History
The GER built the line to foster suburban growth in Edwardian Ilford and Chigwell; the results were mixed. Hainault station had so few passengers that it closed between 1908 and 1930. The loop passed to the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923 after the grouping of railways into The Big Four. The LNER added a station at Roding Valley in 1936 to serve a housing development. Most of the route transferred to the Central line of the London Transport Executive (LTE) during 1947 and 1948 as part of the war-delayed New Works Programme. The transfer brought fourth-rail electrification to replace steam and construction of a deep-level line connecting Leytonstone on the Ongar branch with Newbury Park on the loop, together with severing connections between Newbury Park and Ilford and Seven Kings.
First to go was the westward curve between Newbury Park Junction and Ilford Carriage Sidings Junction, on 30 November 1947. The other connection to Seven Kings West Junction was freight-only but endured until 19 March 1956. The whole triangular junction disappeared under expansion of Ilford carriage sheds in 1959. Freight trains operated by British Rail continued using the remaining loop via Woodford as far as Newbury Park until 4 October 1965. A short turn-back siding was provided on the former track-bed south of Newbury Park, which once freight trains were withdrawn was used by engineers' trains until 1992.
Read more about this topic: Fairlop Loop
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