History
The NLR's headquarters and locomotive works were initially at Bow. At first it ran trains from Camden Town to Poplar, and from there via the London and Blackwall Railway to Blackwall and the East India Docks; a connection at Bow allowed trains to also run to Fenchurch Street. This arrangement lasted until 1865, when an extension from Dalston Junction to Broad Street was opened; Broad Street became the main terminus, and the Poplar line became a branch.
In the meantime, the line had been extended westwards to Hampstead Road in 1851 to join the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). In 1858 the line was extended along the North and South Western Junction Railway (a joint enterprise by the LNWR, Midland Railway, and the NLR) from Willesden Junction and a connecting London and South Western Railway branch to Richmond. An additional bypass line from Camden to Willesden Junction via Gospel Oak and West Hampstead opened in 1860. Meanwhile, at the eastern end, a spur line connecting the NLR to Stratford from Victoria Park opened in 1854 but was not used by passenger services.
The LNWR took over the working of the railway on 1 Feb 1909. The NLR Company remained in existence until 1922, with its own board of directors and shareholders, when it was then absorbed by the LNWR. It was done under The Railways Act, 1921 (the grouping act). The last board meeting and last shareholder meeting were both held on 23 November 1922, the latter giving the shareholders approval to the absorption. The board minutes were signed by A Holland-Hibbert, the chairman, who added ‘Goodbye!’
Beneath this was typed, ‘This was the last Board Meeting of the North London Railway Company, the Undertaking being absorbed under “The London and North Western Railway (North London Railway and Dearne Valley Railway) Preliminary Absorption Scheme 1922” by the London and North Western Railway Company as from 1 January 1922.’
The LNWR, which half-owned Broad Street station, was responsible for fourth-rail electrification of the Broad Street services to Richmond and to Kew Bridge in 1916. The Kew Bridge service was cut as a wartime economy measure in 1940 and never resumed.
The line from Dalston Junction to Poplar was heavily damaged during The Blitz. Passenger service from Broad Street to Poplar via Victoria Park and Bow was not reinstated at the end of the war (its official closure was 14 May 1944). The section from Broad Street to Dalston Junction was closed on 30 June 1986.
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