London, Tilbury and Southend Railway
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The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) is a railway line linking Fenchurch Street railway station in the City of London with East London and south Essex towns.
The name also refers to the British railway company which originally built the line in 1854, which was a joint venture between the London and Blackwall Railway and the Eastern Counties Railway.
Train services on the line are currently operated by c2c. The main route from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness via Basildon is 40 miles (64 km).
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Route
Fenchurch_street_station.jpg
By 1856 the line had been extended to Southend. In 1858 a more direct route from Fenchurch Street to Barking via Plaistow and East Ham was opened and service from Bishopsgate was withdrawn. The line was extended to Shoeburyness in 1884.
Between 1885 and 1888 a new shorter route between Barking and Pitsea via Upminster was constructed and between 1892 and 1893 a single line branch was constructed from Romford to Grays via Upminster.
In 1912 the railway was bought by the Midland Railway (MR) from under the noses of the Great Eastern Railway (GER). The line was known for its use of 4-4-2 tank engines which were later displaced by 2-6-4Ts after it had been absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923. The LMS in turn was nationalised into British Railways (BR) in 1948, and the line was transferred to the Eastern Region.
The line was electrified to 25kV 50Hz AC overhead line electrification in 1962 and passenger service was withdrawn from Bromley, Plaistow, Upton Park, East Ham, Becontree, Dagenham and Hornchurch so trains could run fast from Fenchurch Street to Upminster calling only at Stepney East and Barking. The stopping service of the London Underground District Line remained to serve intermediate stations. At the same time the Romford to Upminster section became physically disconnected from the rest of the line.
In 1974 a station was opened to serve the new town of Basildon and in 1986 the route was transferred to the Network SouthEast sector of British Rail. During this time the line began to suffer from crumbling infrastructure and limited investment despite its intensive passenger operations. The press picked up on this and it become widely known as the "misery line".
On privatisation, Prism Rail took over operations and marketed the route as LTS Rail. When Prism were bought out by National Express Group the line was rebranded as c2c and the route was given the investment needed to replace rolling stock with new Class 357 Electrostar units and upgrade the infrastructure of the route.
In 1995 a station was built at Chafford Hundred to serve the new community there and Lakeside Shopping Centre and in 1999 platforms were constructed at West Ham to provide interchange with the Jubilee Line Extension.
Boat trains
Historically, boat trains operated between St Pancras railway station and Tilbury Riverside railway station. These services reduced as Tilbury declined as a passenger terminal and Tilbury Riverside station finally closed in 1990. A ferry service to Gravesend continues to operate with train services from Fenchurch Street railway station and a bus service from Tilbury Town railway station timed to connect.
Diversion
Trains can be diverted at Barking to call at Stratford and Liverpool Street. Two late weekday evening services in each direction use this route and it is often used at other times because of engineering work or other problems. Trains diverted at Barking, having passed Stratford, can also rejoin the mainline before Limehouse (avoiding West Ham) and continue to Fenchurch Street. This diversionary route is less often used and consists of a short section of single track.
Preservation
Of the original LTS, 4-4-2T number 80 survives at Bressingham Steam Museum in Norfolk.