The LNER Encyclopedia

I'm trying to establish the opening date of this curve, I'm the 'author' of Ian Allan's 'London Railway Atlas' and this information is evading me. Probably the most complete record of London railway dates, H.V.Borley's 'Chronology of London's Railways' (1982) omits any mention of it. I was hoping there might be mention of this in Middleton Press' 'Liverpool Street to Ilford' book, but no, and it's not covered by Jackson's 'London's Local Railways'. 'Old maps' is totally unreliable for this purpose... But using that resource, it shows the line was not there in 1882, but had appeared by 1896:

1882:



1896:



I suspect it might pre-date 1882 though, because there was often a lag in railway developments being recorded by the OS

To clarify, it's the curve that runs from Carpenters Road N Junction to Carpenters Road S Junction, i.e. facing Liverpool Street ex-North London Line. The other curve (facing Stratford) opened 15.08.1854 (goods)

Any info would be much appreciated, feel free to email me at atlasupdate@blueyonder.co.uk if you can help, thanks!

To possibly avoid any future confusion, nowadays, and as long as I've known something of the area, anyway, it sounds like the line you're interested in is known as the Carpenters Road Curve as far as I'm aware, with Channelsea Curve being the line from the Channelsea Jns. to Stratford Central Jn., which looks as if it's on both your old map extracts.
[ Just got your 2nd Ed. a few days ago, by the way; very interesting, and a lot of work gone in to it since the 1st Ed.! ]

I have had a fairly quick look in my GER book by CJ Allen and have found a brief reference to the Channelsea curves but no date.

Taking into account StevieG's comments I have not found any reference to the Carpenter's Road curve.

I suggest that you try the GER society.

http://www.gersociety.org.uk/

StevieG wrote:To possibly avoid any future confusion, nowadays, and as long as I've known something of the area, anyway, it sounds like the line you're interested in is known as the Carpenters Road Curve as far as I'm aware, with Channelsea Curve being the line from the Channelsea Jns. to Stratford Central Jn., which looks as if it's on both your old map extracts.
[ Just got your 2nd Ed. a few days ago, by the way; very interesting, and a lot of work gone in to it since the 1st Ed.! ]

Thanks Stevie... You are of course correct, it's the Carpenter's Road Curve I'm referring to, not Channelsea!

I've pinned down a year (1892), which is as good as it's likely to get... Although if anyone could furnish with the exact date in 1892, that would be great.

Thanks re: the atlas... Yes a whole lot of work went into it between the 1st and 2nd editions, but fortunately now it's not a case of having to re-draw it for the third edition... I'm trawling through it now to firm up precise dates rather than years alone... Have found quite a few errors!