Beckton railway station was a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

Beckton Beckton is a suburb in east London, England, located east of Charing Cross and part of the London Borough of Newham. Adjacent to the River Thames, the area consisted of unpopulated marshland known as the East Ham Levels in the parishes of Barki ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

originally owned by the

Gas Light and Coke Company The Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company), was a company that made and supplied coal gas and coke. The headquarters of the company were located on Ho ...

, to serve the (then) recently built

Beckton Gas Works Beckton Gasworks was a major London gasworks built to manufacture coal gas and other products including coke from coal. It has been variously described as 'the largest such plant in the world' Winchester C (Ed), ''Handling 2,000,000 tons of coal ...

. The line was opened for freight in 1872 and to passengers in 1874. It was leased to the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern Ra ...

from 1874.Jackson A.A, ''London's Local Railways'', David & Charles, 1978,

History

Beckton was the only station on the Beckton branch of the railway, which left the EC&TJR at

Custom House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

, heading initially east by north-east before levelling out to due east once it crossed what is today the Woolwich Manor Way. The station shut to passengers in 1940 after bombing in

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

cut it off from the rest of the network. Passenger services were not resumed when the line reopened as by now the works was better served by bus services using the Barking by-pass. The branch survived as a freight line, with the last trainload of pitch from the works leaving in December 1970.

Replacement

Today, most of the line to Beckton has been taken up and is now a public

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...

, known as the "Beckton Corridor". A short stretch of the line east of Woolwich Manor Way has been reused as the final part of the Beckton branch of the

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of Lo ...

Beckton DLR station Beckton is the eastern terminus of the Beckton branch of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in the Docklands area of east London. It is in Travelcard Zone 3. History When the London Docks and Beckton Gasworks were active, they were served by ...

is located several hundred yards west of Beckton railway station; "eastbound" trains from

Gallions Reach Gallions Reach is a stretch of the River Thames between Woolwich and Thamesmead. The area is named for the Galyons, a 14th-century family who owned property along this stretch of the river,Hidden London http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/ga ...

loop back round over the old line in the reverse direction, entering the station from the east.

References

Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1874 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1940 Disused railway stations in the London Borough of Newham Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway

Beckton Railway station Beckton railway station was a railway station in Beckton, London originally owned by the Gas Light and Coke Company, to serve the (then) recently built Beckton Gas Works. The line was opened for freight in 1872 and to passengers in 1874. It wa ...

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