Loughton tube station

Loughton station stands on the edge of Epping Forest in Essex, just beyond London’s suburban edge. It is an above-ground Underground stop on the Central line, placed between Buckhurst Hill and Debden, with two island platforms reached by a subway from the ticket hall. The present building dates from 1940 and was designed by John Murray Easton for London Transport, using bonded gault bricks and tall arched windows. A single-storey wing and a disused signal cabin sit beside the main block, while a converted electrical substation now serves as a traincrew depot. The station’s gull-winged canopies were added in the 1980s, and original timber benches with roundels still line the platforms. The site has been a railway halt since 1856, when the Eastern Counties Railway opened the first station half a kilometre north of today’s platforms. Excursion trains once brought thousands of visitors to nearby Epping Forest, and the original goods yard stretched almost to St Mary’s Church. The line was extended south in 1865 and taken over by London Underground in 1948 after wartime rebuilding. Historic studies by H. W. Paar and Pond, Strugnell and Martin record these changes in detail. Visitors find a lofty ticket hall with large arched windows and a subway leading to the four platform faces. The middle track usually handles terminating trains, while sidings to the east can hold ten carriages overnight. Outside, London buses link the station to the town centre and surrounding villages. The Grade II listed building and its surviving platform furniture offer a quiet glimpse of mid-20th century transport design.