London, Tilbury and Southend Railway

London, Tilbury & Southend Line

Legend MOD Pig's Bay 39m 40ch  Shoeburyness Shoeburyness carriage sidings 37m 73ch  Thorpe Bay 36m 49ch  Southend East 35m 55ch  Southend Central 34m 66ch  Westcliff 33m 69ch  Chalkwell 32m 43ch  Leigh-on-Sea 29m 11ch  Benfleet For Canvey Island 26m 52ch  Pitsea Jn 26m 42ch  Pitsea Milepost Change 32m 37ch  Pitsea 24m 26ch  Basildon 22m 69ch  Laindon Thameshaven port 27m 13ch  Stanford-le-Hope 25m 07ch  East Tilbury Tilbury Riverside Freight Terminal 21m 48ch  Tilbury Town For Bus Link to Gravesend Ferry 19m 15ch  West Horndon 19m 66ch  Grays West Thurrock Junction Chafford Hundred For Lakeside Centre Ockendon M25 motorway Upminster Depot (LUL) 15m 78ch  Purfleet ex-link to branch line 15m 20ch  Upminster Romford to Upminster Line Upminster Bridge Hornchurch 13m 56ch (LTS) Elm Park 12m 50ch  Rainham Dagenham East 11m 25ch (LTS) Dagenham Heathway 10m 45ch  Dagenham Dock Becontree 9m 48ch (LTS) Upney 7m 42ch  Barking Gospel Oak to Barking Line East Ham EMU depot East Ham 6m 35ch (LTS) Upton Park 5m 28ch (LTS) Plaistow 4m 45ch (LTS) 4m 07ch  West Ham Jubilee line Bromley-by-Bow 3m 18ch (LTS) DLR Gas Factory Junction to GEML H&C and District Lines from the City Burdett Road Closed 1941 L&BR DLR 1m 58ch   Limehouse Shadwell Closed 1941 Shadwell ELL Cannon Street Road Closed 1848 Leman Street Closed 1941 Minories (Tower Gateway) Closed 1853 0m 00ch  Fenchurch Street

The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) is a railway line linking Fenchurch Street station in the City of London, England, with East London and the entire length of the northern Thames Gateway area. It is known as the Thameside Route by Network Rail. ^[1] Train services on the line are currently operated by c2c. The main route from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness via Basildon is 40 miles (64 km). The fastest timetabled journey time from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness is one hour. The name also refers to the British railway company which originally built the line in 1854, which was a joint venture between the London and Blackwall Railway and the Eastern Counties Railway.

History

Construction

The LT&SR initially linked London's Fenchurch Street and Bishopsgate stations with Tilbury via Stratford, Barking and Grays. By 1856 the line had been extended to Southend. In 1858 a more direct route from Fenchurch Street to Barking via Plaistow and East Ham was opened and service from Bishopsgate was withdrawn. The line was extended to Shoeburyness in 1884. Between 1885 and 1888 a new shorter route between Barking and Pitsea via Upminster was constructed and between 1892 and 1893 a single line branch was constructed from Romford to Grays via Upminster.

Operation and development

In 1912 the railway was bought by the Midland Railway (MR) from under the noses of the nearby Great Eastern Railway (GER). The line was known for its use of 4-4-2 tank engines which were later displaced by 2-6-4Ts after it had been absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923. The LMS constructed by 1932, and then managed, the line and stations of what is now a section of the London Underground from Barking to Upminster with services operated by the District Line from the outset; the LMS already managed all stations from Stepney Green to Barking inclusive. (Several of the now District Line stations still have LTSR in the roundels of the canopy supports, and a number of decommissioned platforms still remain on the mainline side.) The LMS in turn was nationalised in 1948 into British Railways (BR) and in 1949 the line was transferred to the Eastern Region. In 1958 an accident at Dagenham East caused the loss of 10 lives. The line was electrified at 25 kV AC, using overhead wires in 1962 and passenger service was withdrawn from Bromley, Plaistow, Upton Park, East Ham, Becontree, Dagenham and Hornchurch so trains could run fast from Fenchurch Street to Upminster calling only at Stepney East and Barking. The stopping service of the London Underground District Line remained to serve intermediate stations. At the same time the Romford to Upminster section became physically disconnected from the rest of the line and the separation of the District Line and LTSR services was complete, although tickets continue to be fully interchangeable. In 1974 a station was opened to serve the new town of Basildon and in 1986 the route was transferred to the Network SouthEast sector of British Rail. During this time the line began to suffer from crumbling infrastructure and limited investment despite its intensive passenger operations. The press picked up on this and it become widely known as the "misery line". On privatisation, Prism Rail took over operations and marketed the route as LTS Rail. When Prism were bought out by National Express Group the line was rebranded as c2c and the route was given the investment needed to replace rolling stock with new Class 357 Electrostar units and upgrade the infrastructure of the route. In 1995 a station was built at Chafford Hundred to serve the new community there and Lakeside Shopping Centre and in 1999 platforms were constructed at West Ham to provide interchange with the Jubilee Line Extension.

