End of the line: the demise of Ongar and the easternmost branch of the Central line

In the leafy surroundings of semi-rural Essex lie three former London Underground stations, none of which were in London or actually underground. North Weald, Blake Hall and Ongar all started as national rail stations but were partially integrated into the long-delayed extension of the Central line. But after decades of little use, they were eventually closed.  

Even so, they remain a quirky part of the history of the London Underground, and the branch continues to see use as part of the Epping Ongar heritage railway.
 

North Weald, Blake Hall and Ongar stations were all opened in 1865 by the Great Eastern Railway. Ongar was described by one station master as a ‘typical country station’ and, as these photos show, that was true of all three. For much of their early history, they were mainly used to transport produce from nearby farms into central London, rather than being heavily used by commuters.

An extension of the Central line into Essex had long been part of the New Works Programme. But this ambitious series of changes and extensions was delayed and curtailed by the Second World War. 

In 1949, London Underground took over the three stations to be part of the Central line. However, the service continued to be operated by British Railways for the Underground using steam trains. As the sign below shows, this was essentially a separate shuttle service operating between Epping and Ongar.
 

In 1957, the last six miles from Epping to Ongar were finally electrified and Tube trains could be used.  

With only a single track and infrequent services, this remote branch line saw little use. Rumours of its imminent closure started as early as 1970, when it was reportedly losing £100,000 a year. Its running times were restricted to peak hours only in 1976.

Despite this, local station staff took pride in their work and took customer service seriously. Staff at Ongar, including ‘leading railwaywoman’ Eveline Gassor, were awarded this certificate in 1981. 
 

As the Underground’s most easterly point, Ongar also had the unusual honour of being where all distances on the system were measured from, as shown by this 0.0-kilometre distance marker. This is still true today, despite the station being closed for more than 25 years. 

In this photo from 1980, Group Station Manager of the branch, Bill Amies, points down the single track in the direction of Epping and central London. Heathrow Terminal 5 station, on the other side of London, is more than 80km away.
 

Blake Hall station closed in 1981, the first to succumb to underuse. North Weald and Ongar stoically carried on. But as these photographs of Ongar from the 1980s and 1990s demonstrate, passengers were few and far between.

By the early 1990s, only 85 people a day were using Ongar. With little justification for continuing to run it, London Underground finally closed Ongar and North Weald in 1994, bringing an end to the operational history of this remote branch of the Underground network.

However, the branch lives on as part of the Epping Ongar Railway. While Blake Hall’s station building has been converted into a private home, North Weald and Ongar have been restored to their pre-London Underground appearance.

In 1998, London Underground sold the branch line. It reopened between 2004 and 2007 as a preserved railway, before a change of ownership led to the line being closed for restoration to a heritage steam railway. This opened in 2012 and continues to run between Epping and Ongar on a regular basis, sometimes featuring operational rail vehicles from the Museum’s collection. 

It seems fitting that a section of railway that began its life in the age of steam is once again seeing steam services.