Good morning! i'm on a Central line train
heading north, to the end of the Central line
to Epping, for Episode 2
of End of the Line
So welcme to Epping station in the top right hand corner of the Tube map
the station wasn't originally built as part of the Underground
instead being part of the Great Eastern railway in the 1860's
a lot of the Central line in this area used to be main line railways
with steam trains
and didn't become part of the Tube network until 1949
now the obvious thing we have to mention here is that the line used to go futher
with station at North Weald, Blake Hall, and Ongar
but it closed on the last day of September of 1994
actually the same day that Aldwych station on the Piccadilly line closed
a real dilemma for the enthusiast of the time
who had to decide - did they want to go on the last train out of Aldwych
or the last train here, out on the Central line
now trains to still operate here
as part of the heritage Epping to Ongar railway
and i've dug into my video archives and found this footage
that i've never used before
when making a Londonist video back in 2014
Craven unit trains were running that day
they'd even put up some roundels too
and i found the infamous 'Zero marker point'
from which all points on the Underground
are still measured from, from this day
And if you do come here, then look out for this
this is more temporary sign at the moment there will be a more permament one
but the zero, zero
pertains to zero miles and zero chains
whic h is how they measue railways
and the whole tube network - even today even though this branch is closed
is still measuref from this point in Ongar
that little white post there
is the start ... of the tube network
so i'll put a link to the Epping Ongar railway in the description if you want to go and check that out
see what days they operate and what times they run
they exciting piece of news is, which i didn't know until researching for this
is that at the moment train only come as far as Coopersale
but there are plans, and i don't know how advanced they are
to build another station, on the EOR
slightly nearer, or much nearer in fact
to Epping tube station
called either Epping Forest, or Epping Glade
and it says, just a couple of hundred meters away, so just up there
there might be a new station
on the Epping to Ongar railway at somepoint, in the future
Epping station certainly looks lovely
and there's a green plaque on the outside here
denoting that this is also the starting point of the Essex way
that's an 81 mile footpath between here and Harwich
if walking's not your thing though, it might be because you're a driver
and if that's the case
Epping certainly does cater for the motorist
as it has the largest car park of any station on the network
so Epping tube station has 541
spaces including motorcycle bays and accessible parking
and a bike rack, it's the largest on the tube
because it's really popular, because it's cheaper TfL fares than say
getting train from Harlow on national rail into town
so it fills up, quite early on get here early if you want to park your car here at Epping
but what intruiges me, is that at the bottom of the very large car park
can you you see, there's this, is that a yellow tube train?
this is Locomotive L11
and it's a hybrid experiment of two Tube trains stuck back to back
it's from 1964 when two Engine locomotive were cut in half
and stuck together to form a rather unique shunting locomotive to be used in depots
with two engines in use
it was more than powerful enough for it's job shunting tube trains around
it's part of the signalling and locomotive museum here
and as well as the preserved unit
they're also restoring the excellent signal cabin next door
which you can book a visit to go and see, link in the description
now it's from Epping that you can set off on the longest possible journey on one train on the tube
from here to West Ruislip it's a total of 34 miles
it's also just outside of the M25
one of only five stations on the network to be so
it's also in Zone 6
but only because Essex County council pay a subsidy
that make the fares cheaper
and therefore this part of the line more attractive to use
in fact, Debden and Theydon Bois used to be in Zone A
and Epping in Zone B
which nowadays, would make them Zones 7 and 8
but instead, they're all in Zone 6
and another thing, that i'm really interested in looking at here
is the second entrance, that Epping station has
So on the eastern side of the station you've got
platform one, the main entrance is on the other side, platform two
this is the Hillcrest Way entrance/exit
i'm delighted to say that in recent times
this had changed and has become
more accessibly friendly
because it used to be that these gates were locked at all times
and if you look on the TfL website on the step-free tube map
there's a little box under the little red dagger for Epping
that basically says, and this is incredible ...
that if you wanted step-free access say if you're in a wheelchair
and you wanted ecit on this side, because there's only a footbridge over to the other side
you could speak to station staff, at your depature station
and let them know that you wanted to be routed into Platform 1
and they would actually call up Central Line line control
and made sure that the train you were on, came in on this side
and not the other side!
so that you had step-free access ... but now
delighted to say, this seems to have been improved
there'a poster up
suggesting that this entrance exit is open at more times
more hours of the day
and maybe you don't have to call up line control so often
but there is still a little box there you can call
if you do get here, and you find the gate locked
and you do want access - good to see
it doesn't feel quite as rural
or out in the sticks, as say
Amersham did, as we saw in the last episode
but it definetely definetely does
have that a little bit, a kind of a ...
... where am i? why am i here? End of the Line
so that's Epping station
which is of course, on a Station Road
just a five minute walk away from the local high street
that's just your usual run-of-the-mill parade of shops
although i did quite like this impressive church
you should now of course, make the effort with yout oyster card
or travelcard, to come here at somepoint
and explore for yourself, at the End of the Line
and as a final fun fact, did you know this isn't the only
Epping station in the world?
you type Epping station into Google
it threw up the other two
that are in Australia, there's one in Melbourne and there's one in Sydney, on the metro there as well, so ...
... this trains just arrived
i'm about to go and catch this
take this home, that is the end of the second episode of End of the Line, Epping .. exploring all the stations
at the end of the lines on the London Underground
there's a playlist comng up
press like, press subscribe
thanks for watching - bye!