Tottenham Hale Station - Ferry Lane, London, UK
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Master Mariner
N 51° 35.304 W 000° 03.605
30U E 703652 N 5719356
Tottenham Hale is a National Rail and London Underground station in Tottenham, north London. It is on the north side of Ferry Lane near the Tottenham Hale one-way gyratory system.
Waymark Code: WMJ02G
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/03/2013
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member lumbricus
Views: 1

Wikipedia tells us about the station:

The station opened on 15 September 1840 as Tottenham, on the Northern & Eastern Railway (N&ER) line from Stratford in east London to Broxbourne in Hertfordshire. The Northern and Eastern Railway was leased by the Eastern Counties Railway in 1844 who took over operation of the line. The line was initially laid to a gauge of 5 ft (1,524 mm) but already this had been identified as non standard and between 5 September and 7 October 1844 the whole network was re-laid to 4 ft 8 1/2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge.

On 12 September 1858 a passenger train collided with some goods wagons that had been shunted onto the main line. Nobody was seriously injured. Eighteen months later on 20 February 1860 the station was the site of a serious railway accident when a locomotive derailed killing the driver, fireman and seven passengers.

The Eastern Counties Railway was taken over by the Great Eastern Railway in 1862.

Up until 1868 Tottenham Hale was a railhead for cattle traffic from East Anglia. Trains were unloaded there and the cattle driven our miles down what is now the A10 road towards London. In 1868 the link (since removed) to the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway was opened and this traffic transferred to Tufnell Park which was closer to the site of the cattle market off Caledonian Road.

Four years later in 1872 the route via Clapton was opened offering a slightly more direct route to Liverpool Street.

In 1875 the suffix Hale was added to the station but this was removed in November 1938 before being restored in 1968.

In 1882 the line through Tottenham Hale became part of a major rail freight artery with the opening of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway. This provided a link for the Great Eastern from the coal fields in the north to London. This led to a second pair of running lines known as the Slow Lines (the ones that exist today - 2013 - are the old Fast Lines) being added in 1913.

On 29 August 1913 a northbound mail train (carrying passengers) ran into the back of a freight train just south of the station at Tottenham South Junction. The cause was a signal passed at danger in foggy conditions. Two passengers were badly injured, 16 less so.

The area was always susceptible to flooding, one of the worst instances being between 18 and 22 February 1919 when the River Lea overflowed its banks and rail traffic was suspended.

In 1919 as well as the two sets of main lines there were some private sidings serving local industries. Other sidings in the area were used to clean passenger rolling stock when not in service.

In 1923 operation passed to the London & North Eastern Railway and following nationalisation in 1948 the station became part of British Railways Eastern Region.

On 4 October 1929 another accident occurred at Tottenham North Junction (just south of the station) when a goods train passed a signal at danger and was hit by a passenger train. Luckily there were no fatalities.

On 21 March 1944 (during World War Two) a number of incendiary bombs fell close to the station destroying a lineside hut.

In 1961 the link from Tottenham South Junction to the Tottenham and Hampstead Line was closed.

On 14 July 1967 planning permission was granted for the addition of the London Underground Victoria Line station. The station was renamed Tottenham Hale on 1 September 1968 when it became an interchange station with London Underground on the opening of the first stage of the Victoria line.

The Lea Valley line between Copper Mill Junction and Cheshunt was electrified at 25 kV in 1969. Many of the private goods sidings were removed at this time.

When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Network SouthEast until the Privatisation of British Railways.

Since 1990:
In the late 1990s, at the same time as the Stansted Express service to Stansted Airport was started, the British Rail station at Tottenham Hale was totally rebuilt along with a revamp of the Underground station. None of the original Victorian station now exists.

With the privatisation of the UK's railways in 1994 operation of the station was initially allocated to a business unit which succeeded the old British Railways structure before being taken over by West Anglia Great Northern (WAGN) in January 1997. Initially owned by Prism Rail, National Express took over operation in July 2000. In 1994 responsibility for the operational infrastructure passed to Railtrack.

In August 2002 signalling control was transferred to the Liverpool Street Integrated Electronic Control Centre (IECC).

The WAGN franchise was replaced in 2003 by the 'One' franchise although this was renamed National Express East Anglia.

The following year following financial difficulties Railtrack was superseded by Network Rail.

From 11 December 2005, a new service between Stratford and Stansted Airport reintroduced a direct passenger connection between Tottenham Hale and Stratford via the mainly freight line across Walthamstow Marshes. For many years the only service on this route had been a parliamentary "ghost train" from Enfield Town via South Tottenham operated to save lengthy closure (to passenger) procedures.

In February 2012 operation of the station changed once again with Dutch group Abellio winning the franchise.

Future:
In February 2013, the Crossrail task force of business group London First, chaired by former Secretary of State for Transport Andrew Adonis, published its recommendations on Crossrail 2, favouring a route almost identical to the regional option proposed by TfL in 2011. The report was endorsed by Network Rail.

This proposal will see four tracks restored through Tottenham Hale and direct links to south-West London.

Lea Bridge, a former station between Tottenham Hale and Stratford, may be re-opened in the future.

Services:
As well as the services on the West Anglian Main Line between Liverpool Street and Cambridge, King's Lynn, Stansted Airport and Hertford East which operate in 2013, other locations served by trains in previous years include London St Pancras (via the Tottenham and Hampstead Joint Railway), North Woolwich via the low level platforms at Stratford (after the Palace Gates Line service was cut back) and York (via Cambridge and the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway).

The next station to the south on the line to Liverpool Street is Clapton but only a small number of trains to/from Tottenham Hale serve Clapton, although regularly on Sundays, serve both Clapton and Tottenham Hale. Most trains either run non-stop between Liverpool Street and Tottenham Hale or make one intermediate stop at Hackney Downs. Clapton is almost exclusively served by trains going via the Chingford branch instead.

Miscellaneous:
Four of London's last remaining Trolleybus poles still stand on Ferry Lane as it crosses over the railway tracks by the station.

Transport links:
London Buses routes 41 towards Archway station, 192 towards Enfield Town, 230 towards Upper Walthamstow or Wood Green, and 123 towards Ilford or Wood Green. Ikea also provides a shuttle service between Tottenham Hale Station and their Edmonton branch (also served by 192 bus).

Wikipedia Url: [Web Link]

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