Epping is a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

station in the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The station serves as the north-eastern terminus of the Central line. Located in

Travelcard Zone 6 Fare zone 6 is an outer 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, National Rail services (since 2007), and the El ...

, it is one of eight London Underground stations in the

Epping Forest District Epping Forest is a local government district in Essex, England. Situated in the west of the county, bordering northeastern Greater London, it is named after, and contains a large part of, Epping Forest. The district, though wholly within the c ...

. The station before Epping is Theydon Bois, which is about three minutes' travelling time away.

History

In 1856, the

Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on the first nine miles at the Lond ...

opened a double-track railway between Stratford and

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

. In 1865, its successor, 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 R ...

, added a single-track extension from Loughton to Ongar. The popularity of the line led to the doubling of the track between Loughton and Epping in 1892. The line was well served, with 50 trains operating between Liverpool Street and Loughton each day, a further 22 continuing to Epping and 14 more to Ongar. Loughton to Epping became part of the

Central line on 25 September 1949, leaving the single track line from Epping to Ongar as the last steam-worked section. British Railways continued running Ongar services until 1957 when the line was electrified and became part of the Central line. However, services did not run through to the rest of the Central line except for occasional depot workings, so passengers to/from stations beyond Epping normally had to change platforms for the single-track line to Ongar,

North Weald North Weald Bassett or simply North Weald is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. The village is within the North Weald Ridges and Valleys landscape area. A market is held every Saturday and Bank Holiday Mo ...

Blake Hall Blake Hall is a country house and gardens in the village and civil parish of Bobbingworth, near Chipping Ongar, Essex. The house incorporates an original fabric dating from the 17th century or older, but was largely rebuilt in the 18th century ...

stations. On 2 November 1981, Blake Hall closed and trains passed through the station. On 30 September 1994 London Underground withdrew the service between Epping and Ongar and subsequently sold off that section of the Central line. On 11 May 2008 an e-petition calling for the reopening of North Weald and Ongar stations was created on the Downing Street website. It closed on 11 December 2008 with 1012 signatures. Part of the Epping-Ongar line is now a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

, the

Epping Ongar Railway The Epping Ongar Railway is a heritage railway in south-west Essex, England, run by a small number of paid staff and a team of volunteers. It was the final section of the Great Eastern Railway branch line, later the London Underground's Centr ...

. Subject to finance and planning, the heritage railway propose to build a new station close to the tube station called Epping Forest as the heritage line cannot run in to the original station. Epping Station was to be the terminus of the proposed London Underground

Chelsea-Hackney line Crossrail 2 is a proposed hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit route in South East England, running from nine stations in Surrey to three in Hertfordshire, providing a new North–South rail link across Greater London. It would connect the S ...

(Crossrail 2). However, since 2013, the route options for this proposed line have been amended to terminate at New Southgate instead and no longer include the Epping branch.

The station today

Epping station saw a growth in passenger numbers in the mid 1990s due to the closures of nearby North Weald, Blake Hall and Ongar stations. This growth has continued due to significant development in

itself and surrounding villages. Another major contributing factor is that many people living in not too distant towns such as

Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upp ...

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

, and

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

use the station instead of their own

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the p ...

stations, because it is considerably cheaper to travel to London by London Underground than it is to use National Rail services. Growth is now at such a point where the station's car park is full by 6:30 am on weekdays, and parking around the station (as with other stations on this part of the line, e.g. Theydon Bois and Debden) has become a serious problem for local residents, which in turn has caused many residents and local groups to call for the re-opening of North Weald and Ongar stations to help ease demand on Epping station.

Trivia

* The longest possible journey on the London Underground without changing trains is the Central line route between West Ruislip and Epping (34.1 miles / 54.9 km). * In , Epping station had an annual usage of million and was the station on the London Underground. * Epping has the largest public London Underground station car park with 519 spaces. * It is the only London Underground station located outside the M25 motorway that is not served by the Metropolitan line.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

London's Abandoned Tube Stations – Epping to Ongar branch

* ttp://www.ltmcollection.org/photos/photo/photo.html?_IXSR_=DrUNJMgOhvq&_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=1998/75659&IXsummary=results/results&IXsearch=epping&_IXFIRST_=48 Epping station in 1953 {{Central line navbox Central line (London Underground) stations Proposed Chelsea-Hackney Line stations Tube stations in Essex London Underground stations located above ground Transport in Epping Forest District Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1865 Epping, Essex