Epping Ongar Railway

[scarby]

I just wanted to post in praise of this railway, as I visited it for the second time yesterday.

I had a great day out, starting with the Routemaster which picks up passengers from Epping station to take them to the railway.

To my own personal delight, I was told on the bus that "unfortunately" there was no steam. No need to apologise - jackpot well and truly hit!

Sure enough, two 20s were in operation, one dragging their DMU - not sure if the DMU has a problem or if they just did it because they can.

The other was hauling a rake of MK1 and Mk2 stock which looked internally in the same original condition as when they acquired it. What a treat! I am always on the lookout for replicating the BR 70s/80s experience as closely as possible, and sitting with a carriage to myself and surrounded by trees and fields with the 20 coasting along, it really felt like I could have been rounding the curve from Seamer towards Scarborough on a summer Saturday in 1979.

I could see the staff were disappointed with a low turnout, so I do urge you to get along there if you can on a "normal" running day. That's when they really need custom but also when you will have the most room to relax and travel up and down as much as you want.

You can plan your visit here:

Epping Ongar Railway website

 

[nanstallon]

Yes, a very pleasant railway. I hope that the class 205 d.e.m.u. will be working again, soon. For some reason, I feel that it looks just right there. No logic to that; just me!

Having looked at the website, I see that the 205 is down to reappear at the late September diesel gala. Now looking for hotel availability!

 

[renegademaster]

I could see the staff were disappointed with a low turnout, so I do urge you to get along there if you can on a "normal" running day

I did notice that before when I went during a half term Wednesday. I do hope their finances are good regardless because they are a very nice railway

 

[Invincible]

There is a steam working starting 27 April which should increase visitor numbers.
The public generally prefer steam to diesel.

Would have also expected to read they have some London underground trains pulled by diesels or batteries, but on wiki they only have one as a static display

 

[mike57]

Would have also expected to read they have some London underground trains pulled by diesels or batteries, but on wiki they only have one as a static display

How feasible would a battery conversion of underground stock be for a preserved railway? How much would it cost. How close to the original design would you keep, maybe a standard stock motor car with control section ripped out and replaced by batteries and a modern control system. People do it with cars, but not sure if that approach would scale to rail use.

 

[JonathanH]

How feasible would a battery conversion of underground stock be for a preserved railway?

That is the aspiration of this group.

The London Transport Traction Group - Homepage

The London Transport Traction Group - Founders of 'Project 483'. Project 483 is the campaign to preserve an example of Britain's longest-serving electric trains, the Class 483

www.lttractiongroup.co.uk

The London Transport Traction Group was formed to acquire one of these trains for preservation and hopefully operation. In the event we have acquired two of these trains and have exciting plans for the future.

Units currently in Llanelli, but was hoped they would one day run on the Epping to Ongar railway.

 

[mike57]

That is the aspiration of this group.

I would like to see it happen, I was brought up in London and remember these trains as the mainstay of the 'tube' where I lived near Clapham South growing up in the 1960s.

80 years revenue service prior to presevation has to be close to a record.

I have very hazy memories of using the Epping Ongar route once as a youngster. My mother had been visiting someone in Essex and we got dropped off in Ongar for the trip back to South London. I cant remember how we got there, I would have been 5 or 6 at the time.

 

[ac6000cw]

I've been a fairly regular visitor to the EOR events/galas for some years.

I think it's a great railway, with a different atmosphere due to it having been originally built as a GER country branch line then it becoming an LU branch line, so you have structures and lineside artefacts from both periods combined with it being a heritage railway through leafy outer-suburbia Essex and a bit of Epping Forest.

Also the sawtooth gradient profile (serious climbs in both directions from North Weald) makes for aural delights both steam and diesel - particularly when starting trains on the 1 in 70 gradient in Epping Forest. During diesel and mixed-traffic events/galas, they normally offer diesel cab rides (for small payment) on a turn-up-and-go basis. I had a cab ride on a visiting cl. 33 on the climb from the forest once - the EOR driver asked the travelling engineer if it was OK to open it up - it was and he did.... Because loco-hauled trains have to be top-and-tailed into the forest (there's no run-around there), when it's slippery often both locos are needed to get the train moving. I particularly remember an uphill start with (I think) a 2-6-2T on the front and a cl. 20 on the back, both hard at work - an interesting combination of sounds.

 

[12LDA28C]

They also offer cab rides in their Class 08 shunter on occasion. The shop at North Weald usually has a good selection of secondhand books at cheap prices.

 

[Mcv378]

I'm a huge fan of the EOR, it's always a good day out. It offers can rides and the annual real ale festival is excellent and me and my friends always enjoy it.

I always recommend asking about the cab rides too

 

[Backroom_boy]

If they ever get the connection direct to Epping, it will really boost the numbers.

But visiting last year its really quite a complex undertaking, not least because LUL still use what would need to be a connecting line as a head shunt and replacement platforms would be needed on an awkward site some way away. (And possibly land ownership/access issues)

But good luck to them, despite all that it's still one of the simpler potential connections of a preserved line to NR/LUL

(Actually how many metro systems connect with a preserved railway? This would be unique in the UK i assume?)

 

[renegademaster]

If they ever get the connection direct to Epping, it will really boost the numbers.

But visiting last year its really quite a complex undertaking, not least because LUL still use what would need to be a connecting line as a head shunt and replacement platforms would be needed on an awkward site some way away. (And possibly land ownership/access issues)

But good luck to them, despite all that it's still one of the simpler potential connections of a preserved line to NR/LUL

(Actually how many metro systems connect with a preserved railway? This would be unique in the UK i assume?)

Stephenson Steam railway and Tyne and Tear metro, and East Lancashire and Metrolink

 

[Backroom_boy]

Stephenson Steam railway and Tyne and Tear metro, and East Lancashire and Metrolink

I meant connect at the station level

 

[1Q18]

(Actually how many metro systems connect with a preserved railway? This would be unique in the UK i assume?

The closest would probably be the East Lancashire Railway (whose Bury Bolton Street station is a couple of minutes’ walk from Manchester Metrolink‘s Bury Interchange stop, with there also being a physical connection between ELR and Metrolink track), and the North Tyneside Railway (built on a line used as a development test track for the Tyne & Wear Metro, with a short walking interchange between heritage and Metro stations at Percy Main).

EDIT: Forgot to mention the Heaton Park Tramway, who have (or at least have had) an aspiration to extend further across the park to connect with the Metrolink at their Heaton Park stop.

 

[The_Van]

EOR is my local line, it's gone very quiet indeed about the proposed station at Epping, I can't recall an update in the members magazine in the last couple of years