(train rumbling)
That is the sound of the DLR down there.
Behind those blue railings Bow Church Station
is just across the road, I'm in London,
E3, hello, welcome to Episode 10 of London's Lost Railways
Here walking the path of an old railway
that the DLR didn't use between Bow Road,
through Old Ford, up to Victoria Park.
The lost railway that we're walking today
was once part of the North London railway
and it opened up in 1850.
It closed the passengers in 1944, but remarkably stayed open
as an important freight line right up until 1984.
Even when the A12 was built right next to it,
it initially survived.
South of Bow, the alignment was completely
reused when the DLR was built in 1987.
So instead we're going to spot
for railway remnants heading north
between Bow and Victoria Park.
So immediately across the road
from Bow Road DLR station is a car hire company.
This is in the exact spot that
Bow Road Station would have been.
There's a Bow Heritage Trail plaque
inside their forecourt which helps marks the spot.
Plus, part of the front of the original station building
is actually still here and on the side road
take a peek through the railings to see
down onto the tracks where the DLR now runs
and the very obvious remains of the original Bow Station.
Before we start though, I feel like I should acknowledge
that there's been a fourth station in this area
the original Bow Road Station
that's located on the Bow curve.
That's a line of track still in use for freight today.
This station actually closed
in 1949 and is now this bookmakers.
There's a plaque outside, too, and if you're lucky
you might see the occasional train going across it
but it's not connected to the line we're walking today
but I couldn't help but not mention it.
So our line heads north, your first stop
being a four seasons play area which has
a specific dog activity area to one side.
In here at the back on the other side of the fence
is a bridge that a freight line still
in use today runs over the alignment
of the old Bow Railway heading north.
This is also the point the DLR stopped using
the old alignment and curves off towards Stratford.
Our abandoned line though carries on north.
This is the point where the main line
out of Liverpool street passes by
and the old Bow Railway passes under it.
Now if previous episodes in this series
have been ... "The ones with all the allotments"
Then this episode I'd have to name
"The one that's been infilled by all the flats."
Yeah, in Springfield Close, you can take a peek
down the side entrance of the new flats to again
see a bridge that the railway line used to run under.
Keep on walking and you get to another
classic telltale sign, a gradual incline in the road
that leads to a raised hump that was an old bridge.
This is Tredegar Road and the parapets
of the old bridge are clearly still here to see.
The road at the side is also called Pancras Way,
where you can see more of the old bridge infrastructure.
If you look behind me through the fence,
can you see there's like a steel girder?
Definitely some kind of bridge support, railway was here.
Time to get to the side of a disused station though,
that was on this line, there was just one of them,
yes, Old Ford Station.
The location has now been infilled by housing, (obviously)
that backs on to the rather noisy A12,
but this is where the old station was.
So we're in Chariot Close and where I'm sitting right now
is the northbound platform of Old Ford Station.
Just thought I'd come and use this curbside
to represent the platform.
There's more to see, though, up there.
Around the corner on Old Ford Road itself
by a footbridge over the main road
is this rather lovely old pub named the Railway Tavern.
Yep, there's no railway around here anymore but there is,
ooh, look, some old track bed that you can see
if you look down from the footbridge.
Surprisingly, a part of London
that hasn't been built on yet.
Up on Wick Lane there's this old bridge abutment
where the line used to cross the road.
And there's another one of these, again,
a minute up the road where the railway
once crossed the Hertford Union Canal.
If you're local, you might've walked, jogged,
or run or cycled ride pass here frequently
without realising that this was an old bridge.
And at this point we can't not have a moment
to recognise a historical moment that happened here,
albeit, a slightly gruesome one.
Sun still out, it's a glorious day.
It wasn't a glorious day for somebody called Thomas Briggs
back in 1864, who has the dubious honour of being
the first person to be murdered on a train,
maybe in Britain, maybe the entire world.
But here on Cadogan Terrace, just down
from the bridge that we saw,
this is a pub, or this building was a pub,
and there's a plaque here which does, indeed,
pay a little tribute to that fact.
I'll put a link in the description.
There's an excellent book called "Mr. Briggs' Hat"
which you should go and read if you want the full history.
The last station is Victoria Park
of which they have been two over the years, actually,
an earlier build was replaced by a second one,
that's the last one we're looking for today and it was here.
No, really you're looking at it right now,
where the A12 has now consumed the space that it was in.
And it would have joined up to the rest
of the North London line where that overground train
in the top right is sneaking in in the distance.
That's the railway that's still there today.
As we wrap up by talking about this gate,
this gate leads into Victoria Park.
There would have been a gate into the station here.
I'm gonna attempt to walk backwards for this bit
which could go disastrously wrong.
There's no traffic coming, because the entrance
to Victoria Park Station was here.
I would have been walking into it now literally
where the A12 is, a bit noisy because of all the cars.
There's a little bit over there that may be part
of the old station, but if you're ever driving
along this noisy part of the A12,
you're driving underneath the old Victoria Park Station.
And that is the end of London's Lost Railways
Thank you for watching this episode.
There's a playlist, you can watch all the episodes so far.
Press subscribe and there's still some more to come.
Thanks for watching.