The City Branch was a short spur of the North London Line allowing direct access from the east-west main route of the

North London Railway The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the East and West India Docks further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fe ...

to the terminus at Broad Street in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

History

The North London Railway (NLR) was founded in 1850 with the intention of operating a network of railway lines throughout north London that connected to the

East India East India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The region roughly corresponds to the historical region of Magadh ...

and

West India Docks The West India Docks are a series of three docks, quaysides and warehouses built to import goods from and export goods and occasionally passengers to the British West Indies on the Isle of Dogs in London the first of which opened in 1802. Follow ...

. The company's main headquarters was at Bow, and from there a connection to the

London and Blackwall Railway Originally called the Commercial Railway, the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR) in east London, England, ran from Minories to Blackwall via Stepney, with a branch line to the Isle of Dogs, connecting central London to many of London's docks. ...

's route allowed the NLR's trains access to a terminus in the City of London, in this case

Fenchurch Street Fenchurch Street is a street in London linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many corporate office ...

. However, this meant that, in order to reach the City, the NLR's trains had to take a fairly circuitous route, and so the company decided to build its own central terminus. In 1861, the North London Railway Act was passed giving permission to the NLR to build an extension from its main line through Hackney to a site at Old Broad Street. The majority of the route was built on a viaduct from

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...

, with a

triangular junction In railroad structures, and rail terminology, a wye (like the'' 'Y' ''glyph) or triangular junction (often shortened to just "triangle") is a triangular joining arrangement of three rail lines with a railroad switch (set of points) at each cor ...

allowing access to the main line in both directions. The extension had four new stations: *

Dalston Junction Dalston Junction (pronounced ) is an inter-modal rail and bus transport interchange in Dalston, London. It is located at the crossroads of Dalston Lane, Kingsland Road and Balls Pond Road. The station served by London Overground East London li ...

- the closest station to the main line, with the junction heading both east and west just north of it, *

Haggerston Haggerston is a locale in East London, England, centred approximately on Great Cambridge Street (now renamed Queensbridge Road). It is within the London Borough of Hackney and is considered to be a part of London's East End. It is about 3.1 miles ...

* Shoreditch * Broad Street - the NLR's new terminus Passenger services along the Kingsland Viaduct to Broad Street began in November 1865. Initially, the branch had three running lines; a fourth line was added in 1874. The route was electrified in 1916 using the 600 V DC third and fourth rail system, with the purchase of new electric rolling stock. However, only the western five platforms at Broad Street were electrified. Both Haggerston and Shoreditch stations, as well as the rest of the branch, received heavy damage in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, and were closed in 1940, leaving Dalston Junction as the only intermediate station between Broad Street and the main line. At this time, passenger numbers on the branch were declining. The eastern route to Poplar was closed in 1944, while services from the rest of London declined. The route was earmarked for closure under the Beeching Axe in 1963, but remained open due to local pressure. However, the opening of other routes led to further services being withdrawn until it was decided in 1985 that the route would be mothballed. By then had opened to serve the Dalston area, and both Dalston Junction and Broad Street were closed.

Today

Although the route was mothballed following the closure of Broad Street in 1986, the trackbed along the Kingsland Viaduct remained intact. As a consequence, much of the route was restored when Transport for London took possession of it to construct the East London Line extension. This has seen the reopening of Dalston Junction and Haggerston stations, as well as the construction of a new station at

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. It li ...

. This follows the old route until it reaches

Shoreditch High Street Shoreditch High Street is the old main street of Shoreditch, London. It is part of the A10 road and connects Norton Folgate to the south with Kingsland Road to the north. It constitutes a segment of the Roman Ermine Street, which ran directly ...

, where it then connects to a new build route towards

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

External links

Abandoned Stations; Broad Street-Dalston
{{Railway lines in London Railway lines in London Standard gauge railways in London