London, Tilbury and Southend Railway

London-Tilbury-Southend Line

Legend MOD Pig's Bay Manual level crossing over Shoeburyness High Street Shoeburyness 39m 40ch  Shoeburyness carriage sidings Thorpe Bay 37m 73ch  Southend East 36m 49ch  Southend Central 35m 55ch  Westcliff 34m 66ch  Chalkwell 33m 69ch  Leigh-on-Sea 32m 43ch  Benfleet For Canvey Island 29m 11ch  Pitsea Jn 26m 52ch  Milepost Change 26m 42ch  Pitsea 26m 42ch and 32m 37ch  Basildon 24m 26ch  Laindon 22m 69ch  Thameshaven Port Stanford-le-Hope 27m 13ch  East Tilbury 25m 07ch  Low Street Closed 1967 Gravesend Ferry Freight Terminal Tilbury Riverside Closed 1992 Tilbury Town For Bus Link 21m 48ch  to Gravesend Ferry West Horndon 19m 15ch  Grays 19m 66ch  West Thurrock Junction Chafford Hundred For Lakeside Shopping Centre Ockendon M25 motorway Upminster Depot (LUL) Upminster 15m 20ch  Upminster Bridge Hornchurch 13m 56ch (LTS) Elm Park Rainham 12m 50ch  Dagenham East 11m 25ch (LTS) Dagenham Heathway Dagenham Dock 10m 45ch  Becontree 9m 48ch (LTS) Upney Barking 7m 42ch  Gospel Oak to Barking Line East Ham EMU depot East Ham 6m 35ch (LTS) Upton Park 5m 28ch (LTS) Plaistow 4m 45ch (LTS) West Ham Jubilee line 4m 07ch  Bromley-by-Bow 3m 18ch (LTS) DLR Gas Factory Junction to GEML H&C and District Burdett Road Closed 1941 Docklands Light Railway Limehouse 1m 58ch   Former London and Blackwall Railway Shadwell Closed 1941 ELL Shadwell Cannon Street Road Closed 1848 Leman Street Closed 1941 Minories/ Tower Gateway LTS closed 1853/DLR opened 1987 Fenchurch Street ( Tower Hill) 0m 00ch DLR to Bank

The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) is an English railway line linking Fenchurch Street station in the City of London with East London and the entire length of the northern Thames Gateway area of Essex. It is known as the Thameside Route by Network Rail.^[1] Train services on the line are currently operated by the National Express Group train operating company c2c. The main route from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness via Basildon is 40 miles (64 km), and the fastest timetabled journey time from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness is 58 minutes. The line currently has a maximum speed limit of 75 mph, although the Class 357 Electrostar trains which run on it are capable of a maximum speed of 100 mph. The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 6, SRS 06.02 and 06.04. It is classified as a London and South East Commuter line.^[2]

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. 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 majority of the line was electrified at 6.25 kV in the late 1950s. Some sections were electrified using 25 kV from the outset. The sections electrified at 6.25 kV were converted to 25 kV in the early 1980s. 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. As of 2008^[update], several of these stations still have LTSR in the roundels of the canopy supports and a number of decommissioned platforms still remain. 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 and 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 at Upminster that replaced all signal boxes on the whole line. 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.

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.

LMS 3-cylinder 2-6-4T No. 2500 built specifically for the LTSR section at National Railway Museum, York in 2003

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

Proposed developments

The Greater Anglia RUS, published in December 2007, outlined a number of developments intended for the Thameside Route. In the medium term, 2009-14, this includes minor infrastructure works and additional rolling stock to allow all main line peak-service trains to be extended to 12-car formation. Also included is the proposal for the extension of platforms on the Tilbury loop and Ockendon branch to handle 12 cars, to allow all main line peak-service trains to be extended to 8 or 12-car formation. In the longer term intentions are to continue the lengthening of peak trains to 12-car formation.^[4]

Diversion

Trains can be diverted at Barking to call at Stratford and Liverpool Street when necessary due to 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.^[5]

Preservation

Of the original LTS, 4-4-2T number 80 survives as a stationary exhibit at Bressingham Steam Museum in Norfolk. An ex-LT&S BR Std (80079) is preserved, currently as a stationary exhibit, 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 LMS livery at the National Railway Museum in York.

References