Editing East London line (section)

===Establishment of the East London Railway===
The East London Railway (ELR) was created by the East London Railway Company, a consortium of six railway companies: the [[Great Eastern Railway]] (GER), the [[London, Brighton and South Coast Railway]] (LB&SCR), the [[London, Chatham and Dover Railway]] (LCDR), the [[South Eastern Railway (UK)|South Eastern Railway]] (SER), the [[Metropolitan Railway]], and the [[District Railway]]. The latter two operated what are now the [[Metropolitan line|Metropolitan]], [[Circle line (London Underground)|Circle]], [[District line|District]] and [[Hammersmith & City line|Hammersmith & City]] lines of the London Underground. The incorporation of the East London Railway took place on 26 May 1865 with the aim of providing a link between the LB&SCR, GER and SER lines.<ref name="McCarthy">{{cite book |last1=McCarthy |first1=Colin |last2=McCarthy |first2=David |title = Railways of Britain – London North of the Thames |publisher = Ian Allan Publishing |location= Hersham, Surrey |isbn=978-0-7110-3346-7 |year=2009 |pages=14–15}}</ref>

The companies reused the [[Thames Tunnel]], built by [[Marc Brunel|Marc]] and [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]] between 1825 and 1843 for horse-drawn carriages. The tunnel, with generous headroom and two carriageways separated by arches, connected [[Wapping]] on the north bank of the Thames with [[Rotherhithe]] on the south bank. A triumph of civil engineering, it was a commercial failure and by the 1860s it had become an unpleasant and disreputable place.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7740000/7740557.stm Brunel's Thames Tunnel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131120244/http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7740000/7740557.stm |date=31 January 2011 }} ''Today'', BBC News, 22 November 2008.</ref>

The tunnel was the most easterly land connection between the north and south banks of the Thames, close to the docks on both banks of the river, and was not far from mainline railways at either end. Converting the tunnel for railway use thus offered a means of providing a cross-Thames rail link. On 25 September 1865 the East London Railway Company took ownership of the tunnel at a cost of £800,000.<ref>{{cite news |title=Railway And Other Companies, East London |newspaper=The Times | location = London |date=2 September 1869}}</ref> Over the next four years the company built a railway through the tunnel to connect with the existing lines. The company's engineer was [[Sir John Hawkshaw]], who was also responsible for the major re-design and completion of I K Brunel's long-abandoned [[Clifton Suspension Bridge]] at Bristol.<ref>{{ cite book | last = Beaumont | first = Martin | title = Sir John Hawkshaw 1811–1891 | publisher = The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society www.lyrs.org.uk | year = 2015 | pages = 68–69, 108–111 | isbn = 978-0-9559467-7-6 }}</ref> The section of the railway construction work from Wapping to Bishopsgate, which was very difficult, was carried out by the firm "T. & C. Walker and Co." ([[Thomas Andrew Walker]] and his younger brother Charles).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Charles E. |title=The East London Line and The Thames Tunnel: A Brief History. |date=1976 |publisher=London Transport |isbn=0-85329-068-7 |location=London |pages=14–16}}</ref> 

The line opened in stages as financing became available:

* 7 December 1869: {{Stnlnk|New Cross Gate}} (then New Cross) to {{Stnlnk|Wapping}} opened, operated by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), with intermediate stations at [[Surrey Quays railway station|Deptford Road]] (now Surrey Quays) and {{Stnlnk|Rotherhithe}}.
* 13 March 1871: A spur opened from just south of what is now [[Surrey Quays railway station|Surrey Quays station]] to the [[South London line]]'s [[Old Kent Road railway station|Old Kent Road station]]. Passenger services were withdrawn from 1 June 1911 and freight last used the line in 1964; the track was subsequently removed. This alignment was relaid and restored to passenger service by London Overground in late 2012.
* 10 April 1876: Wapping to {{stl|London Underground|Shoreditch}}, through a cut-and-cover tunnel constructed in part along the bottom of an infilled dock. At Shoreditch a connection was made with the Great Eastern Railway to {{stl|London Underground|Liverpool Street}}. Intermediate stations were at {{Stnlnk|Shadwell}} and [[Whitechapel station|Whitechapel]].
* 1 April 1880: A spur to {{Stnlnk|New Cross}} (South Eastern Railway) opened.
* 3 March 1884: A spur to the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Railways opened south of [[Whitechapel station|Whitechapel]] using [[St Mary's Curve]]. This enabled [[Metropolitan Railway]] and [[District Railway|Metropolitan District Railway]] (District) trains to commence through services to the East London Railway later that year. Although passenger services via this spur ceased in 1939,<ref name=Rose>{{cite book |last=Rose |first=Douglas |title=The London Underground: A Diagrammatic History |edition=8th |date=December 2007 |orig-year=1980 |publisher=Capital Transport |location=Harrow Weald |isbn=978-1-85414-315-0 }}</ref><ref name=CULG>{{cite web
|url=https://www.davros.org/rail/culg/eastlondon.html#dates
|title=East London Line, Dates
|work=Clive's UndergrounD Lines Guide
|access-date=2022-01-28
}}</ref><ref name="LURS">{{Cite magazine |date=October 2018 |magazine=Underground News |publisher=London Underground Railway Society|issue=682|pages=549|title=Train Services on the East London Line|issn=0306-8617}}</ref> it was retained to transfer empty trains to the rest of the sub-surface network.