Epping Ongar Railway History
Copyright © 2005 Pendar Sillwood http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk
Blake Hall Station History
Opened : 24th April 1865
Closed : 31 October 1981
Listed Building Grade Two
Station history : 1865 - 1885
The station was built in an extremely isolated location at Blake Hall; it was apparently built at the insistence of the owner of the Hall itself, which, however, stood two miles from the station.
The nearest hamlet was half a mile away, and the villages of Toothill and Greenstead were even further.
Station history : 1886 - 1910
The signal box was opened in 1888 and the equipment was supplied by Saxby & Farmer.
Station history : 1911 - 1935
A considerable volume of milk traffic was generated by the station in the inter-war years, which was conveyed by rail to the
Ownership of the station was transferred to the London & North Eastern Railway (L&NER) in 1923.
Station history : 1936 - 1960
Shortly before World War 2 (WW2), London Transport planned to extend the Central line eastwards from its terminus at
London Transport assumed responsibility for services on the Epping-Ongar line on 25 September 1949, but ran only a steam shuttle service on that section until 18 November 1957, when electric trains finally reached Ongar. Goods services continued to be operated by the Eastern Region of BR.
Basic service was at 40 minute intervals; 20 minutes during peak times.
Little change took place at the station, other than the installation of electric lighting and LT signs. The station had a staff of two, who worked alternate shifts as booking clerk/porter/ticket collector.
The signal box was replaced by a ground frame in 1949.
In 1948, 45,800 passenger journeys were made from Blake Hall station; by 1951, this number had reduced to 43,000.
Station history : 1961 - 1985
The Epping-Ongar branch line served a very lightly populated area on a single track. By 1970, it was losing £100,000 per year and the line was threatened with closure, but consent was refused by the Secretary of State for the Environment in April 1972 (although LT was turned down in its application to his department for a grant to cover annual losses). A survey on one day in September 1970, revealed that the station was used by only 108 passengers, and consideration was given to turning it into an unstaffed halt.
A short-term solution was to restrict services to peak hours from
In May 1980, another application was made to close the Epping -Ongar line, but the Secretary of State refused permission in March 1981; however, he did agree to the closure of Blake Hall, which was the least-used station on the entire LT system, with an average of 260 passengers per week, and the last train called there at 21.50 on 31 October 1981; Sunday trains had been withdrawn from 23 October 1966. Ironically, the station had been connected to the LT automatic telephone system for the first time only a few months before closure!
The station building received Grade II listed status on
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