Hainault Loop

v t e Hainault Loop
Legend
Central line to Epping Roding Valley M11 motorway Chigwell Woodford Grange Hill Hainault depot Hainault Fairlop Barkingside Newbury Park A12 (Eastern Avenue) Gants Hill Redbridge Wanstead Ilford Curve closed 1947 Seven Kings Curve closed 1956 Leytonstone Central line to Central London Elizabeth line to Shenfield Junction now site of Ilford Depot Seven Kings Ilford Elizabeth line to Paddington

The Hainault Loop, originally opened as the Fairlop Loop, is a 6.5-mile (10.5 km)^[1] branch line of the Great Eastern Railway (GER). It once connected Woodford on the Ongar (now Epping) branch to Ilford on the Main Line, with an eastward connection for goods, excursions and stock transfers to Seven Kings. The loop opened to freight on 20 April 1903 and to passengers on 1 May 1903.^[2] In 1923, the GER was "grouped" into the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER), who provided passenger services until December 1947. After this date, the route was electrified for London Underground services from both the Woodford and Leytonstone directions (the latter via a pair of new tube tunnels), the link to Ilford (and, eventually, Seven Kings) closed, and today it forms the greater part of the Hainault Loop^{[Makes no sense. The Hainault Loop is part of the Hainault Loop??]} on the Central line, having been served by Tube trains since 1948 (Woodford and Newbury Park stations being served by December 1947).