London Fields Station (LOF)

Address: Mentmore Terrace, Hackney, London E8 3PH
Opened: 27 May 1872
Station Code: LOF
Fare Zone: 2

London Overground Line(s) Served:

Lea Valley Lines (Cheshunt & Enfield Town Branches)

Service Pattern(s):

Four trains per hour to London Liverpool Street
Two trains per hour to Cheshunt
Two trains per hour to Enfield Town

Station History

London Fields Station was opened by the Great Eastern Railway on their line from Bethnal Green to Hackney Downs on 27 May 1872. The life of the station remained unremarkable and it was closed on 22 May 1916 as a wartime economy measure with the station not reopening, and the restarting of regular services, until 1 July 1919.

The Railways Act 1921 saw railway companies grouped together to form new entities, and the Great Eastern Railway, along with several other companies came together to form the London & North Eastern Railway in 1923.

This was followed in 1948 when Nationalisation saw the LNER form part of British Railways Eastern Region. It was under BR ownership that the station and the lines passing through it were electrified in the late 1950s, with electric train operation finally commencing on 21 November 1960.

1980 saw a marked decline in passenger usage of the station and services were reduced to weekday peak operation only, however, this didn’t last long as, in 1981 a fire seriously damaged the station buildings and led to all services being suspended for five years.

In 1986, now under the stewardship of Network Southeast following sectorisation of the railways, repairs were carried out and the station reopened operating a skeleton service. In fact, it wasn’t until 1998 that following the takeover of the line and its stations by West Anglia Great Northern Railways, the station regained a full weekday daytime service, followed by evenings and Saturday services in 2001.

The current level of service through the station, including the reintroduction of Sunday services came about in 2005 after the franchise for the line had been passed from WAGN to National Express earlier the previous year.

The final changes of management regarding the station happened in October 2012 and May 2015 with Abellio Greater Anglia taking the reins before Arriva Rail London assumed operations under the London Overground banner.