London and Blackwall Railway - History

History

It was authorised by an Act of Parliament entitled "An Act for making a Railway from the Minories to Blackwall, with Branches, to be called "The Commercial Railway" dated 28 July 1836 in the reign of William IV.

The engineer of the line was intended to be John Rennie, but the project’s City financiers favoured Robert Stephenson, believing that they would also benefit from the knowledge and wisdom of his respected father George. Although, because of the Act, Robert Stephenson had to follow Rennie’s route, and use the obscure track gauge of 5 ft 0 1⁄₂ in (1,537 mm), he was free to choose his own method of propulsion. Drawing on his experience with the Camden Incline on the London and Birmingham Railway he decided upon cable-haulage from stationary steam engines.

The railway was carried on a brick arches as far as the West India Docks, and then on an embankment, before entering a shallow cutting near the Blackwall terminus, which was at Brunswick Wharf. The station there had an iron-roofed shed, and offices designed in an Italianate style by William Tite.

The line opened on 6 July 1840, and the company changed its name to the London and Blackwall Railway on completion of an extension to Fenchurch Street railway station, just within the City boundary, in 1841. A line from Stepney (now called Limehouse) linking it with the Eastern Counties Railway at Bow was opened in 1849, at which time the line was converted to steam locomotive operation, and the track converted to 4 ft 8 1⁄₂ in (1,435 mm) Standard gauge. This was joined to the new London, Tilbury and Southend Railway in 1858, allowing that company’s trains to run more directly into Fenchurch Street.

In 1852 the North London Railway had linked up with the L&BR at Poplar, and Fenchurch Street also became the terminus for that line until Broad Street opened in 1865. In 1871 another branch line, the Millwall Extension Railway, opened from Millwall Junction to Millwall Docks to serve the West India Docks better. A year later the line was extended further to North Greenwich, subsequently the site of the original Island Gardens DLR station.

In 1893 the Fenchurch Street-Stepney line was widened to four tracks, but by the turn of the century traffic to Blackwall and the Isle of Dogs was dropping. Passenger services east of Stepney to North Greenwich and Blackwall were stopped on 3 May 1926, and the minor stations at Leman Street and Shadwell were closed in 1941. The junction at Stepney was disconnected in 1951, restricting access to the curve via Limehouse, but this itself was abandoned in 1963. Access for occasional goods services to Blackwall and North Greenwich via the North London Railway at Poplar continued until 1968, but with the closure of the docks the line was completely abandoned, leaving only the Fenchurch Street–Stepney section still in use, by the LT&SR.

When the Docklands Light Railway opened in 1987, it reused much of the L&BR line between Minories and Westferry Road. Additionally, part of the viaduct at North Greenwich for the line to the original terminus between Mudchute DLR station and Island Gardens survived and was used, though this section became disused again when the extension to Lewisham was constructed and those stations replaced with ones nearby but below ground.