Northern and Eastern Railway

The Northern & Eastern Railway (N&ER) was an early British railway company, that planned to build a line from London to York. Its ambition was cut successively back, and it was only constructed from Stratford, east of London, to the towns of Bishop's Stortford and Hertford. It was always short of money, and it got access to London over the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). It was built at the track gauge of , but it converted to standard gauge in 1844.

Its main line opened progressively between 1840 and 1842. It was worked by the neighbouring ECR, and it leased its network to that company in from the beginning of 1844 for 999 years. From that time it was a financial company only, it amalgamated with the ECR's successor, the Great Eastern Railway, in 1902.

The entire network is still in use and is now electrified, and part of the original main line now forms a section of the West Anglia Main Line between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge.

Proposals

thumb|The Northern and Eastern Railway network at the end of 1843

When the Stockton and Darlington Railway was opened in 1825, great enthusiasm for railway transport was generated. A number of schemes were put forward for connecting London and York, and some of these were planned to pass through Cambridge. A canal engineer, Nicholas Wilcox Cundy, surveyed such a line, to be known as the Grand Northern & Eastern Railway, in 1834, and the following year another survey was made, by Joseph Gibbs, for another line from London through Cambridge to York. This scheme went to Parliament in the 1836 session as a proposed "Great Northern Railway" (nothing to do with the subsequent Great Northern Railway a decade later). The 1836 proposal was rejected by Parliament.

Meanwhile, a public meeting was held at Cambridge Town Hall on 23 January 1836, at which it was decided to support a route surveyed by James Walker. A bill for a Northern & Eastern Railway was prepared; it was to run from London to Cambridge, with a branch from a little south of Cambridge to Newmarket, Norwich and Great Yarmouth. The extension from Cambridge to Lincoln was not included, as the surveys had not been completed. The bill was passed as the (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. ciii), but the route was cut back to run from London to Cambridge only; it received royal assent on 4 July 1836. Authorised share capital was £1,200,000. Although the construction cost was large, the company was confident of a 16% return.

The London terminus, and track gauge

The N&ER was to have its London terminus at Islington. The topography was such that this would have required tunnelling to reach it, and it was realised that this was an expensive proposition. An approach was made to the Commercial Railway (later the London and Blackwall Railway) with a view to using its final approach to London and Minories terminus. This was unsuccessful, so the ECR was contacted, with a view to using its Shoreditch terminus. This was agreed to, and Parliament ratified the arrangement, so the N&ER's planned line was rerouted south of Tottenham to join the ECR at . The rental for this arrangement was to be £7,000 a year, with an additional charge per passenger.

The line was extended as far as on 9 August 1841; to (a temporary terminus) on 19 November 1841; and as far as on 16 May 1842.

A criticism of the route of the N&ER was that the line followed the valley of the River Lea, while nearly all of the settlements were on higher ground, and were some distance from their respective stations. was used as the railhead for cattle being brought in to London; they were driven on foot from there to the city markets.

Hockerill

The northernmost extent of the line was at Bishop's Stortford, opened before the end of 1843, when the N&ER ceased to control its own network. However a special arrangement was made to receive excursion trains at Hockerill, or so north of Bishop's Stortford station. The overbridge at that point today carries Hockerill Street, and Stortford was then a much smaller community; Hockerill was a distinct village. (The later station on the Dunmow branch was opened in 1910.) An advertisement in The Times in October 1843 read:

<blockquote>Newmarket Houghton Meeting—A special train, consisting of first-class carriages only, of the Northern and Eastern Railway, stopping only at Tottenham and Broxbourne, will leave the London Terminus, Shoreditch, for Hockerill, Bishop's Stortford, on Monday, 23d inst., at half-past-seven a.m., and return from Hockerill at half-past nine o'clock at night, thereby enabling persons attending Newmarket to see the whole of the races and return to London the same evening. Ample accommodation may be had at Hockerill should parties prefer to send their private horses and carriages the day before to wait the arrival of the trains. Horse and carriages can be taken on at the Tottenham station, thereby avoiding passing through the city. Previous notice should be given by parties taking their own horses and carriages, to prevent the possibility of disappointment. Extra post horses and carriages will be in attendance to convey persons forward, and may be ordered to be in readiness by sending a letter to Messrs. Edwards and Stokes of Hockerill. Places may be secured [to travel] by coaches meeting the train to Newmarket and back, at the Golden Cross, Charing-cross. Fares—Hockerill to Newmarket and back, inside £1 10s, outside £1 1s.</blockquote>

These excursions were advertised to be run on 9 and 11 October 1843, and (after the lease of the N&ER to the ECR) on 15 and 28 October 1844.

Leased to the Eastern Counties Railway

On 25 October 1843 an agreement facilitated by G. P. Bidder was reached by the ECR and N&ER, and from 1 January 1844 the entire N&ER system was leased to the ECR for 999 years; the arrangement was formally ratified by the (7 & 8 Vict. c. xx) in May 1844. The ECR was to pay the N&ER 5% annually on the £970,000 capital cost of building the line, and profits would be apportioned. The N&ER continued as a nominally independent company, receiving the lease charges but not operating any railway; eventually it merged into the Great Eastern Railway in 1902.

The twentieth century

Passenger use of the line intensified in the 20th century, particularly for residential travel as people became accustomed to travelling longer distances in order to live in more rural surroundings. Cambridge too became increasingly significant as a regional centre, attracting express passenger trains over the route. Goods and mineral traffic too remained dominant, although declining steeply after 1955.

Organisationally the N&ER company was absorbed into the GER in 1902; the GER was a constituent of the new London and North Eastern Railway in 1923 (as part of the "grouping" of the railways) and in 1948 the LNER in turn was nationalised.

The entire network remains in use at the present day. The dominant traffic is on the section between Copper Mill Junction and Bishop's Stortford, part of the route from London Liverpool Street station to Cambridge and Stansted Airport.

: Direct line via (built 1872) converges

Tottenham; opened 15 September 1840; renamed Tottenham Hale after 1875;
Marsh Lane (or Marsh Lane Tottenham); opened 1842; closed after December 1842; reopened June 1843; renamed Park in 1852; renamed Northumberland Park 1923;
Edmonton; opened 15 September 1840; closed after December 1842; reopened June 1843; renamed Water Lane (Junction); later renamed Angel Road; closed 31 May 2019 and replaced by Meridan Water;

: ECR Enfield branch (built 1849) diverges

Ponders End; opened 15 September 1840;
Waltham Cross; opened 15 September 1840; relocated 1885; at times known as simply Waltham, or Waltham Cross and Abbey;
Cheshunt; opened 31 May 1846;
Cadmores Lane Cheshunt; opened by December 1841; closed after May 1842;
Broxbourne; opened 15 September 1840; renamed Broxbourne Junction; relocated 1960;

: Hertford branch diverges

Roydon; opened 9 August 1841;
Netteswell; opened by September 1841; soon renamed Burnt Mill and Netteswell; renamed Burnt Mill 1843; renamed Harlow Town 1960;
Harlow; opened 9 August 1841; renamed Harlow Mill 1960;
Sawbridgeworth; opened 22 November 1841;
Spelbrook; opened 22 November 1841 as temporary terminus; closed 16 May 1842;
Stortford; opened 16 May 1842; renamed Bishop's Stortford 1845;

: Line continues as ECR to

Hockerill; temporary excursion station (on ECR line) in use in October 1843 and October 1844.

The locomotives were regauged to standard gauge in September and October 1844.

Whishaw said that "The principal engine-station [depot] is near the Stratford junction."