Woodford to Ilford The Loop was double track and all six original stations had two 600 ft (183 m) platforms: the 1936 station at Roding Valley had 500 ft (152 m) platforms. Hainault station re-opened in 1948 with a third platform It is today used by terminating Central line trains. A fork at the northern end at Woodford Junction let trains leave or join the Ongar branch. A triangular junction at the southern end gave access to the main line, the site now occupied by Ilford carriage sheds and a maintenance depot run by
Bombardier. The apex of the triangle was Newbury Park Junction (just south of Vicarage Lane), the western side was Ilford Carriage Sidings Junction, and the eastern side was Seven Kings West Junction. The topography challenged engineers. The line was on the surface but 260 yards (238m) of tunnel was bored immediately north of . The line between Roding Valley and Chigwell was on an embankment, and a three-arch viaduct was built over the
River Roding. Further east, the embankment was bisected by the London end of the
M11 motorway in 1977, a concrete bridge carrying the line over the road. Chigwell and Grange Hill were built in cuttings, Hainault and Fairlop on embankment, and most of the route south of Barkingside including Newbury Park was in a cutting. Only the platforms at Roding Valley and Barkingside (eastbound only) are accessible from street level. Works for accessibility to each of the platforms at Roding Valley were completed in 2009; hitherto there were a couple of steps to street level. Goods yards were at Grange Hill (closed 1965), Hainault (closed 1908), Fairlop (closed 1958), Barkingside and Newbury Park (both closed 1965). One of the former sidings at Newbury Park is now the eastbound through line, with the former eastbound line normally used only for reversing, though it retains the connection facing Barkingside. The sidings at Grange Hill now form part of the north-facing access from Hainault Depot. They extend parallel to the station platforms, and there are also sidings at the southern end of the depot next to the platforms at Hainault. East of Chigwell a short siding served Chigwell Nursery in GER days, but this was closed, probably before Grouping into the LNER (the nursery was sold in 1922).
Newbury Park to Leytonstone The line between Leytonstone and Newbury Park is of standard twin-bore construction, with the three intermediate stations all having central platforms. The route diverges from the
Ongar branch east of Leytonstone at Leytonstone Junction, with the tracks passing either side of the latter and immediately diving underground. The route heads mostly beneath the
A12 Eastern Avenue as far as
Gants Hill. East of here it turns southeast along Perth Road, then east to pass beneath Ley Street to the alignment of Wards Road, before curving northwards beneath Glebelands Avenue to reach the surface just south of Newbury Park, with the tracks passing to either side of the trackbed of the former line to Ilford: this explains the relatively long tunnel between Gants Hill and Newbury Park. The tunnels were essentially completed when the
Second World War broke out in 1939, and between March 1942 and the end of hostilities they were used as an underground
munitions factory, complete with its own 18 in (457 mm) railway, by
Plessey,
Redbridge is the shallowest "deep-level" station on the Underground, 26 feet (7.9 m) below street level, necessitating just a short of flight of stairs for entry. Gants Hill and Wanstead, due to their greater depth, have escalators, with additional ramps or stairs at the former. ==Stations==