BLAKE HALL STATION 1980
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- We take a look at Blake Hall station on the former Ongar branch of the Central line. Filmed in summer 1980 by Loughton motorman Dennis Bostock, this is how many will remember the station and the line. Now sadly closed and long gone and in private ownership building wise, you can now catch this special train and take a nostalgic trip .
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Considering it was used by so few people, Blake Hall had more facilities than a lot of busy mainline train stations. Beautiful rural station, such a shame it’s gone forever.
At 1:56 you even manage to catch one of Blake Hall's famous half dozen passengers a day!... Incredible footage, hard to believe it's thirty-eight years old.
This footage is like gold dust. When I saw the trains pulling in, I find it hard to believe they still don't, even if they were the washing machines they now have on the central line.
Cheers mate !
Thanks so much for posting this. When Blake Hall shut I was 12 years old and obsessed with the underground. This was the station that intrigued me more than any other on the network and I never got the chance to visit, though I did manage to do so circa 1986/7 when the building was derelict.
Liked trains so much
I still have a platform ticket from Blake Hall
That's most probably a collectors item by now
What a fantastic time capsule
Always been fascinated by the onger branch
No such branch ever existed.
Yes, I've been all over the Underground now, including the now closed Aldwych and Shoreditch stations, plus most of the National Raill network, some lines in Europe, plus a few other urban metro systems, but the first time I visited the Epping - Ongar branch was around 1984, with Blake Hall already closed and the services reduced to Monday - Friday peak hours only. Seeing Blake Hall as it was prior to closure is fascinating.
The trains certainly didn’t hang around at the station. Train pulls in, guard opens doors, 2 seconds later, guard closes doors and train sets off.
That's why it was the least used station on the network.🤣
Considering the fact that only ~6 passengers a day used Blake Hall on average, and even by 1980 wasn't used as often as the rest of the Epping to Ongar section (many trains ran through nonstop) it wasn't too surprising that it closed about a year later in 1981. Even after closure, LT seemed to be vindictive as they found out that drivers were still stopping there to drop passengers off after the station closed. As a result, they removed the platform
@@SiVlog1989 I heard that before about some drivers letting passengers off at the disused platform, if they (the passengers) asked very nicely if they still wanted to get off there.
Thank you for uploading and bringing the past to life.
You Tube glad you liked it
this looks more deserted than roding valley. it had to be the least used station on the tube before it closed
Miles Campbell yes it was
Thank you very much for this footage. Aldwych station was still open in 1980 then (4:30). I suppose the trains arriving at Blake Hall in this film were shuttles between Ongar and Epping, as seats would have been very much in demand if the final stop had been Ealing Broadway or West Ruislip...
@@EmmaPeelman yup 31 October 1981 a spooky last day of operation at Blake hall station . Aldwych closed September 1994 around the same time as the Ongar branch with LUL .
It was a year later that Blake hall tube station closed
And the station is now private residence and trains no longer stop here at Blake hall
Great video, thanks. I became fascinated by this place in 2003 when I learned that a whole section of the Underground closed. Someday I hope to ride the Epping Ongar Railway and at least catch a glimpse of this station. I wonder whatever became of the station roundels. Those would be collectors items today! Questions: what's upstairs? I notice there's a ticket booth -- when was it last staffed?
Backlight 1981, the roundals went either to the LTM or collectors . Upstairs used to be accommodation for the SM
@@Richardsrailway Thanks for the reply! Guessing SM means station master. Did the SM live there? How long before the closure was there an SM or even someone in the ticket booth?
Backlight . Because it was so under used there used to be these large paper boy style ticket bags at Blake hall and Ongar . The idea was each week the ticket office staff would put the collected tickets into the respective bags and they would go by train up to 55 broadway , so as the big wigs could see how much revenue was being generated by the line , thus it finally closed in September 1994 . Blake hall ceased in 1981. I think if you bunked your fare at Blake hall it was hardly a capital offense ! Yes SM is station master .
I walk past a house in Theydon Bois now and then, and the man has a “North Weald” roundal in his shed up on display on the back wall. Always makes me smile. After watching a few videos on the old line, I saw him in a video yesterday believe it or not! He used to drive trains on the branch. I’m going to say hello next time I pass and the shed is open.
Seems so busy, can't think why they closed it! Lol!!
Hi Dennis Bostock, this is Cliff Hatton, haven't seen you since 1969, you can catch me on Facebook
Great Footage!
Looked so quaint and tiny for a Tube station! My kitchen/dining room is bigger.
stephthestar90 that's because it was a a quaint branch line originally steam hauled and had only mainly freight workings and the odd passenger train back in the day , it never anticipated the number of passengers that you get west of Epping
TRIPLEVALVE62 THE DEPOT Ah I see. that makes sense. it was probably too remote for people. this station was closed before I was even born (my parents got married the year this one closed) so I didn't know about it til recently. I think Chesham tube station is similar or is it busier? I haven't been on the tube since I was a child. I vaguely remember being on the Piccadilly line and I might have been on the District line but I don't really remember it.
@@stephthestar90 Yes, Chesham's a lot busier than Blake Hall was...and gets regular through trains to Central London now, but that was due to a change in rolling stock rather than passenger demand. These outposts (or former rural outposts) of the tube always have had a quaintness of their own...I don't think there's much chance of Blake Hall ever re-opening, but it would be nice to see a connection back into Epping made possible for the preserved railway. There again, the vintage buses have proved popular in recent years..
Great footage, but I can't make out the blackboard notice... Was it impending doom?
Following up a reference to the station in Simon Bradley's amazing "The Railways" book.
bryan3550 probably train times or like you said .
Looks more like a request stop station on the national railways.
After this station closed drivers still stopped at this station to let passengers off if they requested nicely until the platform was removed
@@Dexter-wc3en Had heard about that.
This is now a beautiful private home.
Biffo bostock..
The least used station on the Underground before it closed
This still here? Looks like a good place to Graff
Paul Badman long gone since 1981 , the building is there but in private ownership and the platform is long gone
Platform has been reinstated, but no trains call there anymore.