Stratford High Street DLR station

Stratford High Street is a Docklands Light Railway station in Stratford in London, England. It is located on the Stratford International branch of the Docklands Light Railway,[7] which opened on 31 August 2011.[8][9] The site was the location of an earlier railway station from 1847 to 1957, known initially as Stratford Bridge and later as Stratford Market.

Stratford High Street
Northern entrance of the DLR station
Stratford High Street Location of Stratford High Street in Greater London
Location	Stratford
Local authority	London Borough of Newham
Managed by	Docklands Light Railway
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes
Fare zone	2 and 3
DLR annual boardings and alightings
2012	0.944 million[1]
2013	0.904 million[2]
2014	0.963 million[2]
2015	1.061 million[2]
2016	1.144 million[3]
Key dates
14 June 1847[4][5]	Opened as Stratford Bridge
1 November 1880	renamed Stratford Market
1892	Station resited
1898	renamed Stratford Market (West Ham)
1923	renamed Stratford Market
6 May 1957	Closed
31 August 2011	DLR station opened on site of the former station[6]
Other information
WGS84	51.5379°N 0.0006°W / 51.5379; -0.0006
London transport portal

History

Extant station entrance to Stratford Market

The first station on the site was opened as Stratford Bridge on 14 June 1847 in Stratford-at-Bow on the Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway[4] (ECR) between Stratford and Canning Town stations. By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by amalgamation. Thus Stratford Bridge became a GER station in 1862.[10]

Stratford Market

Stratford Market Collision

In 1879, the Great Eastern Railway opened a new wholesale fruit and vegetable market at Stratford to rival Spitalfields Market,[11] and the station was renamed Stratford Market on 1 November 1880.[4] The station was resited in 1892 when the line was widened.[4] On the westbound platform there was a tower that contained steps that allowed direct access over the goods lines to the adjacent Great Eastern Railway's printing works which opened in 1893.[12] As of 2016 the building is still extant.

1905 collision

On 5 April 1905 two trains collided just north of Stratford Market station. At this time there were several junctions between Stratford Low Level platforms and Stratford Market station and a goods train was making a move from the Western Curve to the Goods Lines at Stratford Market. An empty coaching stock train was stopped at Stratford Market station awaiting a path towards Stratford Low Level when the driver, thinking he had the right to proceed, started the train having failed to properly check the signals were set against him.

The two trains collided on the junction directly north of the station with the goods engine overturning and killing its fireman William Secker, who was crushed under the locomotive after jumping off.[13][14]

Nationalisation and station closure

Following the 1923 grouping the station was operated by the London and North Eastern Railway. The second station was itself renamed twice: to Stratford Market (West Ham) in 1898, resuming the name Stratford Market in 1923.[4]

Following nationalisation of the railways in 1948 the station became part of British Railways Eastern Region. The North Sea floods of 31 January 1953 saw tracks in the station flooded.[15] The station closed on 6 May 1957[4] due to lack of traffic and the proximity of the larger Stratford station, which was also served by other lines. The tracks remained however, with services continuing to North Woolwich.

Docklands Light Railway

The line through the station site to North Woolwich closed in December 2006 for works to start on conversion of the North London line to Docklands Light Railway (DLR) operation.[16] The station reopened as Stratford High Street as part of the Stratford International extension[7] on 31 August 2011.[9]

Design

The original red brick station buildings from the original station still stand on the south side of Stratford High Street.

It is provided with a footbridge connection to Bridge Road in order to provide access to the surrounding areas. In order to locate the DLR station here part of Bridge Road has been permanently closed to vehicles except for emergency access, and access into Burford Road from the A118 blocked. This avoided the need to take land from Rokeby School whilst also enabling the station to be located close to Stratford High Street.[17]

Along with Abbey Road, Stratford and Star Lane - the station has artwork Places of Exchange by Scottish artist Toby Paterson[18] - tessellated patterns inspired by the local area, etched into the glass panels of the station.[19]

Services and connections

Platforms looking south.

