The Hall Farm Curve is a disused length of railway line in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London and the ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Charing Cross, the town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and Sout ...

east London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the ...

, that connected Chingford station with

Stratford station Stratford is a major multi-level railway station which rates as the 5th busiest station in Britain, serving the district of Stratford and the mixed-use development known as Stratford City, in the London Borough of Newham, east London. It is ...

until the closure of the section of line in September 1968. The track was lifted in 1970.

Route

Located between Hall Farm Junction and Lea Bridge Junction, the Hall Farm Curve connected two of the

Lea Valley Lines The Lea Valley lines are two commuter lines and two branches in north-east London, so named because they run along the Lower Lea Valley of the River Lea. They were part of the Great Eastern Railway, now part of the ''Anglia Route'' of Network ...

- that running between Stratford and Tottenham Hale, and that running between Liverpool Street and Chingford. It was situated opposite the existing Clapton Curve, which connects Liverpool Street and Tottenham Hale. The Coppermill Curve connected Chingford and Tottenham Hale, the track was lifted in 1960. Lea Bridge railway station is located a short distance to the south of the junction on the Stratford line. It was closed in 1985, but reopened in spring 2016.

History

The curve was opened on 26 April 1870 as the original route from London to Walthamstow. When the direct line to Clapton opened in 1872, it was used by a regular service between Stratford and Chingford until 1940. Weekend services continued on the line until 1950. In 1960 the Chingford line was

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

, and overhead wires erected over the Hall Farm curve, but not the Stratford line. It was still used as a diversionary and freight route, using diesel haulage. However,

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

closed the line in 1968 and removed the track from the curve in 1970.

Possible reinstatement

Campaigns have been run since the 1990s to have both the curve and Lea Bridge station reinstated. Lea Bridge station re-opened in 2016. Legal powers to re-lay the spur were obtained by

in 1992, but not exercised. The proposal has the support of

Waltham Forest London Borough Council Waltham Forest London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Waltham Forest in London, England which has existed since the London Government Act 1963 was commenced in 1965, replacing three local authorities: Chingford Bor ...

; Jennette Arnold, Labour Party politician and member of the

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...

representing the

London Boroughs The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at t ...

of Hackney,

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...

and Waltham Forest;

Stella Creasy Stella Judith Creasy (born 5 April 1977) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for the London constituency of Walthamstow since 2010. She served in the frontbench teams of Ed Miliband and Harriet ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Walthamstow; the

Liberal Democrats, the Chingford and Woodford Green Liberal Democrats, the Chingford and Woodford Green Labour Party; and

Railfuture Railfuture (formerly the Railway Development Society) is a UK advocacy group which promotes better rail services for passengers and freight across a bigger rail network. The group's national policies are determined by its national board of dir ...

, an independent organisation campaigning for better rail services in the UK. Transport for London ran a study on the feasibility of reopening the curve for 2016 that produced a result with a benefit-cost ratio ranging between 8:1 and 14:1 depending on the length of trains involved. In 2007, the Greater Anglia Route Utilisation Strategy published by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...

suggested that construction of the curve could be possible by 2019 or later. Designs for new services run using the curve have been suggested to reduce journey times between Chingford and Stratford to 20 minutes, and high-frequency journeys between Walthamstow Central and Stratford to 12 minutes from the current duration of about 35 minutes. In January 2017 the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, responded to a petition for the reinstatement of the curve, stating that whilst TFL "supports the principle of improving connectivity between Waltham Forest and Stratford", it would not be possible due to expenses involved in purchasing non-railway land and constructing additional platforms at Stratford. In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments).
p.42

References

External links

Map of the Hall Farm Curve
shown in the London Borough of Waltham Forest'
LDF Core Strategy Proposed Submission, Appendix 5 - Proposals Map Changes

Satellite view of the site of Hall Farm Curve on Google Maps

{{Proposed rail infrastructure projects in the United Kingdom Standard gauge railways in England Closed railway lines in London Proposed railway lines in London Railway lines closed in 1968 1970 disestablishments in England Walthamstow