Lower Edmonton (low level) railway station

Lower Edmonton (low level) railway station was a station in Edmonton, London opened in 1849 by the Eastern Counties Railway as part of the original Enfield Town branch line. Originally named Edmonton it was renamed as Lower Edmonton low level to distinguish it from neighbouring Lower Edmonton high level. It shut to passengers in 1939 although the line on which it stood lasted until 1964.

Enfield had been missed by the Northern and Eastern Railway line which had opened between Stratford and Broxbourne on 15 September 1840 and had to make do with Ponders End station some 2 miles (3.2 km) away. Local pressure led to the deposit of a bill before parliament in 1844 which failed. Two years later the Enfield and Edmonton Railway Bill was passed with arrangements for the Eastern Counties Railway to take over management of the project.

Work on the 3 mile 7 chain single line branch commenced in 1848 under the direction of contractor Thomas Earle. The Enfield Town branch line branched off the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) line at the present day Angel Road railway station which was then named Edmonton. After the branch opened on 1 March 1849 the original Edmonton station was renamed Water Lane and the new intermediate station on the branch was named Edmonton. The ECR at that point ran between London Shoreditch (Bishopsgate) and Bishops Stortford although plans were afoot to extend northwards to Cambridge.

By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway. Although they wished to amalgamate formally, they could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by amalgamation.

The branch continued operation although dissatisfaction grew with the roundabout route the branch line service took to get into London. As a result, a more direct route was opened in stages between Hackney Downs being finally connected to the Enfield Town branch on 1 August 1872. The line between the new junction and Enfield Town was also doubled providing a double tracked route to Liverpool Street. This offered a quicker journey time into London Liverpool Street and this effectively became the Enfield Town branch.

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