History
The station was opened on 13 April 1854 by the London Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR) on their new line to Tilbury, which split from the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) at Forest Gate. A shorter route from London between Little Ilford and Gas Factory Junction in Bow, and avoiding the ECR, opened in April 1858. A "Pitsea direct" branch was completed in June 1888 giving more direct access to Southend-on-Sea via Upminster, and avoiding Tilbury. The station was rebuilt in 1889. In 1894 the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway was extended by means of the Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway to join the 1854 line from Forest Gate to Tilbury. District line services initially operated over the tracks of the LTSR from 1902. In 1905 a pair of tracks was electrified as far as East Ham and the service was cut back there. It was extended back to Barking in 1908 and eastwards to Upminster, over a new set of tracks, from 1932. Hammersmith and City line, then known as the Metropolitan line, service began in 1936.
The station booking hall was completely rebuilt 1959-61 to designs by architect John Ward of British Railways Eastern Region Architect's Department. Pevsner states it was "erected to coincide with electrification of the railway" and that "it is commensurately modern in outlook and unquestionably one of the best English stations of this date". The station was reopened by the Queen in 1961. It is now a Grade II listed building.
Read more about this topic: Barking Station
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