Given the line beyond Stratford closed quietly back in 2006, recreating it wasn’t easy. West Ham and Canning Town were initially modelled as we were building our Jubilee Line. However, once you go beyond Canning Town, it seemed very little of it had been photographed to the level of detail needed for a BVE route. Even as we walked around the area in 2013, little remained of the stations. Blue fencing for Crossrail largely obscured what little remained of the North London Line.
This is where Flickr, the historical images available on Google Maps, and Disused Stations.org.uk have been a lifeline for this project. Through tireless research we have been able to recreate 3 distinctly different areas as they would have been in 2006. From the ExCeL dominated area of Custom House, to the Industrial buildings of Silvertown, this wasn’t a quick job. In fact, it has been harder than the rest of the line put together.