Newbury Park tube station
| Newbury Park | |
|---|---|
| Location | Newbury Park |
| Local authority | Redbridge |
| Managed by | London Underground |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| Other information | |
 London transport portal | |
Newbury Park tube station is a London Underground station in Newbury Park, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It is on the Hainault loop of the Central Line, in Zone 4.
Newbury Park originally opened on 1 May 1903, as part of a Great Eastern Railway (GER) branch line from Woodford to Ilford via Hainault. This line, designed to stimulate suburban growth, had a chequered career. The GER was absorbed by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923.
As part of the 1935 - 1940 "New Works Programme" of the London Passenger Transport Board the majority of the loop was to be transferred to form the eastern extensions of the Central line. Although work commenced in 1938 it was suspended upon the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and work only recommenced in 1945. This involved the construction of a new tube tunnel from Leytonstone via Redbridge which surfaced at Newbury Park to connect with the lines of the existing Ilford - Woodford branch.
Steam train services serving Newbury Park were suspended on 29 November 1947 and electrified Central line passenger services, to Central London via Gants Hill, finally commenced on 14 December 1947. On the same day the line beyond, to the new Hainault depot, was electrified for empty train movements. The station ceased to be the temporary terminus of the Central line on 31 May 1948 with the extension of passenger services to Hainault station. The surface tracks from Newbury Park to Ilford were to be finally severed in 1956.
Today some eastbound trains still terminate at Newbury Park before reversing back to central London.
The station's most prominent feature is the adjacent bus station. designed by Oliver Hill, and opened on 6 July 1949. Distinguished by the copper covered barrel-vaulted roof the structure, now "Listed" as being of architectural merit, it also won a Festival of Britain architectural award in 1951. Regretably the rest of the station's proposed reconstruction was never completed due to post-war economies.
The station is unique in housing a synagogue, the Ohel David for oriental Jews. This synagogue was previously used by the Newbury Park United Synagogue before it acquired its own building.
External link
- London's Transport Museum Photographic Archive - Bus Station shortly after opening
