The Recorder is looking back at the history of Hornchurch station – now a District line stop – as the modern railway marks 200 years in 2025.
Almost 50 years after Romford station opened, the first train steamed into Hornchurch in May 1885, on a new railway line from Barking to Upminster.
Postcard view of Hornchurch station in 1913 (Image: Havering Libraries-Local Studies)
Hornchurch station formed part of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway in the 1880s, with the company opening a direct line between London and Southend, via Upminster, from 1883.
A ceremony in a field near the mill in Upminster in October 1883 commemorated the new Barking and Pitsea extension, which included stations such as Dagenham, Hornchurch, Upminster, East Horndon and Laindon.
Another rail company, the Whitechapel and Bow Railway, later allowed services of the Metropolitan District Railway – an early iteration of the District line – to stop at Hornchurch on the way to Upminster.
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This route was used between 1902 and 1905, until the line was converted to electric, at which point the trains ended at East Ham.
The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway was sold to Midland Railway in 1912, which later became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSR).
In 1932, LMSR extended the District Railway service to Hornchurch, as well as building a new station with two extra platforms and a new ticket office.
A year later, Hornchurch officially became a District line station when London Transport, an early version of Transport for London, was formed.