Modernisation

During the early 1990s proposals were put forward to convert the whole line into a guided busway, however these plans were quickly dismissed when British Rail announced a complete re-signalling of the line. Over the years the LTS had been used in an almost experimental fashion and contained a whole host of different signalling systems (e.g. geographical, WESTPAC and relay interlockings). In 1995 work got underway to replace everything from signals, point machines to whole junctions. The main contractor for the work was GEC Alsthom who provided a Mark 3 solid state interlocking (SSI) system with SEMA providing the IECC element. Main line running signals all became 4 aspect colour lights (replacing searchlight signals amongst others), all point machines were replaced with HW2000 machines and the whole line had a complete fibre optic network installed. All level crossings were renewed with full barriers to be CCTV controlled by a designated workstation at Upminster. The main line between Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness was also bi-directionally signalled (with 3 aspect signalling) along most parts, with the bi-directional section alternating from one track to the other between certain stations, to provide maximum flexibility for continuing operations should disruption occur. The line was re-born over the Easter weekend 1996 when all the signal boxes from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness were switched out and control was transferred to Upminster IECC. This was later followed over the 1996 August bank holiday when Upminster took control from the remaining boxes on the Tilbury Loop. Low Street halt was formerly between Tilbury Town and East Tilbury; all that remains is signal box at the level crossing.

Ownership and management

'LTSR' canopy support at East Ham (no longer served)

Fenchurch Street Station

ex-LT&SR tank engine 41947 at Toton MPD April 1954.

Modern c2c Electrostar train on LT&SR route

Boat trains

Historically, boat trains operated between St Pancras railway station and Tilbury Riverside railway station. These services reduced as Tilbury declined as a passenger terminal and Tilbury Riverside station finally closed in 1993. A ferry service to Gravesend continues to operate with train services from Fenchurch Street railway station and a bus service from Tilbury Town railway station timed to connect.

Route

Main line

Barking to Pitsea via Rainham loop

Upminster to Grays branch

Diversion

Trains can be diverted at Barking to call at Stratford and Liverpool Street, because of engineering work or other problems. Trains diverted at Barking, having passed Stratford, can also rejoin the main line before Limehouse (avoiding West Ham) and continue to Fenchurch Street. This diversionary route is less often used and consists of a short section of single track at Bow. Until May 2007, a limited regular evening service operated from Liverpool Street. As of May 2007, all through services now start and terminate at Fenchurch Street with two short shuttle services operating each weekday evening between Liverpool Street and Barking calling only at Stratford.^[2]

Preservation

Of the original LTS, 4-4-2T number 80 survives at Bressingham Steam Museum in Norfolk. An ex-LT&S BR Std (80079) is preserved on the Severn Valley Railway in Shropshire. Another ex LTS locomotive BR 42500 is the sole remaining member of the 36 3 cylinder 2-6-4 tank engines built by the LMS in the 1930s for the London Tilbury and Southend line. It is preserved in working order in LMS livery at the National Railway Museum in York.

References

1. ^ Network Rail - Route 6 North London Line and Thameside Business Plan (2006)
2. ^ c2c - Changes to late evening and Liverpool Street services. May 2007.