End of the Line No.2 - Epping

Good day! I'm on a northbound Central

line

train, all the way to the end of the Central

line

towards Epping, for episode 2 of End of the Line. So welcome to Epping station in the top right corner of the tube map, the station was not there originally. Built as part of the Underground rather than being part of the Great Eastern Railway in the 1860s, many of the central lines in this area used to be main lines with steam trains and did not become part of the Underground network until 1949, Now the obvious. What we have to mention here is that the line used to run further afield with North Weald, Blake Hall and Ongar stations, but closed on the last day of September 1994, actually the same day that the Piccadilly line's Aldwych station It closed a real dilemma for enthusiasts of the period who had to decide: did they want to take the last train out of Aldwych or the last train here?

On the Central line, trains will now continue to operate here as part of the traditional Epping to Ongar railway. and I searched through my video archives and found this footage which I had never used before when I made a London video in 2014. The Craven unit trains were running that day, they even put up some circles too and I found the infamous 'Zero marker point from which all points of the meter are still measured, as of this day. And if you come here, then be careful with this. This is a more temporary signal, for the moment there will be a more permanent one, but zero. zero refers to zero miles and zero chains, which is how railroads and the entire subway network measure; even today, although this branch line is closed, it is still measured from this point in Ongar, that little white post there is the start... of the tube network, so I will put a link to the Epping Ongar railway in the description if you want to go and check it out to see what days they operate and what times they operate.

This is exciting news, which I didn't know until What I'm investigating is that at the moment the train only goes to Coopersale, but there are plans, and I don't know how advanced they are, to build another station, in the EOR, a little closer , or much closer, in fact, to Epping tube station. It's called Epping Forest or Epping Glade and it says, just a couple of hundred meters away, so right up there there could be a new station on the Epping to Ongar railway at some point. Going forward, Epping station certainly looks beautiful and there is a green plaque outside indicating that this is also the starting point of the Essex Way, which is an 81 mile footpath between here and Harwich.

However, if walking is not your thing, it may be because you are a driver and if that is the case, Epping certainly caters for the motorist as it has the largest car park of any station on the network, so the tube station Epping has 541 spaces including motorcycle spaces and accessible parking and a bike rack. It is the largest in the metro because it is very popular and cheaper. TfL fares are better than taking the train from Harlow on the national railway into the city, so it does get busy, quite early, arrive early if you want to park your car here in Epping, but what intrigues me is that it is at the back of a very large parking lot.

You can see? There is this. Is it a yellow subway train? This is Locomotive L11 and it is a hybrid experiment of two tube trains glued back to back. It is from 1964, when two engine locomotives were cut in half and glued together to form a shunting locomotive unique enough to be used in depots with two engines in use. More than powerful enough for its job diverting tube trains, it is part of the signaling and locomotive museum here and, as well as the preserved unit, they are also restoring the excellent signal cabin next door, which you can book a visit to go see , link in description is now from Epping where you can take the longest possible journey on a tube train from here to West Ruislip.

It's a total of 34 miles. It is also just outside the M25, one of five stations on the network for So it is also in Zone 6, but only because Essex County Council pays a subsidy which makes fares cheaper and therefore this part of the line is more attractive to use. In fact, Debden and Theydon Bois used to be in Zone A and Epping in Zone B. which today would make them Zones 7 and 8, but instead they are all in Zone 6 and another thing that really bothers me Interesting to see here is the second entrance, which has Epping station on the east side of the station, you have platform one, the main entrance is on the other side, platform two, this is the Hillcrest Way entrance/exit.

I'm pleased to say that in recent times this has changed and it has become more accessible and friendly because it used to be that these doors were closed at all times and if you look on the TfL website on the stepless tube map there is a little box under the little red dagger for Epping which basically says, and this is amazing... that if you wanted Step-Free Access. Say that if you are in a wheelchair and want to travel on this side, because there is only a pedestrian bridge to the other side, you can talk to the station staff, at your departure station, and let them know that you want to be on. routed to Platform 1 and they would actually call Central Line control and make sure the train you were on arrived on this side and not the other. so that you would have step-free access... but now, delighted to tell you that this appears to have been improved, there is a sign suggesting that this entrance and exit is open at more hours of the day and you may not have to call check-in. line as frequently, but there's still a little box there that you can call if you get here, find the door locked, and want access;

It's nice to see that it doesn't feel so rural or outside. the sticks, as Amersham says, as we saw in the last episode, but it definitely has that a little bit, a kind of... ...where am I? because I am here? At the end of the line, that's Epping station, which is, of course, on Station Road, just a five-minute walk from the local high street, which is just the usual parade of shops, although I quite liked this impressive church. Of course you should now make the effort with your oyster card or travelcard to come here sometime and explore for yourself, at the end of the line and as a final fun fact, did you know that this is not the only station in Epping? in the world?

If you type Epping station in Google, the other two that are in Australia will appear, there is one in Melbourne and another in Sydney, on the metro there too, so... ... these trains have just arrived, I'm about de go and watch this, take this home, that's the end of the second episode of End of the Line, Epping... exploring all the stations at the end of the London Underground lines, there's a playlist appearing, press I like it, press subscribe, thank you. for looking - goodbye!