The Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway was a railway line in north London, formed by the Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. clviii) and built as joint venture between the Midland Railway and the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. It officially opened on 1 July 1894 with passenger serviced commencing eight days later and was taken over entirely by the Midland Railway in 1912.[1]
The line was authorised at the request of Sir Courtenay Warner, a property developer who owned land in Walthamstow, in order to serve the new developments there. Much of the route crossed many existing roads, and the area had already been extensively built on, so the line was built on top of a long brick viaduct. Many houses were demolished to make way and there was considerable local opposition to the railway.
The line opened to passengerson 9 July 1894 between South Tottenham and Woodgrange Park where it joined the existing LTSR line to Barking and beyond. On the same date[2] a curve was opened allowing East Ham to be served as an alternative to Barking. Trains did not terminate at South Tottenham but continued westwards to various destinations via the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway, much as the Gospel Oak to Barking line does today.
Stations
1914 map showing the eastern part of the line including the curve to East Ham
The line had the following stations (listed from west to east using the original station names):
^Treby, Edward (August 1981). "Kentish Town to Barking". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 127, no. 964. Sutton: IPC Transport Press. pp. 396–9. ISSN0033-8923.
^Borley, H. V. (1982). Chronology of London Railways. Leicester: Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 20. ISBN0901461334.
.jpg){kind=small}