Notes: At the start of the 20th century, more than one train a minute arrived or left Broad Street during the morning rush hour, with over 27 million passengers in 1902 alone.

When the station opened in 1865 it had seven platforms, and eighth was added in 1891 and a ninth, outside the overall roof in 1913. Platforms 1 - 4 were generally used by the Poplar trains with trains to Hampstead Road, Watford and Richmond used the remainder. The station was originally provided with two booking offices, one for the NLR and one for the LNWR but these were amalgamated in 1909 when the two companies went into joint management.

In 1891 two covered stairways were added at the front of the station giving direct access to the concourse from the street. (The 1865 engraving on the first gallery shows the station frontage before these stairways were added)

It was earmarked for closure under the Beeching Axe of 1963, but local opposition persuaded the government to give it a reprieve. The overall roof was shortened in 1967/68 and the tracks on the east side, serving Poplar, were lifted. By 1985, only 6,000 passengers per week were using Broad Street station and only about 300 arrived daily in the morning peak. In June 1985, it was agreed that Broad Street would be closed and in November that year demolition of the station began. A single platform remained in use until 30 June 1986.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NORTH LONDON LINE
In August 1846 a new line was authorised from the North Western Railway's Camden Town Station to the West India Docks at Blackwall. Initially planned as a freight only line, by the time the first section of the East & West India Docks and Birmingham Junction Railway opened between Islington and Bow in 1850 it was also provided with a passenger service. From the opening day some trains were extended into the London & Blackwall Railway's terminus at Fenchurch Street. In 1853 the rather unwieldy name was changed to the North London Railway.

As traffic steadily increased, with 6.5 million passengers being carried in 1861, the NLR decided to seek a more direct access into the city rather than the circuitous route into Fenchurch Street. The 1861 North London Railway Act authorised the building of a triangular junction at Dalston where a new station would be built (replacing the station at Kingsland), with a triple line running southwards for two miles, much of it on viaduct, to Broad Street on the edge of the City. One intermediate station was built at Shoreditch with another added at Haggerston in 1867.

The Broad Street extension was very costly and to save costs, the adjacent Broad Street goods station was built on two levels. Passenger traffic began on 1.11.1865 with the goods depot opening on 18.5.1868.

The extension was referred to as 'the happy afterthought'; it was an immediate success with passenger traffic doubling to nearly 14 million in 1866; a fourth line was provided into Broad Street in 1874.

For the next 50 years a 15 minute service ran from Broad Street over the Bow line, first to Fenchurch Street but later rerouted into Poplar. Another 15 minute service ran to Hampstead Road calling at all stations while a third ran semi-fast to Camden with alternate trains running on to Watford and Richmond.

Passenger traffic reached its peak of 46.3 million in 1896 by which date the line was beginning to feel the effects of competition from the tramway network; the NLR were unable to compete with the cheap tram fares. By 1910 the decline in passenger numbers has reached catastrophic proportions and in 1921 only 11.4 million passengers were carried.

In 1909 the North London Railway went into joint management with the LNWR and in 1922 the latter company absorbed the NLR completely before itself becoming part of the LMS the following year. Although there was some increase in passenger numbers after electrification of the Broad Street - Richmond line in 1916 the North London line was never to recover its former glories.

By the 1930's the decline had been halted and passengers numbers were once again beginning to improve but after the outbreak of WW2 Haggerston and Shoreditch Station were closed; shortly after closure the street level building at Haggerston was damaged in an air raid. There was further bomb damage to the Poplar line making it impossible to run a service and the line ceased on 15.5.1944. Although the closure was described as temporary with a replacement bus service was provided, at the end of the war the bus service was withdrawn and the line closed permanently on 23.4.1945.

The lines to Richmond and Watford remained and the Richmond service was reputedly one of London's more profitable but this prosperity was short lived with passenger numbers once again in decline by 1955; the Richmond service was one of the few in London marked for the Beeching Axe in 1963. Strenuous opposition to closure by local authorities along the route brought a reprieve in 1965 and a modest modernisation scheme to cut costs was started in 1966, this involved singling the track out of Broad Street and removal of the junction to Poplar at Dalston. This ended any possibility of reopening the line to Poplar for which there had been much local support in the mid 1960's. This proposal was revived in the 1970's and on 14.5.1979 the line between Dalston and Stratford was reopened to passenger traffic and Kingsland Station was reopened on 16.5.1983 on the north side of the triangular junction at Dalston. A further section of the former Poplar branch between Poplar - Bow also reopened as part of the Dockland Light Railway on 31.8.1987.

From 13.5.1985 the Richmond service was diverted from Broad Street to North Woolwich leaving just a peak hour service to Watford Junction. The end was inevitable. Demolition of Broad Street Station started in the summer of 1985 with trains running into a temporary platform at the north end of the station. With the opening of a new connecting spur between the North London and the former Great Eastern line at Hackney the remaining Broad Street trains were diverted into Liverpool Street bringing final closure to Broad Street and Dalston Junction on 30.6.1986.

In January 1997 the government granted the statutory planning powers for an extension of the East London Line from Shoreditch to Dalston where there will be a junction with the existing North London Line. For much of its course, this line will utilise the existing North London Line viaduct. Although Broad Street Station has now gone, replaced by the massive Broadgate office development, the remainder of the route remained intact after closure. The existing East London Line station at Shoreditch will close in June 2006 and the line will be rerouted through the old Bishopsgate Goods Depot and across Shoreditch High Street on a new bridge to join the North London Line viaduct south of the NLR's Shoreditch Station.

New stations are to be opened at Bishopsgate, (on the site of the old goods depot), Hoxton (new site), Haggerston (reopening of the old station) and Dalston (on the site of Dalston Junction). Phase one of construction work began in December 2001 and when the extensions are complete in about 2007, the line will be franchised out to a private operator and operated as part of the national network rather than as part of London Underground.

The line from Stratford - North Woolwich is due to close in November 2006. North Woolwich and Silvertown stations will close together with the North London Line platforms at West Ham, Canning Town and Custom House.

Other web sites: Abandoned Tube Stations
                         South Park UK web site

Further reading: All Stations to Poplar by J. E. Connor - Connor & Butler 1985
ISBN 0 947699 04 X

The North London Line by Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith - Middleton Press 1997
ISBN 1873793944

To see the other stations on the North London Line between Broad Street and Dalston Junction click on the station name: Shoreditch, Haggerston &
Dalston Junction - see also Bow on the Poplar line.