Custom House for ExCeL DLR station

History

The original Custom House station was opened in 1855, by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) on the Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway (ECTJR) line which was built to link the Eastern Counties Railway at Stratford with the developing London docks of the mid-nineteenth century. The ECTJR was formally absorbed by the ECR in 1847.

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 was formed by amalgamation. Thus Custom House became a GER station in 1862.

On 14 October 1872 a branch to Beckton Gas Works opened to freight, the line diverging just to the east of the station. Passenger services commenced 17 March 1874 generally running from Stratford (Low Level platforms) or Stratford Market stations.

On 3 August 1880 the branch to Gallions was opened by the St Katherine's and London Docks Company although initially trains terminated at Central before being extended to Gallions in November of that year. The dock company acquitted three former London & North Western Railway 2-4-0T locomotives to operate a shuttle service between Custom House and Gallions.

The station was situated between housing to the north and exchange sidings for the dock system to the south (which opened in 1877). It was rebuilt in 1891 and was a three platform affair with a bay platform at the east end for Gallions Branch services. The station building was on the north side of the line and linked to the southbound platform by a footbridge. There was a shelter on the up platform and a signal box at the east end of the station.

Following the Railway Grouping of 1923 Custom House station became part of the London & North Eastern Railway.

During the Second World War the station was bombed in the London Blitz on 7 September 1940. The Gallions and Beckton branches were also heavily bombed and the passenger service was withdrawn at this time.

Following nationalisation in 1948 Custom House became part of British Railways (Eastern Region). Passenger numbers fell during the 1950s and 1960s as the docks declined and car ownership grew. Eventually the service was reduced to a shuttle between Stratford (Low Level) platforms and North Woolwich generally operated by two car DMUs.

In 1969 the station building was demolished and replaced by a shelter.

In 1978 it was announced a new service would be operated linking North Woolwich, Custom House and Stratford to Camden and this commenced on 14 May 1979. The line was electrified by British Rail in 1985 and this allowed through running from Richmond to North Woolwich.

In 1986 the line became part of Network South East.

Following privatisation of the railways in 1994 the track through Custom House became the responsibility of Railtrack whilst train operations became the part of North London Railways (part of National Express) on 3 March 1997. This company was rebranded to become Silverlink in September of that year.

The adjacent Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station opened on 28 March 1994 as part of the extension to Beckton.

In 2002 following financial difficulties at Railtrack, Network Rail took over responsibility for the operation of the infrastructure around the station.

The original Custom House station was closed on Saturday 9 December 2006 along with Silvertown and North Woolwich. The area was by now well served by the Docklands Light Railway and this was also due to take over the track bed of the old ECTJR up to Stratford railway station.

Custom House Engine Shed

This engine shed was located to the east of the station and on the south side of the line. The three track engine shed was built in 1881 by the London and St Katherine Docks Company after a fire had destroyed an earlier wooden structure.

Early locomotives tended to be a series of second hand locomotives including some from the London and North Western Railway which tended to work passenger services on the Gallions branch and would have been seen at the GER station.

The main duties undertaken by the shed’s locomotives were shunting the various sidings, wharves and factories around the Victoria and Albert docks.

In 1889 the shed passed to the London and India Docks Joint Committee following the merger of some of the dock companies. The dock company’s locomotives stopped working passenger services on the Gallions Branch from 1903 and services were then worked by the GER although occasionally Custom House locomotives did help out. Six years later in 1909 the remaining dock companies were all merged under the umbrella of the Port of London Authority who became responsible for the operation of the shed and rail network in the docks.

From time to time shunting locomotives from the Great Eastern (later LNER and British Railway) shed as Stratford were hired in to cover shortages.

By the mid-1920s the locomotive stock allocated to Custom House consisted of:

The first diesel engines (from the Yorkshire Engine Company) appeared in 1959 and a handful of steam engines were retained until 1963 (mainly for the banana traffic). The reign of the diesels was short lived as the docks were in rapid decline and on 1 May 1970 the PLA system and Custom House shed closed.

Design

It is linked to the main entrance of the ExCeL Exhibition Centre by an overhead walkway, which also connects to the Royal Victoria Dock Bridge, spanning the Royal Victoria Dock to its southern side.

Location

It is the principal public transport access to the ExCeL Exhibition Centre and its adjacent complex of hotels, restaurants and bars.

Connections

London Buses routes 147, 241, 325 and 678 and night route N551 serve the station.

Crossrail station

Crossrail's Abbey Wood branch will have a station at Custom House, located on the site of the former station.