Off-peak, trains run every ten minutes to Stratford International to the North and Woolwich Arsenal to the South. In the peak hours trains run every eight minutes.[20]

London Bus routes 25, 276, 425, D8 and night route N8 and N25 also serve the station from nearby bus stops.

Goods depot

In 1879, the Great Eastern Railway opened a new wholesale fruit and vegetable market at Stratford to rival Spitalfields Market.[11] To serve this market, a large goods depot was located south of the station on the western side of the line. Additionally, a coal depot served the Patent Victoria Stone Works.

In 1907 the market depot became the centre for the distribution of bananas in London with Fyfes and Elders both having depots on the site. Around this time the depot had capacity for 400 wagons (a standard wagon being 21 feet (6.4 m) long). The depot closed in the 1960s although the sidings were used for storage of withdrawn rolling stock for a number of years afterwards.[21]

After 112 years, the wholesale market closed on 13 May 1991, moving to New Spitalfields Market in Leyton. The market buildings and sidings were demolished in 1992 to make way for the Jubilee line depot.[22]

See also

• Stratford Market Depot

References

1. Transport for London (12 February 2013). "Freedom of Information DLR usage 1213". Transport for London. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
2. "Up-to-date DLR entry/exit statistics for each station" (XLSX). What Do They Know. Transport for London. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
3. "Passenger Numbers - Docklands Light Railway Limited" (XLSX (after downloading zip)). What Do They Know. Transport for London. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
4. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 222. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
5. "STRATFORD MARKET". Retrieved 3 February 2009.
6. "Docklands Light Railway extension marks one year to go to the London 2012 Paralympic Games". Retrieved 31 August 2011.
7. "Docklands Light Railway - Stratford International Extension". DLR. Archived from the original on 30 March 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
8. "Docklands Light Railway opens to Stratford International". Railway Gazette International. 31 August 2011.
9. "New £211m DLR Olympic route opens". BBC News. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
10. Vaughan, Adrian (1997). Railwaymen, Politics and Money. London: John Murray. pp. 134, 135. ISBN 0 7195 5150 1.
11. Cherry, Bridget. (2005). London. 5, East. O'Brien, Charles., Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1902-1983. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10701-3. OCLC 57431801.
12. Connor, J E (2001). Branch Lines around North Woolwich. Midhurst UK: Middleton Press. pp. 22, 25. ISBN 1 901706 65 6.
13. Board of trade (UK). "Accident report" (PDF). Railwaysarchive.co.uk. Board of Trade (UK). Retrieved 7 June 2014.
14. Ashton, Geoff; Challis, David (October 2013). "Collision at Stratford Market". Great Eastern Journal. 156: 4–13.
15. Kenworthy, Graham (January 2013). "East coast floods January 1953". Great Eastern Journal (153): 5.
16. "Key milestone reached in £211m rail extension". Transport for London. 11 December 2006. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
17. "DLR - Current Projects - Railway Extensions - Stratford International - Stations". Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
18. "Toby Paterson". www.nationalgalleries.org. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
19. "DLR Stratford International Extension - Modus Operandi Art Consultants". Modus Operandi Art Consultants. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
20. "DLR frequencies". Transport for London. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
21. Watling, John (January 1985). "London Goods stations of the Great Eastern Railway Part 3". Great Eastern Journal (41): 4–5.
22. "The Traders' Tale; Monitor - Local Arts". London's Screen Archives. London Borough of Newham. 1991. Retrieved 28 May 2020.

External links

• Google street view of Stratford Market station building and Stratford High Street DLR station under construction

Preceding station		DLR		Following station
Stratford towards Stratford International		Docklands Light Railway		Abbey Road towards Woolwich Arsenal
	Disused Railways
Stratford		Great Eastern Railway Palace Gates Line		Canning Town