Leyton Midland Road railway station

Leyton Midland Road
Temporary ticket office near the station entrance (out of shot)
Leyton Midland Road Location of Leyton Midland Road in Greater London
Location	Leyton
Local authority	Waltham Forest
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	LEM
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	3
National Rail annual entry and exit
2009–10	0.303 million[1]
2010–11	0.501 million[1]
2011–12	0.749 million[1]
2012–13	0.952 million[1]
2013–14	1.182 million[1]
2014–15	1.355 million[1]
Key dates
1894	Opened as "Leyton"
1 May 1949	Renamed "Leyton Midland Road"
6 May 1968	Goods yard closed[2]
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51°34′09″N 0°00′26″W / 51.5693°N 0.0072°WCoordinates: 51°34′09″N 0°00′26″W / 51.5693°N 0.0072°W
London Transport portal UK Railways portal

Leyton Midland Road is a London Overground station in Leyton of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line, between Walthamstow Queen's Road and Leytonstone High Road stations and is in Travelcard Zone 3.^[3]

History

The station opened on 9 July 1894 as part of the Tottenham & Forest Gate Railway and was originally just called "Leyton".^[2][4]

On 17 August 1915, three explosive bombs from the German Zeppelin L.10 landed on or near the station, destroying the ticket office, a billiard hall in the arches under the platform and damaging several houses nearby; four people were killed.^[5]

The station was renamed on 1 May 1949 to its current name.^[2][4] The goods yard was just beyond the station, and closed on 6 May 1968.^[2] Like Leytonstone High Road and Wanstead Park, the booking office here was built into the viaduct arch, but by the 1980s all the old buildings had gone, although the Greater London Council built a new booking office on Midland Road itself.^[2] A few years later that was closed, as like other stations it became unstaffed, and it too was demolished.^[2]

Station today

Since the takeover by London Overground the station has benefited from a major refit including deep clean, new signing, a ticket machine and additional waiting shelters. The community garden which was started by members of the GOBLIN support group is tended by station staff now, one of whom recently won an award for outstanding service to passengers. The station also contains help points^[6] and automatic ticket gates have now been installed.^[7] Controversially, the Midland Road entrance is now closed.^[8]

Services and connections

The service has been improved in stages to four trains per hour, weekdays and weekends except late evenings when it goes down to two trains per hour.^[9][10]

London Bus routes 69, 97 and W16 and night route N26 serve the station.^[11]

Future proposals

In common with other stations on the line, usage has greatly increased in recent years, following improvements in train services and the reintroduction of station staff, and peak-hour overcrowding of the two-car diesel trains is now a major issue.^[12] Electrification of the line has been finally approved after a long campaign and is anticipated for 2017.^[13] This will though see services from the station suspended for 8 months (June 2016 - February 2017) whilst the work is carried out.

References

1. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
2. Barking to Gospel Oak Rail User Group - A Short History of the Line
3. Transport for London (January 2016). Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 January 2015.
4. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 142. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
5. London 1914-17: The Zeppelin Menace, Ian Castle, Christa Hook, Osprey Publishing 2008, p.30
6. Leyton Midland Road Rail Station
7. Leyton Midland Road (LEM)
8. Closure of Midland Road entrance
9. "London Overground Gospel Oak to Barking line timetable" (PDF). Transport for London. December 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
10. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/15409.aspx Archived 26 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
11. Leyton Midland Road Rail Station - Bus
12. ‘Overcrowded’ trains danger on Gospel Oak to Barking line
13. "CP5 Enhancements Delivery Plan June 2015" (PDF). Network Rail. June 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2016.

External links

• Train times and station information for Leyton Midland Road railway station from National Rail