero points, triple points, etc.
I honestly didn't think the preserved railway would thrive, but it has. I watch the web cams at Epping and the yellow loco there fascinates me. Maybe another video?
Season 2 Ep6 of “The Tube” (the 2004 series) has a short segment on it; it’s apparently a piece of Standard Stock with its passenger saloons removed and the cabs put together that was bought privately by an LU signaller to save it from scrap.
I went to Epping in 2019 (a good 15 years after the episode aired) and was happy to see it was still there.
Fun facts -
5521 (L150) operated in Poland for a number of years, hence the air braking equipment.
5521 also wears a cut down cab, reducing her height, from 13ft, to fit the smaller 12ft 4" to operate on LUL's sub surface routes.
Excellent and interesting. A well-told story, as always… many thanks 🙏
I want to go on this railway. As I mentioned in your recent bus video where you went to Harlow, my grandfather lived in Harlow, so I would go visit him using Epping station. Also used to go to North Weald Market often as a child. My grandmother currently is in a nursing home near Buckhurst Hill. I also have a tube map from 1977 (20 years before I was born) that includes this section of the Central Line.
Quite surprised you missed the story that Ongar has (or had? It's been a while) it's own Scorpion burrow in the platform and/or surrounding area. Possibly an urban legend, possibly not.
Apparently genuine, there's another discussion on it elsewhere in the comments
No not a legend I used to use this line occasionally in the 60s and 70s and I have actually seen the odd scorpion although they are very tiny .
7:30 always love a West Country shout out in a Jago Hazzard video
My own personal cutbacks have meant that I have been unable to pay a visit to the EOR all year, and now look at what I missed because of that! 😮 Nice to know Jago got hellos from other subscribers though.
Great video Jago. It was nice to see parts of the line in daylight. We went from Ongar last year on the winter illuminations train which was good.
Ah, the the thought of moving the zero point. Such joys and delights, not to mention confusion, would occur as to be a bureaucrat's dream, so why hasn't it happened?
I still want am explanation of how this works for lines that aren't connected to the Central?
Almost certainly because of the cost of replacing hundreds or thousands of kilometre posts across the entire Underground - IIRC they are every 0.2 km! Plus the staff now know the kilometre location for all their local bridges, signals etc, so would have to relearn it if it was all altered by 14.4 km or however much it would be. Actually no obvious drawbacks in having a "virtual" zero point.
@@iankemp1131 Ah, but just think about all that lovely paperwork required for each post, each bridge, each structure..... Bureaucrats of the world unite ;-)
Thank you for this little bit of nostalgia. Taking the ride from Epping to Ongar is on the list of things transport related that I would like to do. However, it will probably fall by the wayside just like going to Imber. Sigh.
My father, who worked as a BM at Hounslow garage, was persuaded by my mother to move to Braintree a few years before he retired (my brother & his wife lived there so grandchildren were involved). Long story long short Dad commuted across the network on a daily basis courtesy of his LT staff travel pass. Some other LT staff did similar, as non revenue users did they get included in the stats? The long journey LT staff were first & last service users and tended to sit in the mid carriage seats as the NVH was much less there than over the bogies as well as the transverse seats proving a better ride experience.
The Ongar line has always interested me. It’s a country branch that was part of an urban mass-transit system; the two don’t usually go together, yet here they do. The last view you’d expect to see from the window of a tube train is rural Essex, hust as you wouldn’t normally expect to see a deep tube train in such a place. Yet here, you could.
Were Blake Hall still open, it would have easily been the least-used station on the network. Following closure in 1981, trains would apparently still stop on request, until LT got wind of it and removed part of the platform. The station did indeed take its power supply from the traction current, so the “lights flickering” story is probably true.
Though the 1992TS started Central Line work just under a year before the Ongar closure (November 1993 I think), I’m not sure they ever worked on the line despite having it programmed into their DVAs. Iirc one train ran as far as North Weald for an air show; not sure how that would have worked given how feeble the traction current was.
On a humourous side note (if you’re into this sort of thing), Adrian Edmondson’s book “How To Be A Complete B***tard” (1986) suggests telling foreign tourists that all famous London landmarks are within walking distance of Ongar Tube Station. That’s one way to be seen as such.
Although there was a legitimate reason this line was not sustainable. I does show how running down a railway is a perfect way to just lose even more money. They went from 32 passengers to 10 passengers a day and that was from a terrible service to a somehow even worse one over 3 times drop in passengers but it wasn't because they had reduced costs by 3 times.
When open, Ongar was the preferred starting point for people attempting the all underground stations record. They would stay in an Ongar hotel the previous night and get the first train out in the morning. I believe a train was kept there overnight.
I appreciate the main gist of the video wasn't about a line from Fenchurch Street in the 1850s but it always strikes me as, frankly, amazing, that railways were leaving "central London" such as it was then, to reach nigh on where the modern M25 is.
I mean, put that in context of World events & that pre-dates the first ironclad warships actually having to fight one another at Hampton Roads.
The United States itself wasn't even 100 years old.
Its almost "pinch yourself" sort of stuff.
The zero point observation is particularly wonderful
In his book "London Transport Railways (Ian Allen Ltd 1991), John Glover has a photo of a 1959 Tube stock train pulling into Blake Hall Station with one passenger waiting to board (must have been peak hour). Also in his book is a photo of another LT line operated by steam until 1960, the Chesham branch. It used ex LMS Ivatt class locos hauling a three car set of wooden carriages converted from electric traction.