Heritage route
Epping Ongar Railway
Ongar → Epping Forest · England
The Central line’s lost end: London Underground closed Epping to Ongar in 1994, and heritage steam and diesel have run it again since 2012, from Ongar through North Weald to the edge of Epping Forest.
The Great Eastern opened its single-track extension from Loughton through Epping to Ongar in 1865. London Transport took it over in 1949 and hired steam shuttles until the branch was electrified in 1957, after which it ran as an isolated shuttle at the far end of the Central line, never more than four cars long, until London Underground closed it in 1994. After a first spell of heritage diesel trains between 2004 and 2007, the line closed for restoration and reopened with steam on 25 May 2012.
Along the way
- Ongar station
- North Weald
- Coopersale
- Epping Forest halt
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 165230: the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 4 m from it
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
Questions and answers
How long is the Epping Ongar Railway?
The Epping Ongar Railway runs 10 km from Ongar to Epping Forest.
How long does the Epping Ongar Railway take?
The fastest scheduled journey is ≈ 35 min for the 10 km. That is an average of 17 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 40 km/h.
Who runs the Epping Ongar Railway?
Epping Ongar Railway, with heritage steam & diesel.
How old is the Epping Ongar Railway?
The line has been in service since 2012. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
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