Leyton Midland Road is a

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...

station in

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is on the Gospel Oak to Barking line, down the line from and situated between and stations in

Travelcard Zone 3 Fare zone 3 is an inner zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail Nationa ...

. It is the closest railway station to

Bakers Arms Bakers Arms is an intersection and arguably a district on the boundary of Leyton and Walthamstow, in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is named after a former public house which stood at the junction of High Road Leyton, Hoe Street ( ...

History

The station opened on 9 July 1894 as part of the

Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway The Tottenham & Forest Gate Railway was a railway line in north London, formed by an Act of Parliament of 1890 and built as joint venture between the Midland Railway and the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. It officially opened on 1 July 189 ...

and was originally called "Leyton".Barking to Gospel Oak Rail User Group - A Short History of the Line
/ref> On 17 August 1915, three explosive bombs from the German

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L.10 landed on or near the station, destroying the ticket office and a billiard hall in the arches under the platform and damaging several houses nearby. Four people were killed. The station was renamed Leyton Midland Road on 1 May 1949. The goods yard, which was just beyond the station, closed on 6 May 1968. As with Leytonstone High Road and

Wanstead Park Wanstead Park is a municipal park covering an area of about 140 acres (57 hectares), in Wanstead, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It is also a district of the London Borough of Redbridge, which was in Essex until 1965. It is administered as p ...

stations, the booking office was built into the viaduct arch. By the 1980s all the old buildings had been removed and the Greater London Council built a new booking office on Midland Road itself. A few years later that was closed and demolished when, like other stations, Leyton Midland Road became unstaffed.

Station today

Since the takeover by London Overground the station has benefited from a major refit including deep clean, new signing, a ticket machine and additional waiting shelters. The community garden which was started by members of the GOBLIN support group is tended by station staff now, one of whom recently won an award for outstanding service to passengers. The station also contains help points and automatic ticket gates have now been installed. Controversially, the Midland Road entrance is now closed.

Services and connections

The service has been improved in stages to four trains per hour, weekdays and weekends except late evenings when it goes down to two trains per hour.

London Bus Buses have been used as a mode of public transport in London since 1829, when George Shillibeer started operating a horse-drawn ''omnibus'' service from Paddington to the City of London. In the decades since their introduction, the red London b ...

routes 69, 97 and W16 and night route

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serve the station.

Recent proposals

In common with other stations on the line, usage has greatly increased in recent years, following improvements in train services and the reintroduction of station staff, and peak-hour overcrowding of the two-car diesel trains is now a major issue. Electrification of the line was finally approved after a long campaign and was achieved for 2017. Services from the station were suspended for 8 months (June 2016 – February 2017) whilst the work was carried out.

References

External links

{{UK railway stations Railway stations in the London Borough of Waltham Forest DfT Category E stations Former Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1894 Railway stations served by London Overground Leyton