Fenchurch Street
Of all the London stations I have travelled through, Fenchurch Street should be the one I am most familiar with, yet that title belongs to King’s Cross, even after two decades of travelling via this small-yet-busy station. The reason being lies in the history of Fenchurch Street, and in particular its London Underground connections (or lack thereof).
The station was originally built in 1841, but was rebuilt in 1854, and it was originally built to relieve congestion at the operating company’s other terminus at Bishop’s Gate. It was built by the London & Blackwall Railway, in collaboration with the Eastern Counties Railway, and served destinations in south Essex, including the popular seaside town of Southend-on-Sea. It also provided a crucial link to the economically important docks at Tilbury. In another claim to fame, Fenchurch was the first station to breach the barrier of the City of London, which was usually off-limits to the disruption and noise of busy London terminals.
Fenchurch Street only has four platforms, making it one of the smallest London terminals in that respect, yet it is one of the most intensively used, something I can personally vouch for. On occasion, I would journey from my parents’ home in Stevenage to Essex on a Friday evening, and Fenchurch Street during rush hour is a crowded, bustling nest of passengers. There are reasonably frequent services out of the station, which is needless to say, quite vital!
I mentioned that I am not as familiar with Fenchurch Street as I could be, and I alluded as to why. Fenchurch is unique among London terminals, in that it lacks a direct London Underground connection. There were plans to link the Fleet Line (now the Jubilee Line) to the station in the 1970s, but rising costs changed those plans. The nearest Tube station is Tower Hill, a few hundred yards away, and this is accessed via a side-entrance/exit. Because of this, I have rarely ventured to the main concourse, and rarely used the main entrance of the station. Consequently, I cannot speak too much about what it’s like! There is an out-of-station interchange with the Docklands Light Railway as well as the Tube, but this requires a slightly lengthier trip around the station, despite the Docklands station virtually straddling Fenchurch Street.
There are proposals to shift the entire station, enabling the construction of two more platforms. These plans would require Tower Gateway (the DLR station) to close, but it could lead to a direct connection to Tower Hill. Whether or not these plans come to fruition any time soon is anyone’s guess, though it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea. Until then, Fenchurch Street will remain a compact, yet busy, slice of Victorian London!