Becontree housing estate railway

The Becontree Estate Railway was a temporary railway system built in the area between Chadwell Heath and the River Thames to facilitate the construction of what became known as the Becontree Estate. The railway, which used standard gauge steam locomotives, operated between 1921 and 1934.

Between 1921 and 1932 the London County Council developed a public housing estate on land between Barking and Dagenham: when completed it consisted of 27,000 dwellings. With a population of over 100,000, it was, and remains, the largest public housing development in the world.

The name Becontree was not used for a settlement at that time, but the estate was named after the ancient Becontree hundred, which historically covered the area. The site occupied 3,000 acres of farmland and market gardens, and was entirely rural in character.

The initial contract was for 2,900 houses, and was awarded to C J Wills & Sons Ltd, a long-established family concern; Wills was awarded further contracts and ultimately built over 25,000 houses for a total cost of £13,455,000.

At its peak, the site employed 6,000 workmen and houses were completed at the rate of 97 per week.

The area had a very limited transport network; although three railway lines crossed from west to east, the very limited road system consisted of country lanes—shown in grey on the diagram. (Except in the Seven Kings estate areas, there were no other roads in the district prior to the construction.)

Experience in trench warfare in Belgium and France during World War I had shown that temporary railway systems were efficient in bringing and removing materials in difficult terrain.

Wills & Sons established a temporary railway, connecting with existing goods sidings at Goodmayes on the Great Eastern Railway main line. Running east to near Chadwell Heath, it then turned broadly south through the future estate, to a 500 feet (150 m) jetty on the Thames, a little to the west of the area known as Horse Shoe Corner. The total distance was somewhat over 3 miles.

As well as bringing materials in by train via Goodmayes, gravel and aggregate were brought in to the jetty; this was 500 feet long and capable of handling seven barges; there were four steam cranes.

In addition, two gravel pits were created within the area of the construction itself, and these were served by short branches of the rail network.

Wills & Sons acquired a fleet of thirteen industrial locomotives for the work, and also a number of wagons for the internal conveyance of materials from the gravel pits and from the jetty; materials arriving via the main line railway were conveyed in the carriers' wagons, but these could not be detained on the Estate network unless a demurrage charge was paid.

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Wikipedia