Leyton is a station on the London Underground system. It is on the Central Line, in Zone 3, standing between Stratford and Leytonstone, to the east of central London.
The station was not built as part of the Underground system and indeed is entirely above ground, although the platforms lie in a shallow cutting below street level. The station opened on 22 August 1856, the first day of operation of the Eastern Counties Railway’s new branch line from Stratford to Loughton. Initially the station was called Low Leyton, with the ‘Low’ part being dropped in 1867. The current station buildings, with the entrance set upon a road bridge, date from 1879, built during the period when Leyton changed rapidly from an Essex village to a densely populated urban sprawl. Following the Second World War, the Central Line expanded eastwards, absorbing Leyton Station and the line to Loughton and beyond, with the first Central Line train stopping here in May 1947.
The station now seems hopelessly small for its high level of usage. TfL have used the phrase ‘severely overcrowded’ to describe conditions at Leyton. At peak times it can become very crowded indeed; it is not unusual for the entrance to be closed during the morning rush for short periods to allow congestion at platform level to clear. Yet, at quiet moments during the middle of the day, the station almost still has its branch line feel.
A major upgrade of the station was announced to increase capacity in time for the London Olympics of 2012, but these plans were quietly shelved and the possibility of entering the Olympic Park from Leyton was downplayed. In 2019 another round of plans were produced. A new ticket hall was to be built to the north of the station. Work would commence in 2021 and be complete by early 2023. At the time of publication of this cache, nothing has actually happened on the ground. Meanwhile, during the time that your cache owner has been using the station, the ticket office has closed, the station’s east entrance on Langthorne Road has vanished, the platform level newsagent’s shop has gone and the public toilets are now rarely, if ever, open.
This cache is intended to be a simple find as part of the SideTracked series. It is placed close to the location of the much-missed Langthorne Road station entrance. It is not inside Langthorne Cemetery, nor is it placed on the cemetery's bounday wall. it is easily accesible from the public road and you do not need to enter the cemetery.