North London Railway

The company was originally called the East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway (E&WID&BJR) from its start in 1850, until 1853.

In 1909, it entered into an agreement with the London and North Western Railway which introduced common management, and the NLR was taken over completely by the LNWR in 1922.

It was empowered to construct a railway from the district of Poplar and the docks to Camden Town in north London.

At first, it ran trains from Bow Junction on the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR) to Islington, starting on 26 September 1850.

A bypass line from Camden to Willesden Junction via Gospel Oak and West Hampstead opened in 1860.

Meanwhile, at the eastern end, a spur line connecting the NLR to Stratford from Victoria Park opened in 1854 but was not used by passenger services.

The line from Dalston Junction to Poplar was heavily damaged during the Blitz of World War II.

Passenger services from Broad Street to Poplar via Victoria Park and Bow were suspended on 15 April 1944 and officially closed on 14 May 1944.

The northern section of the East Cross Route (A12) built in the late 1960s ran parallel to the rail line between Old Ford and Victoria Park stations, both of which were demolished for the road's construction.

In 1956, the workshop repaired diesel-electric locomotives for the motive power depot at Devons Road (the first to become all-diesel).

Railway map of London, 1899, from The Pocket Atlas and Guide to London
Camden Road station is one of the few remaining examples of the NLR's yellow-brick, "Venetian" architectural style. It was designed by Edwin Henry Horne .
The NLR erected a First World War memorial to fallen staff at Broad Street. On that station's closure it was moved first to Richmond, then in 2011 to Hoxton .