Gallery:B168
At the opening of the Loughton branch most trains terminated at Fenchurch Street, but from 1874 most trains were diverted to Liverpool Street. With the growth in residential traffic, the Great Eastern Railway (which now operated the line) rebuilt stations on the inner section. In addition a double track was completed as far as Epping in January 1893. George Lane received a footbridge in 1881 and was rebuilt two years later. Despite this there was no large-scale suburban building between Snaresbrook and Loughton until the early 1900s when new villas and shopping parades started to appear near the stations. Until the mid 1920s almost every house built near these stations was in the higher price range.
By the outbreak of the Second World war much of the land between Epping Forest and the River Roding was covered with houses as far as Loughton but there was much discontent with the LNER steam service. Tube train operation of the branch was first mooted in the early 1930s and a major objective of the 1935-1940 London Railways New Works Programme was to give the eastern suburbs of London a more direct link to the West End. The Central line would be extended beyond Stratford to Leyton where it would take over the working of the Ongar line. Work resumed in 1945 and Tube trains reached Leytonstone on 5th May 1947 and Snaresbrook, South Woodford and Woodford on 14th December 1947. For the extension of the Tube, Snaresbrook, South Woodford and Woodford received new ticket halls. At this time South Woodford was called South Woodford (George Lane) and only changed to its present name in 1950. Electrification was carried through to Epping on 25th September 1949.
This photograph from the footbridge looks in the direction of Woodford. The bus is about to cross 'The Viaduct' which takes George Lane over the line.